August 2nd is here.

Today is THE day to make your dissatisfaction with the current state of the music industry known.

Pass out flyers in public places such as in the front of record stores, chain stores, malls.

Explain to the public that more people use file sharing programs than voted for either candidate in the last election.

Ask people to stop buying major label CDs for August (and longer ; )

But don't block the entrance to stores and if you're asked to move, move.

If the police tell you to leave, ask them where you can stand.

Don't argue with the authorities. Be polite. You'll meet people who'll call you thieves. Just explain who the thieves really are. Tell them 85% to 90% of all artists signed to the major labels will never receive 1 cent from their label in royalties for the music they created. And explain that on the other hand, Indie artists get the majority of the money from sales of their music.

Make sure the press and tv know where you're holding your action.

This is a HOT story right now. So take advantage of that to get the word out.

This evening, go to an independent music show. There are always plenty of clubs with independent musicians playing. So go and support them. And if you like the music, put your money where you mouth is. Buy a CD. After all - the money goes to them.

Take lots of pictures, and designate someone to make notes about what happens in your area. Then send the results to us.

Good luck. And be safe ...

bill(at)boycott-riaa.com

Bill Evans
founder of boycott-riaa

I have an idea to add:

Gather a shit load of CD's and a gun. And videotape your target practice

EVERYONE!
Its 1:30 a.m. and i stayed up late watching a movie being filmed called "A CINDERELLA STORY" in the sity of Long Beach, CA. Pretty cool, but i am going to bed now. I WILL BE AT THE TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA TOWER RECORDS AT THE DEL AMO MALL @ 8:45 am, I will have a sign for me and a couple signs for others. I have spent around 30 - 40 bucks, and have about 100 fliers.
BRING MORE, AND I WILL PRINT MORE MYSELF!
LET'S EDUCATE!

ALSO, SOMEONE BRING A DIGITAL CAMERA!

GOOD LUCK GUYS!
And keep it up, I'm going to be placing some audio clips in our streaming playlist about indie artists such as the ideas mentioned above... the more listeners know, the better.

Teach the truth, but DON'T PUSH THE TRUTH... Fire and Brimstone never is as effective as being a prime example of what's RIGHT with indie artists and their fans.
-rob

Just curious, are they any girls involved in this movement. (NO, I am not looking for chicks). I was just curious because it seems like every post is from a guy, and that there is no female support for this or something. If so, whatever happened to the other 50%!!! We need them too. Get your amigas on this right away. I think we could use their input.

Please check http://congress.org/congressorg/home/

and look on the right to see the new letters composed to the US congressman, I am starting to see people writing.

I searched the site Congress.org using google, this is a very nice letter someone sent.

Subject:
Music Industry Suing Fans; Not very American

To:
Sen. Mike DeWine

July 23, 2003

RIAA, Forever that Company that Sued its own Consumers

In the last month the Recording Industry Association of America announced that it would be suing those who participate in the sharing of music files. Many looked at this as just another tactic to scare users off the insanely-popular file-sharing services whose numbers grow exponentially every day. Others actually took RIAA seriously, and popular P2P software saw a steep decline in usage following the first week of RIAA’s announcement. However, the users manifested themselves back into file- swapping scene not so soon later, toting the ‘I dare ya to’ phrase towards the RIAA enticing it to actually do what it proposed.
But it looks like the RIAA has done it: In the past few days it has filed over 870 subpoenas to ISP providers to fork over the information of those users illegally sharing music files. Soon, RIAA will file lawsuits and literally sue the pants off those swapping mp3s. Although RIAA eluded to going after file shares who share ‘substantial’ amounts of music (a number naturally not known), certain subpoenas had as little as eight songs cited. RIAA blames such drops in CD sales over the years to on-line piracy, and states sharers should no longer have the privilege to be able to share music files without consequences.
CD prices haven’t always been the cheapest product around. An average CD costs nearly $19; but only costs cents to manufacture. These facts aren’t very pleasing to consumers when they have to buy a whole album to just listen to one or two songs. Thus some “resorted” to P2P applications to hear some songs before they purchased the full album, to see if the $19 shiny object was really worth the money.
Many also contribute the fall in CD sales to the fact that good artists were few and far between; no one simply merited our money. In short: Blame the drops of CD prices on high prices and lack of talent- not on P2P applications and sharing music. Certain industries need to realize that they must meet the needs of their consumers before they start immediately blaming the loss of revenue on file sharing.
Thus brings the next statement: The fact that RIAA has resorted to suing its own customers is sickening; Americans should not stand for it. The RIAA has totally lost its sense of direction- lost amidst a total blur of greed and mediocrity. Does it actually expect to see an increase in CD sales by suing its own consumers for thousands of dollars? That question shouldn’t have to be answered by us, the consumers, but by RIAA itself. Certainly the artists should be compensated, but suing thousands does not accomplish that. RIAA, on the other hand, should be worrying about that- not us.
RIAA has had plenty of chances to expand its on-line market, and possibly boost sales in the process, but has chickened out. When it successfully took down Napster a couple of years ago, it could’ve taken advantage of the mass popularity of offering music on-line (of course for a price). But instead it made an arbitrary (almost cowardly) decision: Destroy it before it destroys us.
Bringing about law suits over sharing files will grow into one of the most erroneous situations that the American people will ever be subjected to. According to most laws that politicians are proposing today, a common file sharer is, in some respects, worse than someone who commits homicide or steals cars. For example, a proposed law states that if a copyrighted file has been uploaded more than 10 times, the user (the one who uploads the file) can be fined over $2,500 and face up to five years in prison.
Such an idea surely surpasses the boundaries of ethics, and border lines on frivolousness. Doesn’t America have anything better to do than try to catch literally millions of users who download files everyday? It sadly seems that the land of the free has turned into the land where the innocent become targets from malicious monopoly-like conglomerates who only search to pay the rich with the poor’s money.
RIAA’s bloodthirsty runaway train ride used to sue those who keep it up and running will no doubt crash and burn. Perhaps RIAA will end up suing someone that actually can take it down. No one knows, but sooner or later the RIAA will fall, and it will fall hard. Forever will be the putrid karma that emanates from the RIAA as that company which tried to sue its own customers.

Sandusky , OH

good.

BTW, i heard that the fbi monitors internet communications...

Do a search on Yahoo For RIAA you will find the whole right up there.
RIAA Rocks Around the Clock
"Record-industry executives and online music companies are quietly working with colleges and universities to offer legitimate sources of free or deeply discounted music to students if the schools agree to take steps to deter piracy on campus networks. The goal is to give students a carrot to go along with the stick being waved by the Recording Industry Assn. of America, which has been attacking piracy with lawsuits. An online music service picked by a university would let students play an array of songs at little or no cost, potentially curtailing the use of hotbeds of unauthorized file-sharing such as Kazaa. The fledgling online music services involved in the talks are eager to boost their profile among college students and see discounts as a way to attract new customers who eventually will pay full fare,"

Hello,nyer82 Jazzmary2U is definitely female...and BTW, Senator Dewine is not constistant, but I feel he just may read his letters. I know because I am from Ohio...Also, go..go..Go..GOOO! you guys (and gals!) My website is blacked, my emails are sent, I have been talking to my known customers at my gigs, My old, used, and stupid-mail cd's are marked, my flyers are run, I am READY!! All in all, most of the folks I discussed this with are supportive, those who were not just needed some background information to become aware and curious. Keep it up in all forms..every tatic is needed. I support you ALL!

...Oh, and one more thing...I also mailed MONEY to dmusic.com folks..Look on their donate page for details. Why? Because this site is SLAMMIN!! and it must take a pretty penny to operate a site of this size and complexity..Anyone who cannot do anything else, can vote their support with their currency...after all, that's how the opponents do it...with money, now, isn't it?

They know they have lost so now they want to work with college students. Don't trust them.

