The Schizophrenic Distortions of an Industry

Here are two quotes:

"Fair use is an undeniably important plank of copyright law... A healthy and robust fair use doctrine is critical to us, since so much of what we create is built on the art that came before."

and

"Look, it's simple: Unless you get permission if the music you find on the web is owned by someone else, you can't share it, download it or copy it, period."

Both of these statements were made by the same organization: the Recording Industry Association of America. Yet, they take polar positions.

The first, published this week by the President of the RIAA, Cary Sherman, in an editorial on CNet, portrays the organization as pro-fair use. They are not.

The second is from a video created by the RIAA entitled "Campus Downloading" (see below). The fallacious statement throws the Copyright Act (and its fair use clause) out the window to scare college students into giving up their rights. This statement is closer to the actions of the RIAA.

RIAA and Fair Use

The RIAA has overwhelmingly fought fair use throughout its history. The insidious ways of crushing the right of all Americans are numerous but a few help illustrate the point:

• The RIAA has argued that copying your CDs to your iPod does not fall under fair use. Clearly, all consumers should repurchase all their music on iTunes if they want to listen on-the-go.
  
• The RIAA is currently trying to stop consumers from copying digital content to analog devices . As Arstechnica says, "Or, to simplify, any device that can record video will be illegal to import or purchase in a year, if it doesn't obey [the entertainment industry's] DRM." Can't have those pesky consumers using a TiVo.

So, why the change of tune? Mr. Sherman is terrified of a new coalition of technology companies which are advocating against the RIAA. No longer can the RIAA intimidate broke college students; now, they have to combat large organizations.

Remember, actions speak louder than words. But I guess that doesn't matter because the RIAA is both speaking and acting against fair use.

Watch the [scare-tactics-laden, fact-distorting] video:






Oh, and Mr. Propaganda, if you are going to be lecturing us, stop putting your headphones on... taking them off 5 times just looks silly.