The RIAA Are Huge Dicks. This Title Has No Joke In It.
The RIAA went from something I didn't know existed to something I hate with an undying passion faster than anything other than Van Helsing and turkey slapping. On several occasions, I have written about their big, fat, stupid antiquated doings and why they deserve to be choked to death with Rosie's exercise unitard.
So what are the filthy bastards up to now? Ensuring that their scheme of blackmailing people by threatening legal action is universally applicable. RIAA lawyers now claim that you are violating copyright law if you rip a CD you own to your own computer.
That's like saying anyone who paints a painting or draws a sketch of any copyrighted material is a law breaker, and I'll be damned if the pigs are going to arrest me for my notebooks filled with sketches of Hannah Montana.
The lawyers claim it's illegal because the user is transferring the music into a medium not of the artist's choosing. By that logic, I shouldn't be allowed to whistle anything from the new Rogue Wave CD because, after all, aren't lip-formed atmospheric vibrations an unauthorized medium?
What does this mean for you? Probably nothing, unless you're unlucky enough to be selected at random from millions of liable people and sued by the RIAA. If that happens, you are now not only liable for that copy of P.S. I Love You on your hard drive, but also every song on your iPod you can't prove you bought through iTunes. Start saving those e-receipts, folks.
And for the record, the Rogue Wave thing wasn't product placement, I just like them. In fact, I think I'll go rip their new CD to my iPod.
Besides blogging for CRACKED, Michael also makes hilarious videos as writer and co-founder of Those Aren't Muskets!
"I’ll be damned if the pigs are going to arrest me for my notebooks filled with sketches of Hannah Montana."
ReplyI love you.
really glad that there's good doctors out there. my Chicago OBGYN does a great job and every time I go to see John Weitzner he makes me feel alot better about my pregnancy.
ReplyI'm starting to find a lot of similarities between the RIAA and the Church of Scientology.
ReplyHopefully, they will not be able to enforce it. It would crowd up the judicial system.
Reply@Orypeci
ReplyI verify that. My car is running smoothly off of rubber bands. Hail to thee!
I hope every person who pirates burns for eternity. Every obnoxious DRM obstacle, every ten-thousand digit serial number required, every head-ache inducing, ultra-contorted software activation method, are all in direct response to ass-holes don't feel like shilling out ten goddamn dollars for a CD. Not to mention the fact that they cost software developers, movie-makers, and music artists tons of money. And no, don't think you're "sticking it to the man" with this stuff, corporations barely get scratched by this sort of thing. It's independents that are really bearing the brunt, for example indie game developers 2Dboy, who's game "world of goo" had a 95% illegal download rate. For every legit purchase, they were out 19 illegal rips.
ReplyThat being said, the RIAA, Stardock, and almost all other presumably "anti-pirate" measures are purely to suck the money out of legit customers. Everyone on this planet sucks.
What I don't understand is . . . isn't the burden of proof on the RIAA to prove that you stole it rather than on the individual to prove he or she owns it? I mean it's not like the police show up on my doorstep and demand I show proof of how I purchased all my furniture.
ReplyI just illegally downloaded Rouge Wave's Descended Like Vultures from Soulseek.
ReplyI like.
I also just became president of Canada, and created a new kind of fuel made entirely from rubber bands. Take my claims with a grain of salt, RIAA.
We didn't start the fire, it was always burning since the worlds been turning.
ReplyI steal the shit out of music all the time, often times out of spite. Every time I read about a lawsuit I download 3 discographies of bands I don't even like. But I don't listen to them, or delete them. Just having them around is my own personal way of saying "fuck right off" to the RIAA.
ReplyI’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:
Reply"When you make a copy of something that does not belong to you, that you would otherwise have to pay for, is stealing."
ReplyIt's actually called "infringement" not stealing. Stealing is a crime where you deprive somebody of their property with the intent of permanently depriving them of that property. Infringement is generally not a crime (though it can be in some cases not applicable here). More importantly, infringement does not deprive the rights holder of property with the intent to permanently deprive. The rights holder can still sell copies. You likely think that since the person "illegally downloaded" the song that they automatically owe the rights holder money, and depriving the owner of that money is stealing. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.
Infringement is what it is. It isn't piracy, it isn't stealing, it isn't theft, it isn't murder, buggery, child rape or rancid cous cous. If you have to blatantly mischaracterize your own argument, that doesn't bode well.
When you make a copy of something that does not belong to you, that you would otherwise have to pay for, is stealing.
Reply"It doesn’t cost them jack shit. People who download wouldn’t have bought it otherwise so no matter what, those people would not result in any additional sales one way or another. "
How do you know this?, some people I know have downloaded stuff they wouldn't have bought, but some people have downloaded stuff they would have payed for had the avenue of illegal downloads not been available to them. Copyright infringement can be defined as theft of intellectual property.