I'm sure that they are just trying to kissup since they wanna look good...

Maybe this is a way to get names. If they can get in the door they can then check and see if anybody is still using P2P. Then go after them. Don't trust them.

There are great letters out there, and if anyone hasn't written their congresspersons, PLEASE do so today,and make sure that you check the box enabling them to put it in the letters to the leaders area or the public won't see it.

I wrote all the media yesterday (at wired mag, I wrote all the staff) and asked them why they are not covering this. If you haven't written to the media, please take a few minutes to do that. We need all the exposure possible.

Props to directive and everyone!

Keep up the full court press on these bastards. And also, if you have webpages, black them out, and put red letters BOYCOTT THE RIAA! on it.

Good luck to all...
Show them what Americans can do when they are motivate!
~code

CHICAGO ACTION TODAY

I will be handing out Boycott-RIAA information at The First Annual WLUW Record Fair on August 2, 2003 in Chicago at the Fulton Mat Factory, 2156 W. Fulton Street (at Leavitt Street). The Record Fair is a fundraiser for 88.7 WLUW, the student radio station of Loyola University Chicago and will run from 10 AM to 10 PM on Saturday.

And I'm not a chick, I'm a woman

I'm new to boycott-riaa, I just recently made this account, but I've been reading articles off this site and others for a few months now. I wrote a email to the other Ohioan Senate, George Voinovich yesterday. I also have the phone number for an assistant of my local representive Steve LaTourette, who I've been trying to contact about these issues, but to no avail so far.

Good luck Guys. One suggestion, if we are going to do this again, you might want to include protesting at the local Congressional Senator's or Congressman's office too.

Good point, i am going to be protesting in about 2 hours or so. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!

Lastly, Bill and leflaw, Please plan another Boycott day.
Thanks

One thing comes to mind, say in an nitemare world the RIAA gets it's way. Then we find out that the members of the RIAA's profits are still down. You watch, they will come after and want a tax on all the devices that can copy or transmit music/data in any way. This would mean MP3 players, CD/DVD burners, blank cds, blank tapes, and anything else would have a new tax to "help support recording artists".
Think I am off my rocker? they already have something similar in Canada.

no, you're not off your rocker surfside, in fact, my understand is that there is already a certain amount of sales of CD burners and blank CDs that goes straight to the RIAA Terrorist Network
~code

Suikiogiaz keep at it, and thank you for all you are doing!
~code

carla60626 - good luck for all you are doing in the Windy City...motivating the public is one of the hardest things you can do!
~code

Here's my letter.

Is this what you want for my 83 year old mother. Send her to jail for enjoying music. She has enjoyed being able to listen to music all over the world. And you want to send her to jail. She has found a lot of artist she has never heard of before because they don't play this kind of music here in American. She has now found a way to buy music that she likes. She can download a song listen to it and then go and buy that artist. What is wrong with that. I think it is a great way to see what to buy. After all on her money she can't afford to just take a chance on liking a CD. Not at the prices they are. But now she may go to jail is this what you really want. Is for the jails to be full with the elderly. I hope you stop and think about our rights and how us older people are going to be filling the jails. It's not just the young that are using P2P this way. It's the best way to find good artist and good songs.

to surfside,

I am pissed that when I show up at my congresspersons door early for a meeting, with a list of supporters in my hand, noone shows up.

My congresspersons local staff even calls me hermit or Mike now.

Starting a movement is harder and more painful than growing baby teeth.

Teethe on this, "I feel your pain", and sooner rather than later this pain will go away.

theHERMIT
You've hit on a very important note.We are living in a republic supposedly, or others say, a representative democracy. These jackoffs are SUPPOSED to listen to constituents and reflect those who put them in office.
People think this is the way it works..but now, they are finding out that it is NOT the way it works. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but hey, things must be cheaper now, because even a little power is corrupting absolutely.
This one issue is raising so many larger issues (or it should).
The lack of responsiveness to what the public says and wants, is becoming not only epidemic, but is becoming malignant.

We ALL need to send a very clear message to Congress. We are motivated, that is clear. That means we are gonna VOTE! We will take care of our allies, but we will remember and vote against our enemies, both in terms of literally voting, and in the case of contributions...vote with our lack of contribtutions to those who turn a deaf ear to us.
I can guarantee he would have been friendlier to you if you had a couple hundred thousand bucks as a "donation" in hand!
We must spread the word, we must become a lobbying force in Congress...
HELL, we ARE the PEOPLE...

good luck Mike
~code

nyer82 - I'm a woman. I'm boycotting. I've written to Norm Coleman, my senator. Admittedly, it was guys who showed me how to download MP3s and a lot of other computer technology, but I have spread the information to other females. And now I'm quite the proud computer geek and my friends, even the guys, come to me with questions now. I think women are just slower to learn about the newer technology.

Sherminator; I didn't want to put his name without his permission, being a college student myself, the letter put into words how I feel better than the lwtters I have written. I did say the to the people who have responded that the letter was open and written by another college student, anyone who asks I am not taking credit for the letter, just using it to express how I feel. Thanks.

How can the riaa take money from honest citizens when they dont even compose the music. They make me sick. The infringments should be handled by individual bands and singers. They shouldnt blame kazaa and p2p, cause they are no better than the people who think meat is evil. God gave us the brains to engineer and expand our possibilities, and we should be able to use these technologies to our best interest. If the riaa thinks they own all the music that is copyright, and that they should get full benefits from us middle class americans who cant even support our family because the rising prices of living and their own cds, they are sorely wrong. This is very unethical, the people deserve more than just an explanation. They shouldnt have to suffer for the music they love. Boycott the riaa, and don't let them win. If they win america will be even worse than it already is.

I have an idea that I want to put out to Bill Evans, Jon Newton, Ethan, and everyone else. Look, we have seen that the media wants to suppress our movement and wants to hide it from the public. We have a lot of talented people in this movement, including some fine musicians,videographers, etc.. The MPAA likes showing its ads of the "little people" that are being impacted allegedly by "movie piracy".
We have these P2P networks that a perfect for sharing things like documents, avi/mpeg material that we have the copyright on, and songs that we write and have the copyright on.
How about a contest for material promoting OUR side, that we have copyright on, that we can put onto the networks for people to download and view. We could have songs protesting the RIAA (remember that protest songs were big back in the 60s), video presentations showing students who feel targeted just for using P2P...
there are many informative, educational, and entertaining ideas that could be generated.
It doesn't have to be a contest, but people usually like to be involved in contests, so that is where that idea came from. And, if the RIAA downloads our music or video...hey, time to fire up the legal machine against THEM!

My main idea here is using this vast network of interacting computers to get our side of this issue out. And, since the RIAA is against P2P, they will have none of their side there.

Anyway, it's a thought, and I would like to hear what others think of it.

Thanks for listening....
~code

hollygolightly...
as someone who has worked in the tech industry, I can assure you ladies/women/females, are every bit as capable as guys w/ computers, and have even better people to people and organizational skills. We need all the ladies who want to be involved and welcome you heartily!
Thank you for joining in the fight for the freedom we all cherish!
~code

I'm gonna do things about it here in the UK cuz we r the second biggest market for it in the world, and we have to raise the profile here!

We shouldnt be eliminating people cuz they r male/female/black/white etc, we should go with what we have in common, which is to bring down the RIAA, and all that goes with wanting to control networks that actually HELP with the music industry.

CNN won't report on our lawful boycott..but here is their take on this issue on their site today:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/08/02/downloading.music.ap/index.html
here is a fair use sample of thir extremely biased article
"Survey: Downloaders don't think of copyright laws
Saturday, August 2, 2003 Posted: 11:41 AM EDT (1541 GMT)



Bob Barnes, 50, has been targeted to be subpoenaed for downloading music off the Internet. He said he used the Internet to download hard-to-find European artists.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Story Tools



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VIDEO
The recording industry is finding new ways to market their products to offset losses incurred by music piracy. CNN's Jim Boulden reports.

