Oct
2007
You’re All Pirates!
In the continuation of yesterday’s post about the RIAA court case, Ars Technica continued their excellent coverage of the courtroom happenings, and boy was there a doozy of a bombshell. I will block quote the piece because you really need to see this in all of its glory.
Pariser has a very broad definition of “stealing.” When questioned by Richard Gabriel, lead counsel for the record labels, Pariser suggested that what millions of music fans do is actually theft. The dirty deed? Ripping your own CDs or downloading songs you already own.
Gabriel asked if it was wrong for consumers to make copies of music which they have purchased, even just one copy. Pariser replied, “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” Making “a copy” of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ’steals just one copy’,” she said.
Countless studies have shown that the majority of music on portable music players like the iPod comes from sources other than download services. For most people, that music is comprised primarily of songs “ripped” from CD collections to MP3 or some other comparable format. Indeed, most portable music players comes with software (like iTunes) which is designed to facilitate the easy ripping of CDs. According to Pariser’s view, this is stealing.
You have to be kidding me.
A CD you legally purchased, that you are not sharing with anyone else, and because you choose to enjoy it in a way of your choosing… that’s “stealing”?
Is it any wonder that the music companies just continually piss me off? Is it any wonder that people they feel they are nothing but greedy bastards? If you want to listen a CD you LEGALLY purchased on another device you own… by golly, you better believe I’m doing it.
Music » You’re All Pirates! | October 4th, 2007 at 1:03 am #
[...] Blog Feeds about Music » Archive » Audio book musings ?? Blog Archive ?? M… wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWhen questioned by Richard Gabriel, lead counsel for the record labels, Pariser suggested that what millions of music fans do is actually theft. The dirty deed? Ripping your own CDs or downloading songs you already own. … [...]
Luis | October 4th, 2007 at 5:36 pm #
Well, that’s their dream paradigm, isn’t it? You pay them to buy the CD, you pay again to listen on your computer, you pay again to have a backup, you pay again to listen on a media player… and you pay them again just so they can have more money.
Gone are the days where you buy something and you possess it. How low before they apply End User License Agreements to oranges and tomatoes? “Oh, you want to juice that orange you bought from us? That’s stealing! You have to buy another orange for that. And don’t think of using the orange rind in a recipe, that’s not covered under the DRM law. Buy another orange.
Sean P Aune | October 4th, 2007 at 5:39 pm #
You hit the nail on the head, Luis. They are out of their ever lovin’ minds if they think I will pay for the same music over-and-over so I can continue using it for my personal use.
BTW, the verdict is in, she was found guilty and fined $222,000.
SeanPAune.com » Blog Archive » And it’s all over | October 6th, 2007 at 1:48 pm #
[...] Sean P Aune: You hit the nail on the head, Luis. They are out of their e… On this day… [...]
SeanPAune.com » Blog Archive » Musicians Look to Circumvent Traditional Channels | October 10th, 2007 at 2:23 am #
[...] gee, on one hand you have record companies telling us that if we rip a song from a CD we purchased to our iPod, that’s piracy. Is it still piracy if the album is given away for free? What if the music is then put on the [...]
SeanPAune.com » Blog Archive » The RIAA Rides Again | December 11th, 2007 at 3:35 pm #
[...] purchased, is really a pirate because they never told us we could do that. This little gem of info first showed up in October during one of their court trials, and now they’re using it [...]
SeanPAune.com » Blog Archive » RIAA tries a new tactic | December 30th, 2007 at 9:04 pm #
[...] Back in October I discussed a new tact that Sony Records was trying by claiming that anyone who copied music from a legally purchased CD to their computer was a pirate. The abbreviated quote is: “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.†Making “a copy†of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ’steals just one copy’,†she said. [...]