Much has been made in certain sections of the political spectrum about a recent spate of Supreme Court decisions – in particular, rulings on the University of Michigan’s affirmative-action program and the Texas sodomy law – in which majority opinions cited international laws (i.e. European Union) as precedent for their decision. Justice Antonin Scalia, in his dissent on the sodomy case, warned against efforts to (in his words) “impose foreign moods, fads or fashions on Americans.”

Yet with respect to recent developments regarding the so-called Recording Industry Association of America’s (take your pick on what part of their moniker is so-called) vengeful vendetta, piling-on, and hate-mongering incitements against any and all individuals who listen to music on their computer (read: “file-sharers”), there appears to be plenty of international precedent for their police-state–style actions, and a clear effort to “impose foreign moods, fads or fashions on Americans” – of which more later.

One is forced to conclude by the course they’ve taken with their ends-justifying-the-means strategy, and their callous, insensitive indifference to the consequences of their actions and wanton disregard for the will of the people, that the RIAA in particular – and all the alphabet-soup lobbies for the multinational entertainment-media complex in general – are largely comprised of radical ideologues, social engineers and internationalist New World Order-types (think of the RIAA’s recent efforts to supersede copyright laws in other parts of the world to bend to their dictates). In addition, their strategy of suing such individuals not only underscores the disproportionately excessive (or excessively disproportionate) influence the RIAA has been wielding (like a billy club) over key lawmakers and judges these last few years, but also appears to betray the heavy hand of the trial lawyers’ lobby – another group of self-appointed radical social engineers who seek to achieve through the courts what they couldn’t do through the usual means of checks and balances, and to whom an increasing number of politicians are likewise beholden. This strategy of suing P2P users into bankruptcy seems to be more or less along the lines of the trial lawyers’ other class-action suits that have either driven, or threaten to drive, certain sectors and/or engines of the American economy into insolvency (most notably the tobacco and asbestos industries, and as appears to be increasingly becoming the case, the food industry; not to mention their attacks against the medical profession with countless examples of seven-figure settlements in malpractice cases).

And then there’s the little matter of the RIAA’s use of the Orwellian-Stalinist DMCA and other similar provisions to essentially toss the Bill of Rights out the window, usurp the rights of consumers and everyone else, destroy the technology industry and infrastructure, subvert and sabotage the free-enterprise system of open competition in favor of a socialist-leaning, one-party model (think of their ongoing conspiracy to strangle the infant webcasting industry in its crib), and in general reduce this country (and our standard of living) to the level of Third World countries which have none of the traditions on which America was founded. (The only Founding Father I could see giving a pass to the RIAA’s crypto-imperialist aspirations would be Alexander Hamilton, whose elitist disdain for and distrust of the masses almost rivals that of the RIAA.) There were clear reasons why the laws of the U.S. – from copyright law to judicial process and other examples too numerous to mention – were framed by our Founding Fathers. But the RIAA and their ilk, based on their potentially counterproductive actions, obviously see such guarantees and safeguards as an obstacle and impediment to their New World Orderesque campaign of absolute power, total domination, disenfranchisement, subjugation and enslavement, and have thus sought to undo such traditions while at the same time emulating the aformentioned “moods, fads or fashions” of the rest of the world – including the most brutal, repressive, totalitarian regimes on earth – in pursuit of their selfish, all-for-us-at-the-expense-of-everyone-and-everything-else goals.

Moreover, the support among key politicians (i.e. Sen. Orrin Hatch) for the RIAA’s fascistic methods effectively undermines our moral authority with respect to our frequent criticisms of various countries for their own human-rights violations. Such dichotomy reinforces the opinion in certain parts of the world that the U.S. as a nation is comprised of sanctimonious hypocrites and ingrown retards who have no business lecturing other nations in this respect. Furthermore, the RIAA’s campaign (coupled with the MPAA’s own efforts to drive us into a proverbial Dark Ages) threatens to transform this country from the free and open society envisioned by Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Hancock etc., into a repressive, battened-down, closed society along the lines of such countries as China, Cuba, North Korea, Myanmar and other nations of comparable dubious records.