PLAY VIDEO

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The music industry is threatening to sue hundreds of people who illegally share music files online. CNN's Jen Rogers reports.

PLAY VIDEO

RELATED
Secret networks protect music swappers


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Why I've stopped sharing music


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Business 2.0: How labels, artists divvy up your MP3 dollar


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• TIME.com: Special report gives you sound advice
• Pew Internet and American Life Project

WHO'S DOWNLOADING?
The Pew survey said about 26 million American adults allow others to download music and other data files from their computers. These computer users were equally as likely to be men or women, and equally as likely to be white, black or Hispanic. But they tended to be younger, most often between 18 and 29.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two-thirds of Internet users who download music don't care whether they're violating copyright laws, according to a new survey that highlights the uphill enforcement battle facing the recording industry.

The survey published this week by the nonprofit Pew Internet and American Life Project estimated that roughly 35 million American adults use file-sharing software, about 29 percent of Internet users. Those figures were generally consistent with other estimates of 60 million American users across all age groups.

The Pew survey was completed before the Recording Industry Association of America announced its aggressive campaign to sue individual computer users who illegally share "substantial" collections of music, so it was unclear from the survey whether the campaign was discouraging online piracy.

"Our data shows significant numbers didn't care about copyrights," said Lee Rainie, the director for the Washington-based Pew project. "The (threatened) lawsuits maybe have gotten their attention." "

So does that mean because im not american im not someone to download music?!

"There's somethin happenin here, what it is, ain't exactly clear......"

-user

Sorry to be a multiple poster today, but I am getting pretty friggin' angry the way the media is trying to suppress the protests of honest Americans by the thousands. Yesterday, I think it was CNN that had, as their main story, pictures of Saddam's daughters saying Saddam had a "big heart"...What the F*CK! Here you have people from all around the country telling them about a very newsworthy event that thousands of Americans are going to be protesting, an issue affecting millions of Americans,and millions in other countries, and they intentionally suppress this to tell us that Saddam's daughters claim he has a big heart, or they talk about a new automatic burger flipper?
I used to watch CNN for news, but now, I am not going to watch them or that Headline News Service for ANY news on ANY things...these bastards are bought and controlled by the Big 5.

Sorry the rant, I just got mad as crap looking at this page of theirs.

Thanks for reading and being patient with me.
~code

Is it possible to start developing a list of "FRIENDLY" politicians and "ENEMIES" politicians?
We can of course start the list with Howard Berman, John Conyers,and Orrin Hatch...and Mr. Coleman might be the first on the friendly list.
WE NEED A POLITICAL FRIENDS AND ENEMIES LIST
I would like to develop a list that we can put on the web, and send into the P2P net, that would give those of us who are using our vote on this issue, to support the good guys and say fuck you to the bad ones.
Specifically, we need the Friends list for the House and Senate, as well as for Governors, and also, presidential candidates. Also, those companies like SBC and Verizon that have fought against the P2P and the universities that have taken a stand against RIAA terrorism. We can develop a database on this, so that if you are making decisions on voting, on using a phone service, on buying music, or any of a number of business decisions, that we can support the good guys and punish the bad. Right now, I can not stress the economic advantage we have too much. With the economy as it is, this is probably the best time in the last 40 years to start bankrupting some of the assholes we are dealing with.
Bill or Jon, if you think this might be a good organizational and political move, then maybe we can coordinate everyone's input through this site, or maybe you can put up a page for submission of info which could be veritifed as to the stance of the companies and politicians.

Look folks, if you are like me, you are already making decisions about how best to spend your money. I would rather pay a little more if I had to, to support a company that is on our side than to give money to the slimy bastards who have, as their raison d'etre, our destruction.

Thoughts on this from all posters are appreciated.
Peace,luck, and freedom RULE.
The music I am listening for is the final squeak of the RIAA RATS!
~code

DOWN WITH THE RIAA!!!

If you do support the RIAA, you are supporting the corporate driven government in which the individual means nothing and the dollar means everything, in which the rich get richer at the expense of the poor getting poorer. You are also supporting the type of greedy, deceptive, and monopolistic scum that this world would be better without. As for those of you that choose to remain ignorant and treat the law as something sacred, something that is absolutely right just because it is THE LAW, I hope you find peace in that ignorance because you are just as guilty as those at the head of the corporations.

For P2P stuff, check out these sites:
www.morpheus.com
www.grokster.com
www.limewire.com
www.filetopia.com
www.kazaalite.tk
freenet.sourceforge.net
www.madster.com

I agree with CodeWarrior. If we are all in this for the long haul, we need to get organized and conduct a systematic political and economic attack against the RIAA , labels who are with them, and politicians who support their wrongdoing, and who are introducing laws to try to make all P2P folks felons. There are around 60 million P2P folks, and at any one time, night or day, around 4 million on KaZaa. That is a sizeable voting block, and that is a sizeable demographic base for any boycott. But, to hit the target, we need to know who should be the political and economic target of our ire! Lists are a great idea. Also, I liked an idea he had about putting out our own,copyrighted media about this issue. If Madonna can spread a "What the F*** do you think you are doing?" online, we can spread MP3s of our side, short video clips, etc., and since they are copyrighted, we can go after the RIAA or its toadies if they download it to check it out!
`going to pass out some flyers...
Let's Bankrupt these A$$HOLES!
-bulkeraser
"Making blanks from 1s and zeros"

Code- You'll be happy that the WB-tv affiliate in St. Louis has recieved my email and even contacted me today for an interview about how college kids like myself are being targeted. With luck (and enough time in the newscast) the story could air tonight!
Take action people, the RIAA is infringing on our rights!
And to anyone who wants to use the letter posted in yesterday's action article, please do... just make sure not to plagarize by stating something like "a fellow college student said it this way..." or something like that. I didn't write the letter for personal gain but for anyone else who's as pissed as I am. Get our message out there!

I have given it some thought and it has come to my attention that we may be protruding the wrong image. Clearly, the RIAA is anti-capitalist and monopolistic and must be controlled. However, I am also of the opinion that none of us can say that copyright infringement is OK. The artists deserve compensation for their work; it is their livelihood!!! (We all see and hear about the big names, but don't forget the little guys; they are the ones that really need us). What we must be VERY careful not to do is protrude the image that is just about the RIAA, that this is just about teh loss of the ability to download free files. The public will be very apathetic to this as a whole and the RIAA wil only abuse it to suit their purposes. Rather, we must make it ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that the issue is larger than the RIAA; the REAL issue is corporate manipulation of the people and the constitution and the government. I don't want anyone to mistake my position; I am clearly against the RIAA and belive this is a great point to start. But I ask that we not lose touch with the fact that the artists need to be compensated for their work in some manner and there is a much larger st stake here.

Thanks Fellas,
Vip~

directive, good lick keep us posted. Wish I could be out West. I'd be there in a heartbeat but, no can do.

BOYCOTT! For one whole year.

good luck keep us posted about the movement. Wish I could be out West. I'd be there in a heartbeat but, no can do.

BOYCOTT! For one whole year.

sorry, didnt mean to double post.

