RIAA Says Fair Use is No Use

[Aerowyn]

You buy a CD. You rip a digital copy so you can put it on your Apple iPod or Microsoft Zune. You're not worried; you paid premium price for the CD. You're not some lawless pirate. You wouldn't dream of sharing your music on a P2P network.

Well, you may be walking a fine line toward thiefdom in the eyes of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the industry trade association that includes heavyweights like Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, Vivendi Universal, and EMI.

Current litigation against Jeffrey Howell of Arizona shows that while the industry's gone after him for file-sharing, not ripping MP3s, it's also taking exception to recordings on his computer that he copied from CDs he purchased, with the outlook that Howell is also liable for the "unauthorized copies" he made and placed on his PC.

Although there's a lot of clarification going on over the Internet now -- pointing out that the RIAA can't specifically target ripping CDs for personal use, since that falls within "fair use" -- the RIAA hasn't lent much reason to give it the benefit of the doubt as a reasonable entity here lately.

After all, a lawyer for Sony BMG said during a recent high-profile file-sharing trial that making one measly copy was, "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy'."Original article here:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/01/02/were-all-thieves-to-the-riaa.aspx

Or read further here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800693.html
http://time-blog.com/curious_capitalist/2008/01/does_the_riaa_really_want_to_s.html


Discuss. RIAA is out of their fucking minds.

[Bad Waffle]

i wonder why somebody hasnt stepped in (ie a judge) and just said enough is enough. Did you hear about RIAA raiding this guys house, and he didnt even have a computer? in was the previous owner of the house, but RIAA didnt drop charges.

[Cortexian]

I have authorization to make backups of whatever I want. According to the person posting the download ;). I'm simply backing it up for them.

[Zeph]

They're really in trouble over where they were caught hacking into servers and such. They're in "we're going down and taking everyone with us" mode.

[Aerowyn]

If I PURCHASED a CD with my own money, there is NO REASON I can't put that CD on my computer/MP3 player if I have no intention of sharing them with anyone else.

I OWN THE CD, the RIAA got their money. What's wrong with me using what's mine?

Honestly. Their money is running dry so I suppose they figure lawsuits are a good way to get all that money back. YIKES.

[TPE]

This kind of stuff makes me want to go download some music.

The RIAA gives real pirates (the ones that go "yarr" and "ye be shakin me timbers") a bad name. :(

[nooBBooze]

Mb its a bit naive for me to think that way but id say it could be a factor.
since many of the ppl who are involved in this particular topic (politicians, judges, CEO´s) are 50+ im not really sure wheter or not they know whats going on on ppls computers today. heck, they seem to have even lost track of modern lifestyle.
so those old senile fucks men are basically trapped in their own, blocked thinking schemes that are much farther from reality with every month that goes by.

also, what if i grabbed my laptop, went over to a buddys house and gave him a good slice of my content? ah i see id have to line up by that wall over there huh?

[Mr Buckshot]

The RIAA can never win this battle, but they won't give up. No matter what measures they take to combat piracy, the pirates will always circumvent those measures eventually. At this rate, they might as well ban portable music players altogether except for AM/FM radios.

[p0lar_bear]

RIAA is, has been, and always will be, a load of horseshit. They're out to stop the unstoppable. As long as the internet exists, there will always be filesharing, end of discussion. If things worked out the way RIAA wanted them to, every filesharing client to date wouldn't work, and BitTorrent wouldn't exist.

I'd say "the only reason RIAA isn't taking any legal heat for their actions is because...", but I don't know how to finish that sentence. They're a waste of space, time, and money.

[CN3089]

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c251/CN3089/liner1.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c251/CN3089/liner2.jpg (http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/riaa-liner-notes.php)
(click for more)

Topical humor

[p0lar_bear]

Topical humor


awesome post would read again a+++++++

[nooBBooze]

At this rate, they might as well ban portable music players altogether except for AM/FM radios.
You could still be redording music in this case wich is even worse (to them) :/

[p0lar_bear]

You could still be redording music in this case wich is even worse (to them) :/

Might as well ban all forms of recordable media then; CDs, DVDs, cassette tapes, 8-track tapes, LPs, magnetic data tape, hard disks, floppy disks, zip disks, flash drives, game console memory cards, all cell phones, digital and cassette tape voice recorders, SD/XD/CompactFlash/Sony Memory Sticks, and paper, since all of those media have the potential to infringe copyrights on their precious cash cows artists whom they pretty much steal the rights to the music from provide protection from people who want to hear their music horrible, horrible pirates who live only to steal their money music.

[nooBBooze]

Might as well ban all forms of recordable media then; CDs, DVDs, cassette tapes, 8-track tapes, LPs, magnetic data tape, hard disks, floppy disks, zip disks, flash drives, game console memory cards, all cell phones, digital and cassette tape voice recorders, SD/XD/CompactFlash/Sony Memory Sticks, and paper, since all of those media have the potential to infringe copyrights on their precious cash cows artists whom they pretty much steal the rights to the music from provide protection from people who want to hear their music horrible, horrible pirates who live only to steal their money music.
thats why i [also ;)] hang out at cdbaby.com

[Mass]

These people do an excellent job of making the "War on Drugs" look successful. Wait, that is why they exist isn't it?

lol (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yz-grdpKVqg)

[Emmzee]

The RIAA is the new Jack Thompson.

They do bullshit things that make no difference in what people do, yet everybody hates them.

The Internet will be attacking something else within a month.

[ima_from_America]

So, if I were to listen to a song, I would be beaten up by thugs from the RIAA? Ima scared now.

[ExAm]

They can't find you if you aren't stupid.

[Haloking365]

The RIAA is the new Jack Thompson.

They do bullshit things that make no difference in what people do, yet everybody hates them.

The Internet will be attacking something else within a month.
Speaking of Thompson, what ever happened to him? Disbarred mb?

[n00b1n8R]

that would have been like people disproving Raptor Jesus's existence. the intertubes would have crashed under the strain.