Below are some recent examples of methodology from which the RIAA appears to have taken their cue in terms of their own, differing aims:

China. The RIAA is fond of fingering this country as a main producer of pirated goods. But it is also a nation that subsists on slave labor (some of which may have produced those goods, and in any case could thus never afford such goods in their “legit” form) and has a long history of brutal repression of its people. The pertinent case here has been their policy, cultivated over the last few years, of constantly monitoring individual computer use, hacking into people’s computers and sabotaging local and regional peer-to-peer networks to stop “illegal file-sharing.” But whereas the RIAA rants and raves about sharing music files, Beijing has been seeking to nip P2P file-sharing of “unauthorized” political ideas in the bud – ideas which the government deems as a mortal threat to their hold on power and their very existence (i.e. the regime’s merciless persecution of the pro-independence movements for Taiwan and Tibet, and of the Falun Gong). Computer users who surf for political sites not approved by the government have found themselves on death row. And China also employs “big mamas” to monitor Internet chat rooms to weed out “politically objectionable” material. Not to mention their strong-arming and coercing search engines like Google to kowtow to their straitjacket-style censorship. Certainly the RIAA seeks to emulate this kind of overall methodology for their own ends, as any student of geopolitical happenings can see if they really look.

Cuba. This island gulag run for the last 44 years by Fidel Castro also has certain methods of repression that the RIAA appears to see as attractive for their own use. Internet access is limited to a few places in Havana, and is very restricted in terms of what one can surf. Private individuals are absolutely forbidden to own computers, or any kind of peer-to-peer networks. It is also illegal in Cuba to own a private business out of one’s home. But pertinent to this article is his recent crackdown on 75 dissidents and independent journalists (with prison terms of anywhere from 10 to 30 years) for expressing their free-speech rights – interestingly, this was first implemented around the same week in April that the RIAA first announced their strategy of mass persecution of P2P users that is only now being manifested big-time. In addition, at that same point he also had three Cubans executed only one day after they were caught trying to escape the island by hijacking a ferry to Florida. Yet, Castro is still considered a hero to certain members of the Hollywood community (as James Hirsen, a contributor to NewsMax, has pointed out time and time again). One wonders if privately they admire his methods of repression, and see such as ideas for them to use for their own differing situations. In the context of this cult of globalism, that may not be hard to imagine. Furthermore, from the advent of the Castro regime Cubans have been encouraged – no, make that mandated – to rat and snitch on one another to the secret police apparatus in place there. One can’t help but wonder if this kind of tacticology was an impetus (read: “dangerous precedent”) for this latest, most insidious strategy by the ‘One-World’ elitists who run the RIAA to strong-arm I.S.P.’s into throwing their customers to the proverbial wolves . . . er, turning over the names of suspected ‘pirates’ (per the RIAA-fawning, corporate-controlled news media).

In sum, we can see that the RIAA in many respects represent the many forces of oppression that have passed throughout history: Goliath vs. David . . . the armies of the Egyptian Pharaoh vs. Moses and the Hebrew slaves . . . big business vs. labor unions in the bitter battles fought during the Great Depression . . . the Arab world vs. Israel in both the 1948 War of Independence and the 1967 Six-Day War . . . Bull Connor and his police dogs vs. civil rights marchers in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1961 . . . the tank vs. the lone demonstrator standing in its path during the Tiananmen Square massacre . . . and so on . . . in other words, the aggressor against the underdog. The old question of “Which Side Are You On?” thus takes on a new tone of urgency.

I find it grossly insulting of you to suggest that the USA is incapable of any sort of homegrown idiocy on its own.

While no doubt comforting to blame all the bad on the evil internationalists (whose record is totally far from spotless), and yearning for the suppressive days of yore (damn offshore human rights examples confusing our judges – making them question our prejudices), it still remains that there is and has been a lot of homegrown talent that AmeriKa can take pride in.

Ever hear of: gunboat diplomacy, the kkk, banana republics, the carpet bombing of Cambodia?

And RIAA that stands as an acronym for what again? MPAA that would be a what organization located in what town? Did I hear someone say Hollywood USA?

And the Catholic League of Decency, the Hays Code, these were invented where?

In summation: It may be an attractive thought to band together with other disaffected groups (ludites, bigots, and all the other diverse zealot fanatics that AmeriKa seems to produce so well), and it may be great to call upon xenophobic inclinations of that constituency to you.

But it is not an attractive thought to me.

justed

Justed,

While your dissention is no-doubt heartfelt, you miss the point of the article.

As Americans, we cherish freedom. INCLUDING THE FREEDOM TO CHOSE TO BE WHATEVER WE WISH, the popular saying goes "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend with my life your right to say it." This also includes the freedom to download files, the freedom to listen and share them, intowards the changing environment of technology. The United States constitution has been called an Elastic document, and it is my firm belief that our founding fathers would have approved this methodology of finding something for free without doing even miniscule damage to the author of the work.

I have my rights. My right to disagree, my right to my own opinion, and my right to offend. Offending opinions are the basis of our democracy. If we didnt offend, or have the right to, there is one word to describe that ... Communism.