CodeWarrior wrote:
_______________________________________
Is it possible to start developing a list of "FRIENDLY" politicians and "ENEMIES" politicians?
________________________________________
this is our best chance at changing things. there is enough of us to make a difference. how about creating a section on this website devoted to who and who not to vote for. something right in your face so fist time people to this site cant miss the political section. something that shows who and who not to vote for state by state, county by county, city by city (as many as we can), so the next time i go to vote i come here to determine who to vote for. lets get Kazaa and other P2P software to advertise boycott-riaa.com. all of us together can do this but just a few cant. I know its allot of work but i got $$$ on it, lets put our money where our mouths are even if its $5.00. lets send letters to local government agencies from the boycott-riaa group asking where and what the governors senators etc. stand for and post it here. we don't need picket signs we already have enough support. lets just organize it here. sent fliers out that say www.boycott-riaa.com . put stickers on your cars and trucks like i have that say boycott-riaa.com. this is our best chance right here. lets promote and indie music (don't forget linux). detest big corporation. don't buy sony don't buy major labels who donate to the RIAA.

r0dr0ddy
WAY TO GO..please let us know how it goes and what slant they ultimately use. we just need a little chink is this armor of silence to get the media coverage from our perspective... as someone who has been on tv several times on different issues...be succinct, articulate, and just be yourself. news on tv involves very brief soundbytes...usually, you don't know how it is gonna be edited, so try to say things that cannot be taken out of context...get two or three sentences that you think strongly state our case and are sympathetic...
you ROCK...thank you on behalf of everyone for all you do...you are a great American!
~code

has there been any big shit going on that anyone got video or pic's from?

illtbagu - sony is the riaa FUCK THOSE BASTARDS AND THEIR PS3!!!!

Im gonna go hit the yahoo boards and post some stuff over there.

ViperX883...it's funny you bring this up because I was just thinking about it today as I was out doing errands.
The thing is that the vast majority of people infringe on copyrights several times a day, every day. Everytime you make a xerox copy of something someone else wrote, or a picture someone else drew or took, or hum your latest favorite song, without express written permission (unless they are using the creative commons license whch is what many of us are doing), you are breaking copyright. People that copy a rented movie are breaking copyright.
One thing is that most Americans don't know copyright law. Most are not owners of a registered copyright. Most don't know the history of the Copyright Act and how it started in England to prevent free speech by limiting what printers could print what by the king. And, if they knew, I think most would believe that copyright laws are kinda crazy.
I am a registered copyright holder for books I have written , thousands of articles, and other works. I was ripped off by the largest international news agency in the world, without getting a cent or even a byline, and I didn't whine like a little bitch.
Most artists don't get but a trickle down from sale of CDs. Their real money comes from Concerts, tickets and selling merchandise, which promotes their albums.
For now, we will just ignore that the toadies for the RIAA are intentionally breaking every terms of service agreement for every P2P they are monitoring...
Lemme give you a hypothetical. Let's say a group like Golden Earring, a group that really rocks and has been rocking since 1961 (Barry Hay sings vocals on Radar Love, Twilight Zone, When the Lady Smiles,etc), let's say they were to begin selling all their works online, and doing all their promotion online. Let's say they gave a sample of each song on their album, and sold their downloads either as MP3s online, or allowed you to download the whole album, or even let you buy the CD online and it was mailed to you, to be honest, if I were to pay, let's say 5 bucks for their album (it could afford to be much cheaper than 15 bucks if you eliminate the A&R man, the label execs, the RIAA, the ad agency , the promo person who shlepps around to Tower records and the other shops pushing label freebies and the like, and all the other toadies)then I would buy it, and would never upload any tracks to anyone (I don't do any sharing nowadays, and have not shared music online for the record), and to be honest, would kind of be down on folks who were sharing UNDER THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES. This option for distribution is not only eminently technially feasible, but really is something that should be done.
Most people do have a sense of what is honest and try to be honest. If most people were thieves, can you imagine he pandemonium a grocery store or a Wal-Mart would be? Copyright infringment is NOT theft, never was, and never should be. If we trace the concept of theft back to the Code of Hammurabi (eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth), Hammurabi would think anyone considering file sharing theft as being crazy! Now, let's put this in some perspective. Let's suppose your dad had a really nice car or truck. In fact, your favorite type of car or truck. You were carless or truckless. He called you over to the house and said "Hey, I have a tool I bought that can copy this car or truck down to the last detail in a matter of seconds...now son (or daughter for the female posters), I can make a copy that will be just as reliable as mine and will work the same. You won't be able to get the warranty support, but it works perfect. Now, they do have the patent on this truck (or for argument's sake, we'll say its a copyright),so if I make you a copy, we are gonna both be infringing on XYZ automaker's copyright/patent. Now, would you do it, and if you did, would you feel like a thief? Now, let's be even more down to earth. For students, let's say a prof requires you buy a certain book, but the people who had him last semester told you that he always makes people buy this book that costs a hundred bucks, but the only thing he does is use a 25 page chapter out of the book, and that's it. You see a friend Rick, who bought the book (because he didn't know he would only need the one chapter). You tell Rick and he says, Dude...let's go copy that chapter and you won't have to buy it.
You copy it on a xerox machine in the library. Now, you, Rick, and xerox, and maybe the library, under copyright law, have all been guilty of varying degrees and types of infringement (there are four basic types of infringement that have occurred...xerox provided the technology to enable the infringement, the library provided a venue, and the librarian saw you copying it and didn't stop you, your friend provided the copyrighted material and made the suggestion, and you did the direct infringement. Now let's say your worst enemy saw you, called the book publisher and ratted you out...
FAIR? I think not. As you can see, copyright infringement is pervasive in our culture, but only some get targetted, this is a violation in my mind of equal protection under the law to selectively go after one group because of the format of the material they are exchanging.
When I was young (back when getting eaten by a T-Rex was your biggest fear..lol) copyright lawsuits were usually writer against writer, be they songwriter or book writer. Oh yeah, sometimes the publisher got involved, but most often, it was someone trying to personally pass a creation off as their own, when they plaigarized or copied the idea from another. Even in those cases, I recall a case where a scientific book was written, and one scientist sued another, because the second one had published a book where page after page (almost a chapter's worth) was a VERBATIM (word for word) copy of the first. No credit or footnote was given to the first as source or origin of the material.
Pretty cut and dried , right? NOPE!
The judge ruled that since both men had comparable educations and experience in the field, it was conceivable and possible that the second would have been able to independently come up with the exact same words on the topic, and thus, he ruled against the writer of the original book.

Now, I don't think any file sharers are claiming to have written the crap like PASS THE COUVASIER by Busta Rhymes (I'm surprised Rhymes wants his name on it). Also, none of these sharers is making any profit on these activities.

The DMCA is a farce. It's available online as a PDF file for those who want to read it. The DMCA is to traditional copyright law as The Hulk is to David Banner, an irrational, raging,overpowered and underbrained version that defies common law ideas.

I refuse to do this "copyright infringement is bad" crap. I do say that freedom of speech, the Privacy Act of 1974, the fourth amendment, and others, are FAR more important and sacred and to be protected and promoted far more than ANY version of the copyright law ever devised or which will ever be devised!

And, as for the public...they are the victims, not the fat cat record labels. I don't hate musicians. I have lots of musician friends and play music myself.

My open letter to musicians is this. You wanna make MO MONEY? You wanna sell MO RECORDS? You wanna get away from being boycotted? Jettison and kick the labels and the RIAA to the side. Set up a website, and secure online shopping carts, post samples of all songs on your album (enough to where people can get a sense of the song...doesn;t have to be in high quality format) and sell direct to customers. You keep hiding behind and endorsing the terrorism of the RIAA and you will lose your audience, your money, and the good will of this nation's music lovers that you have worked so hard for so many years to cultivate. To Madonna and Metallica...Dr Dre and Busta, you USED to have a career...its gone, get a real job and a life, and leave those kids alone!
~code

In my view, the issue is the draconian copyright laws, especially the DMCA. These laws give the RIAA the power to exploit artists and criminalize the public. These laws need to be changed. That's the message I'm trying to get out.

and I am in solidarity with you completely IFeelFree...you are completely right...perhaps sometimes I get so wordy that I lose track of saying things plainly enough...we agree right down the line!
great wording to our basic tenet!
~code

I don't know who else follows www.congress.org website's "letters to leaders" but so far today I've seen dozens of letters bashing the RIAA's illegal practices from nearly every state in the union. Since I bet only 10% of all letters sent to congress get posted on the website, the letter writing campaign could be VERY successful.
Still no word from the local TV station's request for an interview... with 3 hours to airtime anything is still possible. I'll keep y'all up to date.

