The RIAA has been aggressively trying to curtail the illegal downloading of music for some time now, and with the success of paid-download services such as iTunes, it seems that they have at least met with some measure of success in their pursuit. Personally, I see nothing wrong with that: there is such a thing as intellectual property, and recording artists should be paid for their work (even though the vast majority of today's music is produced by talentless "musicians" and isn't really worth all that much).
Now, however, the RIAA has taken it too far. The industry has filed suit against a Scotsdale, AZ man for transferring music from his CDs onto his computer. Personally, I think this is hogwash: the industry won their suits against people downloading music illegally, and now they're trying to double their money: get people to buy their CDs, and then force people to pay to download mp3s to use on their iPods or mp3 players.
Once I've paid for a CD, it is my property. I should be able to transfer it however I wish, be it to computer, tape, or even vinyl if I so desire. By taking this step, the RIAA has lost any modicum of support I may have given them in their pursuit to curtail illegal downloading, because now their true purpose has come through: it's all about greed.
I'm not all that familiar with copyright laws, but personally, I don't think the RIAA has a legal leg to stand on in this case...and if, by some bizarre chance of luck the RIAA wins its suit, I think a little civil disobedience is in order, and we should bring back the days of illegal file-sharing networks.
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