Thanx,
Bill from Denver

I'm tippin' my hat and sending up props of 1s and 0s to the person who wrote the article. Very well articulated and thoughtful, hence, not much to add except my tagline, which is....

BOYCOTT THE BASTARDS!

ps..
JOKE-
Know the difference between the RIAA
and a bowl of rotten meat covered in maggots?

A.-The bowl of maggots doesn't bother someone a hundred miles away!

BOYCOTT THE BASTARDS!

Scalia says not to “impose foreign moods, fads or fashions on Americans.”

ROFL.

That is exactly what America does constantly. Its main export seems to be its own culture. If you go to a third world mudhole you will find half the starving children wearing football shirts, and a billboard for coca-cola in the center of the slums. America seems to dismiss every culture except its own as inferior in some way. Wont even tolerate Japanese culture in the anime which has become so popular in recent years, I know of many incidents when official dubs have been inaccurately translated, even to the extent of renameing characters and places. Theres even a scene in that appalling pokemon series where a teacher writes on a blackboard and leaves no marks, because the japanese symbols were removed. But back to the topic, how can anyone complain other countries are affecting American culture?

I'm in general agreement with a lot of what is in the original article, as well as the comments but I think there is a small point that everyone is overlooking.

No matter what their acronym stands for, the RIAA is NOT an American organization. It may be based here, but it represents Japan (Sony), Great Britain (EMI), Germany (BMG) and France (Vivendi) as well as Warner Music, the only American label of the big five artist vultures.

As a result it is not only relevant to say that they are attempting to “impose foreign moods, fads or fashions on Americans” but an accurate statement of fact.

Yes, we have our own crop of lunatics, bigots and mindless groups with a very loose grip on reality, but the RIAA is driven by foreign policy. We should not forget that. It is NOT an American institution. It just operates here, manipulates our government and persecutes our citizens.

Buying their music feeds the foreign influence. We must starve them out of existence. We have enough independent music in this country to support. America was founded on independence and thumbing our noses at predatory bastards like the RIAA. We must step up the effort, raise public awareness and fight back against the lying bastards every step of the way.

To 'gdZiemann': It would seem that the initials of 'RIAA' have, based on what you described and underscored, become more or less (or more and more, depending on one's point of view) a combination of oxymoron and misnomer over the years. This background of the 80% foreign ownership of the Big Five is indeed important in the point of this article, and in fact helped to form the basis for the conclusions drawn here.

In referring to Cuba, I'd forgotten to mention its encouragement -- no, make it its compulsory mandate -- of its people to snitch on one another to the secret police -- a variation of which seems to have manifested itself here most notoriously in the RIAA's policy of forcing ISP's to throw their customers to the proverbial wolves (or, as the media would put it, "turning over names of 'pirates'"). My apologies for this oversight.

Also, think of this: 40 to 60 percent of Big Five ownership is concentrated in what is referred to as the European Union -- that is, depending on whether one thinks of Great Britain (via the EMI contingent) as a sovereign nation or as a component of the E.U. (as France and Germany are).

gdZiemann
IS RIGHT@!
boycott the bastards!!!

“you miss the point…

…As Americans, we cherish freedom. INCLUDING THE FREEDOM TO CHOSE TO BE WHATEVER WE WISH, the popular saying goes "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend with my life your right to say it."

…I have my rights. My right to disagree, my right to my own opinion, and my right to offend. Offending opinions are the basis of our democracy. If we didnt offend, or have the right to, there is one word to describe that…”

No, I think you miss my point. (I have no problem with dissenting viewpoints – I have EVERY problem with imposing those viewpoints by fiat.).

The very freedom you cherish that is under attack from so many sources, from so many sides… is one that I (like you) feel is worth defending (perhaps after all we do agree).

However, the belief that ANY practice (read exclusionary belief) is viably justifiable by draconian imposition… is anathema to my beliefs in the very freedom you espouse.

To equate the influences of ideas (“…a recent spate of Supreme Court decisions… …in which majority opinions cited international laws (i.e. European Union) as precedent for their decision…”) because they are “foreign” - as ipso facto “bad” - is to express a voice that no doubt deserves to be heard (re: no problem with dissenting viewpoints) but I see it as reducing the whole debate to “foreign equal bad” (foreign = bad), which assertion I find to be BRAINDEAD.

“One is forced to conclude by the course they’ve taken with their ends-justifying-the-means strategy, and their callous, insensitive indifference to the consequences of their actions and wanton disregard for the will of the people, that the RIAA in particular – and all the alphabet-soup lobbies for the multinational entertainment-media complex in general – are generally (and mostly) comprised of radical ideologues, social engineers and internationalist New World Order-types”

Again, no doubt a viewpoint worthy of being heard (and appealing to a level of intellect that likes its debates encapsulated in emotionally evocative buzzwords), but again reducing any actual debate to the sort of mindless name calling “talking points” that are more reflective of the RIAA trolls posting on this and so many other forums.

