RIAA

Today, the Wall Street Journal announced that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is set to abandon its mass lawsuits against individuals. Since 2003, the RIAA has opened legal proceedings against approximately 35,000 people, including a 13-year-old and a dead person.

Instead, they intend to work through Internet Service Providers (ISPs). ISPs will be asked to email customers, asking them to stop sharing music, and threaten them with slower connections and disconnection if they continue. Many ISPs are sadly already in negotiations with major record labels and other entertainment companies.

While this change maybe has obvious positive aspects -- no reasonable person would think children and the deceased should be sued for sharing music -- it smells like just a change of tactics toward the same end. The RIAA was a firm supporter of the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2007, known as the PRO-IP bill. Under the deceptive banner of "intellectual property," the law has several unacceptable provisions, including a disastrously broad power to seize people's property like computers and servers. Earlier versions of the bill tried to pass the buck for the RIAA's lawsuits against citizens to the Department of Justice -- that portion was removed before it passed, but it's not surprising to now see the RIAA trying to get ISPs to do more enforcement for them. Instead of suing people, they want to just confiscate their computers entirely and have their Internet connections cut off, without dirtying their own hands.

All of this is thanks to Senator Leahy, who as a paid puppet for the media industry, sponsored the bill. And remember, it was Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA Chairman & CEO who said, "This bill truly is music to the ears of all those who care about strengthening American creativity and jobs."

Take action!

• Write to your ISP proactively and say you expect them not to compromise your privacy, security, or ability to communicate by kowtowing to RIAA attempts at intimidation.
• Support non-RIAA artists in your music purchases.
  • Check the RIAA Radar before making any purchases!
  • Install the RIAA Radar Greasemonkey Script.
• Our previous PRO-IP posts

Sadly, President Bush has allowed himself and the Department of Justice to be manipulated by the RIAA and MPAA. On October 13th, he signed the PRO-IP bill into law, ignoring calls to veto it and pretty clear indications that the bill was promoted using completely fabricated statistics.

Any law described as "music to the ears" by the head of the RIAA is going to be trouble. But just because the bill has passed doesn't mean this issue is dead.

First, we should thank the representatives who stood up against the corrupting influence of the media companies and voted against the bill. Public Knowledge has provided an easy way to do this. Please edit the letter text there to remove the term "intellectual property" before you send it -- accepting that as the category for debate is accepting framing that is designed to obscure the issues and serve the interests of those behind bills like this one.

Second, we should keep the reps who voted for the bill on the hook. Let them know that we are on to them and will be continually exposing their corrupt votes. So, if your representative voted for the bill, look up what contributions they received from the entertainment industry and confront them with this information.

Third, the vote in the Senate was unanimous. Let your senators know that you are very disappointed in their position and expect an explanation.

You can contact your representative at https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml, and your senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

To those who supported the bill, you might say something like:

President Bush has now signed the misleadingly named PRO-IP bill into law. I'm extremely disappointed in the position you took in voting for this bill. I'm aware of the campaign contributions that you, your colleagues and your party receive from the entertainment industry, and it's very clear that this bill was written and passed to please the contributors. If you aren't going to represent me on important issues like this, I'm not going to vote for you. I hope you've read about the fabricated evidence used to support this bill (http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/dodgy-digits-behind-the-war-on-piracy.ars), and have started thinking about what you can do to reverse this decision and begin representing the public's interests in sharing, knowledge, and culture when you are considering copyright legislation (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html). In addition, I would like an explanation for your vote that responds to these concerns.