Dianne Feinstein, you ought to be ashamed
Usually I'm proud to admit I'm a Democrat.
Not always.
Hearing Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) and Joe Biden (D-Del) shill for the music industry makes me not proud. The RIAA, the thugs who can't squeeze enough money out of their customers are now busily working to pass legislation specifying what formats webcasters supply their content in.
Hello? Remember the war in fucking Iraq?
The Music and Movie industry, who have been steadily eroding consumers rights (Earth to Dianne: consumers = voters) to decide how they can listen to their purchased music, now has decided to mandate the forms in which online music can be delivered.
To put it in more concrete terms, if I wanted to read this crap I write and release it as a podcast, Dianne and Joe would make it illegal to encode it to certain audio formats.
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) goes for the moral high ground on the issue of Digital Rights Management, but be not misled: this is the bunch who has routinely ripped off and cheated musicians since the beginning. No, this is not about the musicians, this is about the fat bastards in offices treating our musical heritage like a condo investment.
If you enjoy using your iPod or other mp3 player, I recommend you write your congressional representatives and let them know what you think. And join the Electronic Frontier Foundation (it's free).
As for you, Ms. Feinstein: you ought to go take a shower.
The slime you've been rubbing up against is beginning to show.
Not always.
Hearing Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) and Joe Biden (D-Del) shill for the music industry makes me not proud. The RIAA, the thugs who can't squeeze enough money out of their customers are now busily working to pass legislation specifying what formats webcasters supply their content in.
Hello? Remember the war in fucking Iraq?
The Music and Movie industry, who have been steadily eroding consumers rights (Earth to Dianne: consumers = voters) to decide how they can listen to their purchased music, now has decided to mandate the forms in which online music can be delivered.
To put it in more concrete terms, if I wanted to read this crap I write and release it as a podcast, Dianne and Joe would make it illegal to encode it to certain audio formats.
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) goes for the moral high ground on the issue of Digital Rights Management, but be not misled: this is the bunch who has routinely ripped off and cheated musicians since the beginning. No, this is not about the musicians, this is about the fat bastards in offices treating our musical heritage like a condo investment.
If you enjoy using your iPod or other mp3 player, I recommend you write your congressional representatives and let them know what you think. And join the Electronic Frontier Foundation (it's free).
As for you, Ms. Feinstein: you ought to go take a shower.
The slime you've been rubbing up against is beginning to show.
Comments
You know, Feinstein's act is very, very tired. Although I've always voted Democratic, I haven't voted for her in either of her last two elections (I actually voted for the Republican, Tom Campbell, a moderate, in 2000; I voted for one of the minor party candidates this time around as the Republicans couldn't be bothered to put up anyone real). She's a Lieberman Democrat--the kind who, with their initial support for the war in Iraq, their faithful adherence to business as usual in Mideast policy, their willingness cluelessness on developing technologies and how to legislate for them, makes you wonder how you wound up in the same party.