Schoolgirl Settles With RIAA Bullies

I just hope she doesn't have Linux on her computer. SCO will be sending her an invoice any day now:

Brianna Lahara won't be sharing music files anymore. Less than a day after the recording industry announced its lawsuits, the 12-year-old Manhattan schoolgirl and her mother settled their case for $2,000.

"I am sorry for what I have done," Brianna said in a statement released by the Recording Industry Association of America on Tuesday. "I love music and I don't want to hurt the artists I love."

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires Internet service providers to surrender the personal information of their customers to a copyright holder. Such a request does not require a judge's signature, or force ISPs to notify customers that someone is seeking their personal information.

I like Silflay Hraka's post about the situation:

RIAA president Cory Sherman was ecstatic after the settlement was announced.

"I've been meaning to gold plate the urinal handle in my private office bathroom for some time now, and this ought to just about cover it, " he explained to a roomful of reporters.  "We here at the RIAA are very excited about this new source of revenue, and plan on targeting more middle and elementary school children in the very near future."

He goes on to say:

Sherman went on to point out that once their college funds were drained to pay the RIAA, many of these children would never be able to attend college.

"It's just another benefit of the process, as far as we are concerned.  College campuses are hotbeds of piracy.  The fewer college students there are, the bigger our profit margins."

File under Rants and Raves.

10:19:31 PM    Go ahead, make my day  []  trackback []  

The Fifth Doctor

Here's the incarnation of The Doctor that I always thought I'd like to be:

You are the Fifth Doctor: Your youthful exterior
belies your centuries of experience, and even
you have a bit of difficulty rectifying these
two aspects of your personality. You are
compassionate, introspective, and deeply
troubled by injustice. If you occasionally seem
to display more vulnerability than your
predecessors, it's probably because you're more
openly human than they were. Are your
companions finally rubbing off on you?

Which Incarnation of the Doctor Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I guess things didn't quite turn out the way I figured. Damn.

File under Stuff That Don't Fit Anywhere Else.

10:12:45 PM    Go ahead, make my day  []  trackback []  

Scare Tactics or Scorched Earth Policy?

I guess the RIAA figures that one way to get us to buy more overpriced CD's from crappy "artists" is through intimidation and threats:

Durwood Pickle, 71, of Texas, said his teenage grandchildren used his computer during visits to his home.

"I didn't do it, and I don't feel like I'm responsible," he said.

Mr Pickle was among 261 individuals accused of sharing music files on the internet without permission.

Besides Mr. Pickle, the RIAA has sought to make examples out of other high profile miscreants:

A 12-year-old Manhattan girl is one of 261 people sued for copying music off the Internet via the Kazaa music swapping service.

Some think that the tactic may backfire:

Georgetown University Professor Michael Ryan said: "They are sending, on one hand, sending what they think to be a powerful message and, on the other hand, they are risking alienating their primary customer.

Here's the real problem with the music "industry." CD sales are tanking because people don't want to buy garbage that's being crammed down our throats by the bean counters who work for the major record labels. Originality, talent and musicianship have been replaced by homogenized crap developed by people more interested in demographics than they are in music.

It's a sad commentary that the only way Warren Zevon got any press was by dying while two no talent bimbos make the headlines for sucking face at a prepackaged bogus music "awards" show.

Selah.

File under Rants and Raves.

8:16:08 AM    Go ahead, make my day  []  trackback []