Surfside, if you would have said that a few years ago, you would have been a prophet. The RIAA *does* get money from a tax on cd burners, etc.

r0dr0ddy, you rock. I live in St. Louis (I'm not sure if you saw me mention that before). I would love to work with you. If you prefer to work alone, that's also fine.

There's one more thing that you all can do. How about writing a letter of thanks to senator Coleman? He had the courage to speak out against the RIAA (and even admit his own use of Napster in the past). You can send him an email at:

http://www.senate.gov/~coleman/contact/index.cfm

I just sent him an email. You might consider recommending a re-examination of the DMCA, and alternatives for unrestricted, unlimited, inexpensive music downloads. That was what I said anyway. (I also mentioned the price fixing, 60 million Americans, invasion of privacy, blah, blah, blah.)

You know what, I have not done that, I was thinking of it...and must write him and thank him. Thanks a million for reminding me and sending the link!
Great inclusion of talking points too!
Proud to be on the same board w/ you bro! ROCK ON!
~code

Sherminator- The entire point of a grass roots effort is to never work alone. Lets do this thing together. Hit me up on AIM at R0dR0ddy (zeros not o's). The gateway city will soon know the truth about the RIAA.

Now for those of you who want to do something free, fast, and effective, download and print the boycott-riaa window sign for your car. Cut it in half for two identical signs when you print it.

http://webpages.charter.net/garryseith/boycott_riaa_car_window_sign.doc

For your downloading and emailing and faxing pleasure I've also included my open letter to my congressmen, if you don't want to type your own:

http://webpages.charter.net/garryseith/congress_boycott_RIAA_letter.doc

The business day is almost over, lets get those last minute emails sent to DC!

Well the links don't work but you get the idea of where to point your browser.

damn it... boss flaked on me so I'm not getting paid so I dont' have transpertation to my nearest big record store(tower)... so if anyone takes pics of their local protest, I'd be happy if they emailed them to me, or point out some place on the web they can be found... alcoholicskunk@yahoo.com

I just check the riaa website and it's back up.... since this is the day to protest will some hacker please knock it back offline... thank you

I'd like to re-offer our protest song for anyone that would like to download, redistribute it and use it.

http://www.azoz.com/audio.OhMyOh.mp3

CSN's webmaster said he liked the voiceover, but the band hasn't told me they object to the parody and the e-mail to Neil Young bounced.

So it's Fair for Share.

Dammit. Bad link.

http://www.azoz.com/audio/OhMyOh.mp3

A P2P GOVERNOR FOR CALIFORNIA?
"Travis Kalanick, co-founder of now-defunct P2P network Scour.net and CEO of redswoosh.com, wants to become the next governor of California -- running
on what could be described as the "P2P" or "youth media" platform.

Sources close to the project say 26-year-old Kalanick plans to raise
campaign funds online, and campaign compadres will include Angelo Sotira of
Deviantart.com and File Front. The gubernatorial hopeful filed initial
papers in Norwalk, CA Tuesday at the county clerk's office, and will be
listed as an Independent. To formally become a candidate, Kalanick now
needs at least 65 legitimate signatures from voters also registered as Independent, plus $3500.Platform positions have yet to be announced, but reportedly may involve P2P filesharing freedom, education, and taxation."
comments anyone?
~code

Remember everyone, I like to think that we are not Pirates, we are more like a collection of Online Robin Hoods, "steal" from the rich (RIAA) to share with the poor. Robin Hood is a good guy, it helps me think of myself as a good guy too.

And if you really really like that image of the Pirate, remember that in Disney's "Pirates of the Carribean", the pirates (well the good ones at least) were able to outsmart the rest and win in the end.

The "bad pirates", the one's cursed and overcome with greed, (these could represent the people who actually SELL copyrighted stuff illegally) ....these were the ones who lost in the end.

Ok an idiotic analogy but I was bored and had to write something here.

This from "the Slyck" web site should upset riaa's day

P2P Networking Holds Steady
August 1, 2003
Thomas Mennecke

While gauging the size of a P2P network can be difficult, getting exact numbers can be next to impossible. Within days of the music industry collecting information, they were clamoring great strides against FastTrack. Some stats suggested that FastTrack had shrunk by 15%. Although the RIAA's holy war had some initial success, current network losses tend to be slight, or non-existant.

To start, let’s examine FastTrack, the focal point of the RIAA's assault. Prior to June 25, the day the RIAA stated their intentions, FastTrack had over 4.3 million users sharing between 6 and 7 Petabytes of information.

Today, over a month since the onslaught, the FastTrack network remains steady. At the time of this writing, the FastTrack network had 3.9 million users sharing 6.03 Terabytes of information. Despite the relentless onslaught of the RIAA, comparatively few have been frightened by their Gestapo tactics.

Why? It seems many members of the file-sharing community have been encouraged by the harsh criticism the RIAA has received. While many critics, journalists, developers, politicians and even musicians have rallied against their sleazy tactics, the most important and influential rejection has come from the consumers themselves - the very people being sued.

Limited cooperation from ISP's and Universities has also given hope to the file-sharing community. Yesterday, Pacific Bell Internet Services declined to invade the privacy of its users, and returned their subpoena with a lawsuit. In addition, organizations such as the EFF have assisting those who face RIAA action by organizing legal counsel. Slowly but surely, strong momentum is building against the RIAA.

As FastTrack has held its own against the RIAA, other P2P networks have either maintained or increased their populations. Most notably, the ManolitoP2P (Blubster, Piolet) network continues to make its presence known online by surpassing 200,000 users. At last check, this powerful community had 230,000 users contributing 221,962 Gigs of information. This is an actual increase since June 27, when only 175,525 individuals were sharing 172,037 Gigs if data.

Gnutella continues to enjoy its resurgence. This long running P2P network was all but down for the count just late last year. A rift involving the Gnutella2 movement nearly destroyed this open-source community. However, this part of their history is now water under the bridge. Massive improvements to clients such as BearShare and LimeWire have allowed this network to see some of its highest numbers since October of 2002. Despite a small dip after the RIAA announced it campaign, Gnutella at last check had approximately 115,000 users, around 20,000 more than April of this year.

We could continue about every network; however the general trend remains constant among all parties. We also understand that the numbers represented are not exact, however give an accurate enough trend that demonstrates usage over a period of time. If these numbers hold, the recent statement that it would take over 2,000 years to sue everyone may hold true

OK should I write to Big George Dubya or should I stick to congressmen and senators?

Remember people write to Hillary Clinton, she's the wife of the man who helped sign into law the RIAA's favorite weapon.

Oh bravo to the women on this site. I guess i just ASSumed (making an ass of u and me) that there were none around on here. Well if any one of u is cute and wanna talk my AIM is NYer82...er wait this isn't a forum for that! Actually if anyone from the NYC area wants to talk about this, im me at NYer82 on aim (guys included).

Code...

I'm not trying to say that I'm not for this cause. Believe me, I probably despise the RIAA as much as you do. Until recently, I lived comfortably in my ignorance as many Americans do, unaware of the destruction taking place with regards to the Constitution. Then I found an article on the RIAA and file sharing, a topic of specific interets. Clearly, I do not know as much as you do, but I am working hard to educate myself. I agree that if CD's were around 5-8 bucks a piece, people should and probably would pay for them in the stores. I am also aware that the artists receives next to nothing for CD sales. I'm saying they should be compensated for their work, nothing more, regardless of whether it be in digital or live format. In fact. one of the things I would like to see pushed is the maltreatment of teh majority of the artists in the industry (of course I'm not so concerned with those that are millionairres).

