At the core of our perceptions of the mafia lie greed, the pursuit of profit and the bullying of the weak and innocent. But if that is our definition, then the insidiousness of people like Al Capone or Lucky Luciano pale in comparison to the ethics of our corporate royalty. The mere fact that certain corporations and organizations that are morally no different than members of the mafia consider themselves legitimate clearly demonstrates the hypocrisy.
The Recording Industry Association of America has thus devolved from a fairly innocuous organization to the latest incarnation of the mob. The advent of the mp3 music file and the proliferation of high-speed Internet brought the RIAA onto the scene nearly 10 years ago. Napster, the first peer-to-peer file-sharing service, was also the first victim. Dozens of similar programs were developed – Kazaa and LimeWire among them. Millions of people around the world were drawn into file-sharing.
Using the courts, the RIAA has tried to force file-sharing sites back into Pandora’s box. Much like the mafia, the RIAA decided intimidation was the best policy. Employing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 – itself a stricter manifestation of the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty – the RIAA has sued thousands and is planning to sue many more.
No one has been immune to the lawsuits. Children, the elderly, college students and even dead people are among the RIAA’s victims. Larry Scantlebury – the defendant in Warner Bros. v. Scantlebury and a former-Ypsilanti resident – died before his case was heard. Instead of dropping the lawsuit, the RIAA asked for a 60-day stay so his family could mourn before they were deposed.
In another case, Cassi Hunt, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, contacted a representative of the RIAA, choosing as most of the thousands facing lawsuits to settle before going to court. Settlements have reached into the thousands. There have even been cases of RIAA representatives suggesting that students drop out of college in order to pay back debts.
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Things have gotten really out of hand. I’m glad that BS like that doesn’t happen in Canada. If you bootleg then fine you deserve to get caught. If you share then that’s one step closer to world harmony! Why would you want to kill that for people? Honestly I’m glad the RIAA is pushing so hard in the USA eventually the people are going to push back and the government HAS to listen and put and end to the madness..
“There have even been cases of RIAA representatives suggesting that students drop out of college in order to pay back debts.” What the hell is that? I’ll bet they wouldn’t tell their own children that BS?? Man!
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