If illegal downloading does not hurt them a bit why are they making such a big deal about it, just to be dicks? The problem is they are trying to do business on a 20th century model in the 21st century. People aren't playing they game the way they want to play it and they are to stupid to realize that they have to change .
BTW, stealing it from Walmart IS stealing since it costs money for the packaging and the DVD itself, so don't try and use that one against me.
Reply"Face it when you download DVDs, songs and software off the internet you are stealing them. You know ,I know it and everybody knows it."
ReplyStealing, ie. theft is depriving the owner of, and the use of, property. That's basically it. Tell me how MAKING A COPY of something deprives the owner of the use of that property? It doesn't. They still have it and they can still sell it in stores. Hell, they are just selling a copy themselves! The original is in a big building somewhere locked in a vault. To steal it you'd have to break into said building and physically steal the reel (and any backups they may have of it).
It is inaccurate to call it stealing. It's copyright infringement.
Also, they can make up any numbers they want and claim it cost them that much.
It doesn't cost them jack shit. People who download wouldn't have bought it otherwise so no matter what, those people would not result in any additional sales one way or another. So the loss is $0.00. They definitely sue for more than their actual damages.....
Those damn Europeans, always one step ahead....
Reply"I guess part of the problem is there is no representation of all the ‘pirates’ out there, and hence nobody to make an agreement with"
ReplyThat is already occurring in Sweden mostly, with other European countries following suit. The bit torrent site "The Pirates Bay" is behind a lot of it. But you're right there is no representation or organization of pirates in the USA and Canada. A lot of the best bit torrent sites have ,of their own accord, banned people from the USA and Canada from using their sites because of intimidation from the RIAA and the MPAA.
It seems that the entertainment industries as a whole have finally fucked themselves over by making all of their product geared specifically to making money, saying bye-bye to anything resembling quality. What they are too short-sighted to notice is that they brought this on themselves in a way; if they hadn't focused entirely on churning out turd after turd of digital waste, they might have more people still inclined to be honest in how they obtain their stuff. As it is now, things have progressed too far. It is unreasonable and unrealisitic for the Music/Movie Industry to expect people to just go 'oh, I feel really bad all the sudden, I'm going to just stop downloading all this free stuff now', and it is equally unreasonable for Piraters to expect said industries to just go away without a fight. The only solution I can see would involve total cooperation between all parties: make downloading songs available, as per itunes etc. with a small fee per song; crack down only on people who are making songs available for free; have options such as Radiohead's idea with In Rainbows. Obviously it's a fucking mess of a situation, but all we've really seen so far is a complete lack of flexibility or foresight or even communication. I guess part of the problem is there is no representation of all the 'pirates' out there, and hence nobody to make an agreement with, which is why the RIAA has to impose laws.
ReplyI don't think it's just the "ghetto"blacks who"stand out on the corner pushing burned and copyrighted materials, they are selling music they illegally download to their ghetto public because they know most of the people in the ghetto love rap music dont own a computer or even now how to use one, The same for the movies "
ReplyI have personally seen ghetto Indians, ghetto Pakistanis, ghetto Whites, ghetto Italian Americans, ghetto Asian Americans, ghetto Mexican Americans, ghetto Caribbeans, ghetto Irish and a whole host of other ghetto ethnicities selling pirated copies of DVDs and CDs to ghetto tourists and ghetto people who don't want to pay full price for them. The ghetto Peoples Republic of China has a whole industry devoted to pirated software.
Look, just because you don't think something is wrong does not make right. If you are driving down a road and find a huge box of Dvds and CDs, take them, don't try to find out who they belong to and take them home use them you have stolen them. The internet is kind of like that except there is a guy standing buy the box going "here take them they're free. " and you go "Are they yours?"and he goes "No" " Do you know who they belong to?"and he says "No" you say "Well , do you know where they came from?" and he goes "No, just kind of appeared here, probably fell of a truck".
Face it when you download DVDs, songs and software off the internet you are stealing them. You know ,I know it and everybody knows it. I happen to relish that fact. I mince no words when it comes to it, I steal them.
Once again"If anyone from the RIAA or MPAA reads this , I made this all up and have never illegally downloaded any movie, song, TV show, CD or software."
Jimmy Buffet said it best "Yes I am a pirate, two hundred years too late"
Jimmy Buffet said that not me .............................. looks left ,looks right looks straight into the moniter and says Fuck'em
and another thing I think that the real criminals here are the ghetto blacks who stand out on the corner pushing burned and copyrighted materials, they are selling music they illegally download to their ghetto public because they know most of the people in the ghetto love rap music dont own a computer or even now how to use one, The same for the movies , its bull crap if you ask me, i am a skilled web site designer and i could totally sell pirated music movies or software but i dont, cause i feel that is wrong, but sharing files for non profit i think that is just sharing and thats all it is.
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