Monday, January 21, 2008

Sieg Heil, RIAA

A relative of mine has been sued by the recording industry for "illegally" downloading digital music files. Under most circumstances, I'd say good on the industry for enforcing the intellectual-property rights afforded to it under the federal Copyright Act; however, the methods the industry practices, as well as what I regard as obvious ulterior motives on its part, have caused me to have a few reservations. First, there's the obvious invasion of privacy required for its agents to know someone has digital music files on his/her computer in the first place. Second, the strategy of suing only a few, geographically scattered people, making examples of them in hopes of scaring the rest of the populace into falling in line, is right out of the Nazi playbook; I can't help but mentally picture the Gestapo hauling a few recalcitrant Frenchmen out to the firing squads every day as a warning to those who might join or aid the Resistance. Third, the industry's reps automatically (and rather nastily) demand a $5,000 settlement, apparently without regard for (a) how many songs the person may have downloaded, or (b) what kind of means the person may have with which to pay a settlement. (The federal magistrate in my relative's case has already told the plaintiffs' attorney not to expect that much from my relative. Good on him!)


Finally, just what is the recording industry trying to protect? Is it the copyrights, or could it be its outdated business model, under which the public is supposed to continue paying $20+ for CDs that have, at best, two or three decent cuts along with 8-10 "filler" tunes? The discriminating public, for whom the CD player is all but passe, demands internet downloads, one song at a time, for a buck apiece; on the other hand, the use of the courts to "enforce" the old business model has a distinct antitrust-violation smell to it. I am perfectly willing to pay a dollar for every song I want (although I'll never give the record companies much business unless they put their entire catalogs online -- from the beginning of time to date), and I'm sure that millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens would do the same. However, the industry would have to stop clinging to the CD and the exorbitant prices it would like to continue charging therefor, and at this point it appears to be too much to ask of the greedy #*@%s.