The main point of what I posted was that this is just the tip of the iceberg, a single front of a much larger war, and that war must be fought long after the battle with the RIAA. If we are to be successful in this venture, however, we MUST garner public support, not by means of lies, deceit, or abuse of power, but rather through the true and honest exposure of such things. I am only saying that I fear an apathetic public attitude if we make this about file sharing, about being unable to get free music, as opposed to making it what it really is - a battle to uphold the right of the US citizens as presented in the Constitution of the United States of America. "The Constitution is one contract which is very definetely NOT renegotiable."

I'm with you Code..
Peace,
Vip~

Well the 9 o'clock news came and went, no mention of the RIAA suing college kids like myself (the angle the interviewer went for). It wasn't as much that they found the story uninteresting, just a victim of circumstance: right at on-air time severe weather developed and pushed through the city, so they cut the RIAA blurb to cover that. Being a meterologist myself I can say that was a good call... but still the message was never relayed on the air about the injustices.
Still, I am in no way surprised that the only media outlet in town who contacted me was the only non-RIAA affiliate. Much kudos to them.
So if you have a TV station in your town NOT owned by an RIAA member, CALL or WRITE them. They appear to be on our side. Now that's good news.

I understand and agree with you Viper...we are of one accord brother...and that is one thing the RIAA is going to have coming as a big surprise, the "major political parties" and big corporate interests have been busy trying to keep the citizens polarized..blacks v. whites, young v. old, undocumented workers v. native born...and while we are fighting amongst each other, they've been picking our pockets...but, as one of the studies said...there seems not to be a statistical difference between P2P users...old and young,black,white,brown,and yellow, female and male...this whole situation has found the RIAA targeting old and young, students and factory workers...
and unlike lots of other issues, finally we are finding something that this country can get behind.

So, I'm with you Viper!
Peace/out
~code

fromt eh very beginning, the RIAA (its members) were just parasites that attach themselves to the artists.
They will die as such.

I've been reading Letters to Leaders at Congress.org. Thankfully, we are seeing letters about the RIAA from all around the country...and this one is slightly off topic, but I laughed my butt off and thought we need a few smiles...this is an actual letter sent to Bush (hats off to the writer)
"Subject:
TAKE A VACATION!

To:
President George Bush

August 2, 2003

Jobs are leaving this country by the millions, Americans have to take lower paying jobs while CEO's make record salaries, many corrupt CEO's are still not in jail like you said they would be, millions are declaring bankruptcy, millions and millions without healthcare, more and more people are becoming homeless, the cost of prescription drugs is more than Americans can afford to pay, towns and cities going broke, states going broke, illegal immigration is beyond belief, still Americans being killed in Iraq almost everyday, except for Tony Blair most of the world hates us, the national debt is a disgrace.

AFTER ACCOMPLISHING ALL OF THIS IN ONLY 2 1/2 YEARS YOU NEED A VACATION."

This one was in/from KS:

”I also find it VERY interesting AND DISTURBING that the RIAA has taken their website down, you only receive an error message these days...not even "page cannot be found" but ERROR!! In other words, the music industry does not want to hear from individuals...they only want to go after them!”

…

“Again, I reiterate that the music industry needs to look at itself and find a viable alternative to solving this problem, i.e. returnability of unliked products or the old "listen before you purchase". Of course no one can reach the RIAA via the web NOW to hear any of this!! Is that a bit on the "chicken" side or what? You tell me!!”

justed

(LOL)

It's true...their widdle page has gone by bye..guess that means anyone wanting info on the RIAA has to come here to get it :0)...Guess old
Cary Puffy Lips $herman needs to sue their webmaster, hosting company, ICANN, Network Solutions, the Backbone of the Net, the computer manufacturer who made his server, uh...the router manufacturers...hmm...his network administrator..the web designer...his hair dresser, plastic surgeon, his momma, and everyone else he can blame except looking at the real person responsible...the guy who stares out blankly at him from the mirror...

Can I get a high five on that one?
~code

EVERYONE,
I am going to post an article about my day in LOS ANGELES.
LET'S EDUCATE!

directive....I'll look forward to reading it bro...thank you for all you are doing! ~code

I went to Congress.org and found this letter to Bush from someone in the state he used to be governor of, Texas
______________________________________

Dear Mr. Bush:

There is a well funded organization with operatives working night and day, threatening, intimidating, and harassing ordinary tax paying citizens in the United States. Their operatives are violating the Terms of Service agreements of Peer to Peer sharing services daily with abandon, and entering the networks, they agree to the Terms of Service agreement, and then intentionally and with malice of forethought, violate that agreement,
with the intention of violating the rights of thousands if not millions of
people nationwide. You have said you are dedicated to fighting terrorism
abroad and from within. This RIAA Terrorist Network , as many are now
referring to it, is clogging up the DC Courts with what many assert are
frivolous lawsuits. Pac-Bell has filed a lawsuit due to the way the RIAA
is acting, and Mr. Coleman has requested that he be delivered additional information from the RIAA because of his concerns about the very
disruptive actions of this organization. All around the country, people
are writing their congress people and complaining about the actions of the
RIAA. The effects of the actions of what we believe is acting in a
terroristic fashion, employing harassmenet,intimidation, and threats, is disruptng the economy, disrupting lives, and is doing far more to
interfere with our society here at home, than are the people from Saudi
Arabia, Iraq, or any of the other nations we are dealing with now. We the people, are asking you to intervene in this matter. We ask that a federal panel of investigation be convened, with the purpose of looking with considerable scrutiny at all aspects of the RIAA and associated labels. I recall in the past the allegations that organized crime was involved in the music industry. They are certainly acting like organized crime now with regard to these attacks on the voting public.

Constituents concerned with this issue will be looking very closely in the
coming months on which politicians support our freedoms and liberty, and,
equally close at those who choose to support the bulling tactics of the
RIAA and their associates.

In closing, thank you for your attention.

I went to Yahoo and posted on the boards tonight. Hey? Just "WHO IS" on our side in Congress??????/

Can someone maybe make a list if they should get any positive feedback from the mailings???

me too, cant wait to read it directive!!!!!!!!

thanks, i just sent it to dmusic.com

have u noticed how our prisons are full? they cannot inprison us middle class americans and file sharing indivudals and treat us like the murderous scum in the system and not. they cannot bankrupt america's economy even worse than it is. us middle class americans support the economy and with this they are crushing their own audience. no class of anyone can afford their bogus ransom blackmail entitlement, and even if they do get some retrobution, they cannot win for ever. this goes against our right of freedom and right of privacy. they cannot invade our privacy and eavesdrop communications of us individuals. they have the same right as us, but they are rich from sueing their own people. they dont give the indivudal songwriters one cent of the money that we have to give up. they keep it to pursue getting even more of us busted and to spend on their million dollar condos. i want to take it out with the president of the riaa and ill fuc*ing cut his balls off and shove them down his throat and piss on his grave if he thinks he can win.

Does anyone live in chicago and wanna start a boycott with me?

Today I went to a record store and I was browsing, and I said "Im not ganna buy this, Ill download it off the internet for free from people that already bought it and want to share it with me" I said it loud than a mug too so everybody heard me and then of course I left before they can kick me out.

ViperX883 -- I've talked to more than a few artists about this. They are just now starting to say what I was complaining about months ago and no one would really listen.

To promote the myth that file sharing is illegal, it has been necessary to ignore all of the freely available music on the Internet which is offered directly by the artists. Look at DMusic.com. Tons of songs there. You can download at will, but you're just not supposed to redistribute them.

However, most of the artists, myself included, have provided our music in mp3 form because it is simply free promotion. We can't get on the radio, so we use the Internet.

More and more of the major artists are allowing recording of their live shows, which ARE allowed to be shared (there are a lot of these on the Internet Archive). Marty Balin, for instance, insists that live recording be allowed at his shows and his contract further demands preferential seating for those wishing to record. Blues Traveler does it, Brian Stoltz does it, lots of acts allow it and the list is growing rapidly.

