Strange bedfellows?
The Recording Institute Association of America (RIAA), primarily four media conglomerates that control or distribute thousands of private labels, was formed in 1952 to administer several technical standards used in manufacturing vinyl records.
Nowadays they sue grandmothers and teenagers, threaten universities and internet service providers with lawsuits, and argue their right to profit overrules any and all privacy concerns. In other words, generally acting like a bunch of pompous overweening pricks.
Unfortunately, these thugs have found numerous friends in the halls of Washington, including California Senator Dianne Feinstein. Vice President Joe Biden has had a long history of sucking up to both the RIAA and MPAA, sponsoring legislation that would restrict people's rights to record satellite performance, and urging the Justice Department to go after alleged file sharerers.
Barack Obama, once endorsed by the likes of copyright reformer Lawrence Lessig and opponents of the RIAA, has now seemingly done an abrupt about-face, installing one of the RIAA's former enforcers in top Department of Justice positions. Tom Perrelli, newly appointed to the post of Associate Attorney General, has represented the RIAA in numerous cases.
Yet to come is Obama's "IP Czar" appointment: the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.
Where is Larry Lessig now that we need him?
Nowadays they sue grandmothers and teenagers, threaten universities and internet service providers with lawsuits, and argue their right to profit overrules any and all privacy concerns. In other words, generally acting like a bunch of pompous overweening pricks.
Unfortunately, these thugs have found numerous friends in the halls of Washington, including California Senator Dianne Feinstein. Vice President Joe Biden has had a long history of sucking up to both the RIAA and MPAA, sponsoring legislation that would restrict people's rights to record satellite performance, and urging the Justice Department to go after alleged file sharerers.
Barack Obama, once endorsed by the likes of copyright reformer Lawrence Lessig and opponents of the RIAA, has now seemingly done an abrupt about-face, installing one of the RIAA's former enforcers in top Department of Justice positions. Tom Perrelli, newly appointed to the post of Associate Attorney General, has represented the RIAA in numerous cases.
Yet to come is Obama's "IP Czar" appointment: the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.
Where is Larry Lessig now that we need him?
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