New Anti RIAA petition circulating

Ugh, gawd forbid you enjoy  listening to music on your I POD, the RIAA doesn't want you to enjoy music (in mp3 format) unless of course the labels can continue to pay artists a low royalty rate, and only pay them ten cents per twenty dollar CD sold. Ugh. All monies won by the RIAA for suing fans (downloaders) do not go to the artists themselves.

There fore nothing changes about the corrupt music industry and as here at brainwashed.com: http://www.brainwashed.com.  there is an anti RIAA petition circulating around the Internet. Read this petition and sign it. Thanks-Enjoy your funeral on this warm day-Stay metal, Stay brutal, Stay uncorrupted-Tee- \m/ -l- Newsflashes - Newsflash BRAINWASHED.COM CALLS FOR THE DISMANTLING OF THE RIAA

The actions and arguments of the Recording Industry Association of America and some of its most powerful members exemplify a complete and utter disregard and contempt for the interests and behavior of musicians, independent record labels, and, most importantly, the music-buying public. The RIAA seeks to regulate the behavior of consumers and actors in a free market via unreasonable means and at their expense, financially and otherwise. Its claims of supporting "creative vitality" and "artists' rights" are disengenuous, as the RIAA represents the corrupt and exclusionary oligopoly of major record labels, Hollywood film studios, and corporate entertainment media outlets. That certain "indie" labels have membership in this association is not indicative of an RIAA looking out for their best interests.

Among our grievances...

• The assault on legitimate free market consumer behavior, including fair use "ripping" of digital files for individual portable electronic music players and laptops, (See: "RIAA Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair Use", Electronic Frontier Foundation, February 15, 2006)
  
• The shameful practice of suing music fans and their families (particularly when the target is underage) for unreasonable punitive sums so as to make examples of them (See: "Internet activists help get lawyer for woman accused of piracy", Associated Press, January 26, 2006)
  
• The "copy protection" schemes of major record labels, antithetical to legitimate consumer behavior and supported by the RIAA, that go so far as to violate the privacy rights of our citizenry (See: "Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far", Mark Russinovich's Sysinternals Blog, October 31, 2005 and "Are You Infected by Sony-BMG's Rootkit?", Electronic Frontier Foundation, November 9, 2005)
  
• The criminal "payola" scandal, perpetrated by major record labels in collusion with corporate entertainment media entities, where artists received unfair preferential treatment on public airwaves (See: "Sony Settles Payola Investigation", Press Release, Office of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, July 25, 2005
  
• The exorbitant and near-extortionary pricing strategies of major label compact discs, which in and of themselves facilitate so-called "bootlegging" (See: "Poll Examines Music Buyers and Their Needs", Associated Press, February 2, 2006)
  
• The vendetta against hip hop "mix tape" culture, which includes bullying producers with threats of legal action, as well as facilitating raids and arrests of retailers and other actors maintaining the integrity of this time honored musical tradition and promotional tool (See: "Untold Story of Mondo Kim's Raid", The Village Voice, June 16, 2005 )

The RIAA and the aforementioned colluding oligopolists are enemies of music and of consumer rights, therefore we at Brainwashed.Com call for the immediate dismantling of the RIAA.

1. We call for all recording artists and independent labels that are currently members of the RIAA to immediately separate from this group in an act of protest, hopefully to form a more progressive association that better represents their interests.
   
2. We call on music lovers worldwide not to purchase the products of major record labels and to ask others to do the same.
   
3. We call on individuals who own stock in the oligopolists cited above, in mutual funds or otherwise, to divest immediately and refuse to invest further.
4. We call on the United States Congress to halt all ruling on DMCA until there are more organizations at the table deciding these laws which apply to the entire music industry.
   

The undersigned individuals agree with these statements and stand with Brainwashed.Com in solidarity against the RIAA.

To sign the petition, email us with your name, email address, city, and zip code.  This information will not be made public NOR will it be used in a database NOR will you be contacted by Brainwashed.com and its affiliates NOR will you be added to ANY "spam" email lists.  We guarantee that.

Additionally, we may be contacted with any questions pertaining to this action.

FROM EFF (Electronic Frontiers Foundation) DEEP LINKS:  (EFF link on right hand corner)

« A Code of Conduct for Internet Companies in Authoritarian Regimes | Main | Who Wants to Kick Macrovision's Tires? » RIAA Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair Use February 15, 2006

It is no secret that the entertainment oligopolists are not happy about space-shifting and format-shifting. But surely ripping your own CDs to your own iPod passes muster, right? In fact, didn't they admit as much in front of the Supreme Court during the MGM v. Grokster argument last year?

Apparently not.

As part of the on-going DMCA rule-making proceedings, the RIAA and other copyright industry associations submitted a filing that included this gem as part of their argument that space-shifting and format-shifting do not count as noninfringing uses, even when you are talking about making copies of your own CDs:

"Nor does the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted, necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization. In this regard, the statement attributed to counsel for copyright owners in the MGM v. Grokster case is simply a statement about authorization, not about fair use."

For those who may not remember, here's what Don Verrilli said to the Supreme Court last year:

"The record companies, my clients, have said, for some time now, and it's been on their website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod."

If I understand what the RIAA is saying, "perfectly lawful" means "lawful until we change our mind." So your ability to continue to make copies of your own CDs on your own iPod is entirely a matter of their sufferance. What about all the indie label CDs? Do you have to ask each of them for permission before ripping your CDs? And what about all the major label artists who control their own copyrights? Do we all need to ask them, as well?

P.S.: The same filing also had this to say: "Similarly, creating a back-up copy of a music CD is not a non-infringing use...."