The artists are now starting to make it clear that they wouldn't mind if those same songs they would ordinarily have pushed on the radio in time BCC (Before CLear Channel) are shared, if there were some way to control it so their entire album wasn't available free the minute it was released.

Unfortunately for many artists (aka RIAA acts), the major labels refused to admit that anything was authorized. For the RIAA it is complete control or nothing.

Now they will find themselves with nothing because they are simply not getting it all. We're not giving up the Internet, our free promotional tool (mp3s), and we're going to fight for our place in the market.

DMusic is distributing more than 4000 songs last I heard. I've got another 200 on my sites. I know directive is sharing almost 1000 legal songs on Kazaa.

And there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.

Only about 7 percent of the world's music is illegal to listen to from the Internet and so far only in America, land of the nothing-is-free.

Buy Indie music. Listen to Indie music. No guilt, no hassle, no litigation. That's all we have to do.

And, of course, tell everyone in the world.

Hey peeps, I just turned Kazaa lite on after a few days "laying low" and got a pop-up from the RIAA saying I was violating copyrights, etc. and giving me a link to where I could find out (if I didn't know already) how to disable Kazaa uploads and/or uninstall Kazaa altogether. I was kinda freaked about it so I went ahead and disabled uplods. Anyone else get one of these scary things? Anyone know anything at all about this intrusion?

this is abit off topic, but ive heard republicans bad democrats good. well i find it interesting the one politician on our side is a republican. so not all republicans are bad. btw, im an independent. i personally don't think the p2p issue would even be an issue if the cds were cheaper. with that said though, to play devils advocate here, we do have a thing called supply and demand. too low of a price and you have trouble keeping up with demand. with that said, 15 to 20$ is fucking absurd to pay for a cd.

Hi wlfhcommishjava! I'm from Minnesota and really into politics. Just thought I'd let you all know, Coleman isn't exactly a republican. He was a democrat, he actually switched parties because he couldn't go any further on the democratic ticket because it was locked in by others. And also, when something happens to a politican, especially republicans, they will switch sides of an issue quickly. I have juvenile diabetes and one of the biggest supports *for* stem cell research was Strom Thurmond, even though it technically went against all he believed in. Why? His daughter has juvenile diabetes. I think it's the same with Coleman, he did it (downloaded) so he's kind of taking our side.

Now that people are going to congress.org and voicing their opinions on the RIAA issue, I'd like to encourage people to read some of the other letters about other issues that have been sent (some are unbelievably ignorgant) and remember that the RIAA issue isn't the only civil liberty right being taken away from us and we should be sending letters regarding other issues as well. Thanks all, keep up the fight!

Just thought I'd post this link, it's a very good article about the RIAA and it's tactics, written by musician Janis Ian. Probably a lot of people don't know who she is, but it's a great article nonetheless. http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html
She is also offering her music free for download from her site.

Sorry, just tried that link and it didn't work for me this time. If it doesn't work it should still give you the option on the error page to go to www.janisian.com, from there go the "articles" section and then to the "Internet Debacle" article.

So RIAA affiliates run the news. Because our shitheaded government allows things like this to happen, the RIAA effectively becomes nearly 100% immune to the idea of free press.

The press is not only censored by them, but owned. While sponsors can censor a network with threats of pulling it's funding, the RIAA affiliate is the network itself.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the more pieces that one puts together, the more highly disturbing this entire situation is. We know we are all "fighting the good fight" in trying to screw over the RIAA. But the more I read every day, the more fucked up the big picture gets.

The RIAA owns the music industry basically worldwide.

RIAA affiliates compose all of the local networks in St. Louis except for the single one mentioned by R0dR0ddy.

If there is an RIAA issue, they don't have to face the wrath of the free press or interrogating journalists. They might as well have Cary Sherman's babbling mouth on each network. Each time somebody complains, his ugly face can say "P2P is ruining the industry, which you support but you don't even know why. All you know is P2P is bad. We plan to go vigilante on internet file-sharing, and because you're too stupid to know the severety of this even being allowed, you can just sit there and keep listening to what you need to be told." The war is the same way. Whether or not justified, we do not hear "fair and balanced" anything.

As a result of becomming educated, we ban together and stage a boycott of the RIAA, which is not on as large of a scale yet as any of us would like. We write our congresspeople and some of us protest.

The end result:

The RIAA hires Mitch Bainwol, former Chief of Staff to the US Senate Majority Leader to replace Hilary Rosen as CEO.

With new and fresh connections to Congress, they are even more influential in pushing their propaganda and getting in bed with *our* officials, who turn their propaganda into law.

If pure propaganda isn't enough, the RIAA has a huge bank thanks to it's illegal, yet unpunished, price fixing techniques combined with the very profitable method of conducting business in which they reproduce the same music at a highly inflated cost, and through marketing, give it to the public whose starving ears take what they can get. They take a portion of their multi-billion dollar dirty profit, and slip it under the sheets to the officials that you and I voted for. *Our* officials promptly, and without a second thought, push legislature to affect the entire 100% of the United States at the will of a very very few people.

If that makes you angry, don't bother telling your congressman because he's already been bought. I wouldn't spend too much effort on the media either, and you all know exactly why.

What would you do if you won a 250 million dollar powerball jackpot?

I don't know about any of you guys, but I would "donate" to a few congressmen's campaigns. With such yellow, gutless, greedy officials, doesn't it seem to follow that if one had massive amounts of money, one could effectively become dictator of the U.S.A., able to push through any legislature that that person saw fit?

What's to keep the field of those who are rich and powerful from narrowing even more? And why should I even bother considering the notion that our politicians are going to suddenly start refusing money and representing everybody that voted for them, while the rich sit by and bitch and moan about their voices "not being heard." Yeah-right.


R0dR0ddy, you're a meteorologist. That's awesome. That's been the only hobby consistent for me throughout my entire life, though I never went to school. I added you to my AIM.

Election 2004 Plan: Stand outside the polls and hand each person a buck and tell them to write in my name for President. I'll fix it all, and then some.

was going to panic about this whole thing then I found out my favorite bands are not even RIAA owned. NOFX, Dead Kennedys and Decedents.. ALL not RIAA and great. In fact the only thing I can find from the RIAA is the Sex Pistols and historic music like Hendrix and Bob Dylan, otherwise I just found out I don’t even listen to their music and with the crap they put out today, it doesn’t look like I ever will. Only one I regret is Radiohead. I think every kid in America should have their albums regardless of them being able to buy them. Keep fighting so this disease does not spread!

The "Letters To Leaders" section on Congress.org has a ton of the RIAA (Recording Industry Assholes Of America) letters posted. Just to let you know.

Folks, it looks like we have to be in this for the long haul. Congress is not going to change its mind tomorrow and make everything go away. And barring a ruling from the supreme court nothing will change soon.

I know everyone likes being anonymous but we need continued action! Picket the stores, write/call the congress, keep going! The seeds of where we are today started in the mid 90s, it will not change overnight.

Got this nugget of info from cNet:
"One way to achieve reasonable anonymity for downloading files, experts say, is to find a free 802.11 Wi-Fi access point that does not require a password or a subscription. Because anyone can access the wireless network without identifying herself or himself first, lawyers from the RIAA would have difficulty tracking down individual users.

Scores of wireless access points exist in New York City, and some municipal governments have funded free access points with tax dollars. Last month, a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers gave a boost to the growing interest in 802.11 by approving the 802.11g specification as a standard, a faster version of the early 802.11b protocol."

Sure, everyone use a wireless for a while and just do what it takes so you won't get sued... This whole fight is just about yourself, right? Give me a break! You should be OBNOXIOUS about the fact that you are flaunting your EXPRSSION OF FREEDOM in thier faces, NOT trying to HIDE it like a dirty magazine under your bed! We are trying to change things. A little civil dis-obedience for the purpose of changing unjust and distorted/perverted (by the RIAA and friends) laws/social mores is a GOOD thing to do! Hidding under the bed just means you WANT to be an "un-caught criminal...but STILL a criminal."