“…And then there’s the little matter of the RIAA’s use of the Orwellian-Stalinist DMCA and other similar provisions to essentially toss the Bill of Rights out the window, usurp the rights of consumers and everyone else, destroy the technology industry and infrastructure, subvert and sabotage the free-enterprise system of open competition…”

Personally (buzzwords included) I agree: The constitution has been trashed by the “lawmakers” willingness to cozy up to the narrow self-serving interests of the **AA’s.

This, to me, is sufficient reason to be VERY concerned. (The issue of file-sharing is just a small part – a representative sample – of a very shaky appreciation of the principles that over many long years were developed for the benefit of ALL the people – not just a few corporate heads.)

And finally (I really don’t like to go on at such length), the comparisons with China and Cuba… a post on slashdot (/.) bemoaned the failure of so many to differentiate between correlation and causation:

“Man, the world would benefit so much if somebody would just take out an ad during the Superbowl or something that would explain in simple terms the difference between correlation and causation. Except such an explanation is likely impossible. Oh well.”

From: Correlation or causation? (Score:5, Insightful) by Gogl (125883) on Monday July 14, @05:59PM

Taken from the thread: Filesharing Traffic Drops After RIAA Threats - Posted by simoniker on Monday July 14, @05:08 PM from the never-expected-spanish-inquisition dept. - http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/14/2046241&mode=thread&tid=188

gdZiemann,

Thanks for the enlightening post! Wow-I didn't know that AOL/Warner Bros. was the only huge American corporation in the RIAA! (Of course I was aware of Sony, but not the other three.) This explains quite a bit. This explains why these scumbags are pushing so hard for control over our freedoms and privacy. Make no mistake about it-RIAA will fall....

And rumor has it they (Aol/Time-Warner) is going to be sold to one of the other big four within the next 60 days. Then it will be the big four. All owned outside of the US. Should they change their name?

I hear no rumors. The possility of AOLTW being sold at this time also seems unlikely, the company is still restructureing to intigrate the AOL and TW sides after the merger.

A little aside: Sen. Mitch McConnell is now proposing legislation to put a stop to any potential lawsuits that may be brewing against the food industry in the future. Now, if anybody in either house of Congress had the courage and the conviction to propose similar legislation to stop the RIAA's litigious impulses (that'd never happen, given their virtual stranglehold on Congress).

W-B
I agree with your statement about the need for courage. The problem is that most politicians I have dealt with care about 3 things...Mo Money,Mo Money, Mo Money!

As voters and consumers, the actions of the MPAA,RIAA, and others, as well as Orrin Hatch,Howard Berman, and John Conyers, should help us all remember their names around election time!

BOYCOTT THE BASTARDS!

Check this out!

Next they will be trying to sue Google!
They might as well try and sue Microsoft too, but then again, Microsoft would probably kick their ass!

http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000 360.html

hrosen@riaa.com, sdonofrio@riaa.com, fcreighton@riaa.com, jbetts@riaa.com, sfabrizio@riaa.com, jflatow@riaa.com, dincorvaia@riaa.com, jbendall@riaa.com, clawhorn@riaa.com, jhenkel@riaa.com, lpelliccia@riaa.com, jberman@riaa.com, csherman@riaa.com, nashby@riaa.com, lbocchi@riaa.com, pbrooks@riaa.com, jegas@riaa.com, jfleming@riaa.com, jganoe@riaa.com, hkim@riaa.com, smarks@riaa.com, hmccaffrey@riaa.com, jmilbauer@riaa.com, rmorgan@riaa.com, moppenheim@riaa.com, mpetersen@riaa.com, brobinson@riaa.com, lsalet@riaa.com, msimcik@riaa.com, tsites@riaa.com, dstebbings@riaa.com, btenor@riaa.com, nturkewitz@riaa.com, dvaldez@riaa.com, awalsh@riaa.com, fwalters@riaa.com, jwhitehead@riaa.com, wyascur@riaa.com

Or send to:
Recording Industry Association Of America
1330 Connecticut Ave. NW
Suite 300
Washington DC 20036


RIAA fax: 202 775-7233
RIAA phone: 202-775- 0101


Let the f**kers know how you feel!!
BOYCOTT THE BASTARDS! BAN THE BASTARDS!

Everyone is welcome to download and distribute freely!

http://www.voltageconsulting.com/images/boycott-riaa.jpg

Cool jusedawg. Great image!
take care bro! and thanks!