An article about the Recording Industry association lawsuit that resulted in a $250k verdict against a single mother for sharing just 1 album on Kazaa..
http://counterpunch.org/rovics10092007.html -----------------------------------------snip The RIAA is trying to use a combination of the law, financial largesse, and encryption and other technologies to try to reassert their dominance over global culture. But perhaps most importantly, they are trying to reassert the moral virtue of their position, the rightness of their positions vis-a-vis the concept of intellectual property and the notion that the fear campaign they're engaged in somehow benefits society overall and artists in particular. The success of their campaign to convince us that the average person is essentially part of a massive band of thieves can be easily seen. Look at the comments section following an article about the recent lawsuit, for example, and you will find people generally saying they thought Ms. Thomas was wrong but that the amount of money involved with the lawsuit is outrageous. You will find people admitting that they also download music illegally, and they feel bad about it, but it's just too easy and the music in the stores is too expensive. Obviously the idea of anyone being financially bankrupted for the rest of their lives because they shared some songs online is preposterous, and very few people fail to see that. But the idea that Ms. Thomas did something wrong is prevalent, even among her fellow "thieves," and I think it needs to be challenged on various fronts. "We're doing this for artists" The RIAA represents artists about as effectively as the big pharmaceutical companies represent sick people. I'll explain. The vast majority of innovation in medicine comes from university campuses. The usual pattern is Big Pharma then comes in and uses the research that's already been done to then patent it and turn it into an obscenely profitable drug (especially if it's good for treating a disease common among people in rich countries). Then they say anybody else who makes cheap or free versions of the drug is stealing, and by doing so we're stifling innovation and acting immorally. Similarly, the vast majority of musical innovation happens on the streets by people who are not being paid by anyone. The machine that is the music industry then snatches a bit of that popular culture, sanitizes it, and then sells it back to us at a premium. They create a superstar or two out of cultural traditions of their choosing and to hell with the rest of them. Sometimes the musicians they promote are really good, but that's not the point. The point is that if the RIAA were truly interested in promoting good artists, they'd be doing lots of smaller record contracts with a wide variety of artists representing a broad cross-section of musical traditions. But as it is, if it were up to the RIAA we'd be listening to the music of a small handful of multimillionaire pop stars and the other 99.9% of musicians would starve.