Get with it people and wake up and realize that this is a political/social MOVEMENT! Yes, we are focused on the mp3/p2p/internet music issue, but CodeWarrior and others are very CORRECT in assessing that this is REALLY, and at the core, about FREEDOM!

I can tell, that like myself, most of us here do NOT want to take the rights away from the original author/creator of a work as to what they do with that work or how they decide to proffit or not from said work. This fight we have undertook is intricately related to the same fight ALL forefathers of free society have taken historically thru time. Just look at the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence and pay attention to the INTENT of those documents!

AND NOW FOR MY REPORT ON SATURDAY, 2 AUGUST 2003 PROTEST RALLY IN KNOXVILLE!

Well, we printed a bunch of fliers and made some signs stapled onto cardboard from some of the "street team" PDF files from here at the boycott-riaa site. We also wrote some great slogans on cheap poster board. I, however, failed miserably on 2 counts...
I picked a not so good place to protest down in front of University of Tennessee Campus (I forgot that most of the students are out for the summer) and 2nd, I did not make enough people who were close friends and family come help. Therefore, there was (in my eyes/dreams) not a big enough turn out.
But, some very GOOD things DID happen in my few hours of public display. I handed out a lot of fliers and had enthusiastic support from folks in thier cars driving by (lot's of "Hell yeah, Fuck RIAA!" shoutouts!) A lot of folks who stopped to chat were curious about the issues and were more in favor of our view. I found that many people were only dimmly aware of what the whole thing was about even tho most were music downloaders. I did not take any poll or anything... (you bet I will next time!) but I got the feeling that folks only "knew" what the RIAA side was, even if they did not agree with it. But you know what, Americans are a funny kind of folk, we generally don't give a shit about most issues until we find out it goes way too far. I think I let a few folks know about how way to far things have gone.

We have GOT to get some bigger media coverage.

Shmoo, Andrea, and Ross and Barry,
of Electric Gypsy
http://electricgypsy.iuma.com

Support Local and Independent Music!

Man, so much to comment on...
First off, independentm...props dude for getting out there and not just talking about it and actually doing it!
As most of you note, I post a lot, but I read a lot too...all the threads. I've been reading the Congress.org Letters to the Leaders, and not just the RIAA stuff. People are unhappy, very unhappy...hell, they're pissed off. I've done a rant or too off the point on the boards about the many things I think are going wrong, and it was instructive to read people's letters and see that what I have been saying is mirrored out there in letter after letter to Congress and to the President. Oh sure, you get lots of letters to the president that are not very thoughtful, mostly just saying "You're doing a great job, and God bless you." I attribute these to shut ins who haven't watched the news and haven't had to worry about a job since he was installed in office by the Supreme Court.
Anyway, the letters on the board usually come to some basic themes.
The first of course if F*CK the RIAA.
Then there are those that are concerned with how to download files and not get caught. The most recent involves the 802.11 wifi network.
My take on it is this. Let's say there is a bully that lives near you that wants to kick your ass. He's bigger than you, meaner than you, and has friends. Unfortunately, you have to pass his house to get to yours about a block away. You can live in fear, you can try to think of ways of sneaking under cars, you can try to wear disguises, and you stay in fear of meeting him on the street. You know you can't from him forever and you get this increasing self loathing because you feel like you are a coward. One day, you decide not to hide anymore. You walk proudly down the street, and there he is with his buddies. He comes over to you , talking bad, and starts to push you as an initial intimidation. As his hand almost touches you, you grab it at the wrist, swing to the side, lock at the elbow and take him down. After a few choice words, you indicate if he doesn't stop you are breaking his arms...and, because you have kicked his ass, his friends stand back and laugh at him.
OK, this is a little story illustrating the problem as I see it.
We have to confront these bullies. How do we do it? The best defense is a good offense. Multipronged attacks are best. Everyone who hasn't written Congress and the Pres, please do so. Everyone who hasn't written the media, please do so (even if you think it won't do any good...it generates a certain zeitgeist [spirit of the times], a certain weight of opinion that will have a collective, summative effect. If you are still buying ANY music CDs from RIAA artists, please stop. Encourage others to take part in the boycott. If you have never voted, get registered and ready as Jazzmary says. And last but not least, please contact your congress people and the president with a simple e-mail, fax,letter, or phone call. Be polite and articulate. The theme?
Ask Congress to initiate a formal investigation into Cary $herman, and the activities of the RIAA, including but not limited to their business practices for the past 10 years (such as accounting practices), alleged associations with organized crime, price fixing, as well as their associations with BayTSP, MediaForce, Ranger Inc.,etc.. These companies have been violating Terms of Service agreements intentionally on several services.

Also, write simple , one topic letters asking for a repeal of the DMCA!
It doesn't hurt to write more than once, and an avalanche of letters will get their attention, I promise.

This is my gut level feeling on some those things most if not all of us can do.

Also,please refer to them as the RIAA TERRORIST NETWORK. Believe it or not, words have meaning, they implant ideas in the brains. Just keep associating the word RIAA with TERRORIST NETWORK.. to the point that when people hear RIAA...the words Terrorist Network tags along.

And that's that for now.

I am pleased to see our movement growing. We see new faces from other countries and more ladies joining.

I hope nothing I said offended anyone.
Like you, I want to end this tyranny, and I agree with you the media is bought and paid for, the politicians are bought and paid for, but not the buying and voting public, and it is in this arena that we have to work our hardest. Pressure for investigations into these assholes will be very important.

OK..it's Sunday, have some fun and stay safe.
As Ali G would say..."R E S P E C T"
luck and light to all...
~code

George,
Thanks for the info about how many files i share on kazaa, i currently have about 1100 Kazaa Gold files being shared, 200 files from www.fairforshare.com, and 2 files from exel entertainment in Utah, who gave me authorization to share.
Thats just another way to protest!

Thanks to everyone for some great ideas on protesting, boycotting and letter writing. Let me know what you think about this idea. I want more people to get involved, but have been trying to find a way to do so. Flyers are great, but I wanted to do more. I was thinking of creating a "package" to hand out to people. It would simply be an envelope that could contain:
1) a flyer that states the issues and how to help (who to boycott, lists of sites etc)
2) a list of names/addresses of local, state and national politicians
3) A form letter to these politicians that a person only needs to sign and mail.
4) Possibly a bumper sticker (if I can find someone who can print these up for me free or rather cheap)
I thought about setting up a table at a local fair/festival/concert etc.
I would of course only give these to people genuinely interested. There's nothing more disheartening than seeing all the flyers you just handed out laying on the ground! Any thoughts?

My band and I celebrated RIAA Protest Day by putting on a free show at the local shopping center.

The response was overwhelmingly positive.

HAS ANYONE WITH LEGAL BACKGROUND LOOKED AT HOUSE BILL HR107???

OR S692, ALL ANGLES ARE BEING COVERED BY THE GOVERNMENT.....

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SOMEONE WRITE A ANTI-RIAA SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE FILE SHARING MANIFESTO

So now the music industry greedheads want to play rough. What’s the matter, their coke dealer won’t front anymore? Those techno-ghouls have been living high on the hog for the past 100 years and now they’re upset because the river of gold is down 10%. If they want to play rough, so can we. The only reason they can afford to pay their lawyers is because we all still buy CDs.

There is only one proper response to the file sharing attack – a complete and total boycott of all new recorded music purchases. Imagine if you got a summons in the mail. We must support our file sharing brothers and sisters. I SAY NO PURCHASES OF ANY NEW CDS OR DOWNLOADS UNTIL THEY CHANGE THE LAW ON FILE SHARING!! If you want music go to a show, or buy or trade used CDs.

Copy this and spread the word!

How do we find out who to vote against. I want names and political parties.

Anyone who supports the RIAA must be stopped by our votes.