RIAA Now Blames Journalists For Its Piracy Trouble 367
adeelarshad82 writes "RIAA executives have written a letter to PCMag expressing 'deep disappointment' for publishing an article on Limewire Alternatives. While the article includes a disclaimer from PCMag that it does not condone the download of copyrighted or illegal material, RIAA executives believe that 'PCMag is slyly encouraging people to steal more music.' The letter goes on to ask PCMag to retract the article from their website. PCMag's Editor in Chief has responded to the letter by stating that music industry's charges remain groundless and that it reeks of desperation. He points out that PCMag covers all aspects of technology, which includes the products, services and activities that some groups and individuals might deem objectionable. He defends publishing the article by saying 'We covered these Limewire alternatives because we knew they would be of interest to our readers. We understand that some might use them to illegally download content. We cannot encourage that action, but also cannot stop it. Reporting on the existence of these services does neither.' PCMag has also refused to retract the article."
Re:Shouldn't they be happy? (Score:5, Informative)
More illegal downloading = more lawsuits = more profit for the RIAA.
It cost the RIAA $16 for every dollar they collected with the lawsuits. 2009 sales were off more than 67% compared to 2000. EMI is on the edge of defaulting on its CitiGroup loan and being foreclosed upon.
Yeah, this "everyone is a pirate" angle is pulling in the big bucks, isn't it?
Re:PCMag (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What about CD to .mp3 converters and so on? (Score:2, Informative)
IAARDJ (I am a radio DJ)...
The vast majority of us don't give a rat's ass about payola. We're not the ones who determine what goes into rotation. That's done by the program director, and in many small to mid-market stations, they simply follow the charts to determine what gets airplay. The operating budget for our stations comes solely from advertisers who we write/record/produce spots for. Only the biggest of the big-market stations are in any position to determine what is on the charts, and as such, are the ones who answer to payola. I would love to see them backhanded into a pit of despair, however.
Re:Shouldn't they be happy? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, I would be sad to see them go down. Not because I feel sorry for a bunch of idiots who can't manage a business, but because I am sure that there is actually a good amount of music on EMI that IS worth listening to.
EMI actually does have a lot of good music. EMI is a large collection of smaller labels ranging from Blue Note, which publishes tons of classic and modern jazz, to Earache Records, which publishes many of today's best up and coming metal bands.
Re:PCMag (Score:3, Informative)
membership of that site required tho
Re:PCMag (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What is limewire? (Score:5, Informative)
Umm...so when you say that people should just "realise" it will mean that their posts are less likely to be read by you, does that mean that because you spelled "realize" wrong, that your posts are as badly written as theirs?
My guess? The GP writes using the Queen's English. If you're going to communicate with people using variants of English, it helps to recognize those differences.
ECC? (Score:3, Informative)
Looking at Urban Dictionary and Wikipedia, WP's mention of "Error Control Coding" seems to be the only definition of the acronym that fits the context.
Re:What is limewire? (Score:3, Informative)
Maybe you do not realize that realise is the correct spelling in the Queens English unlike the bastardised version used in the United States of America. American English spelling was the invention of Noah Webster. Coincidentally, "Politician Daniel Webster was Noah Webster's cousin. As a senator, Daniel sponsored Noah's proposed copyright bill. The first major statutory revision of U.S. copyright law, the 1831 Act was a result of intensive lobbying by Noah Webster and his agents in Congress."
So it seems that Noah Webster, is responsible for the corruption of the English Language, American Copyright and was one of the first to be corrupting American Government changing from for the people by the people to for the lobbied interests of American business.
Perhaps it is time to push back against the influence of Noah Webster in American society since clearly he has been a negative influence for the last 200 years or so.
Without Noah Webster would the United States, indeed the World have been a better place? Would the RIAA be in existence and protesting journals freedom to write about subjects which run counter to the RIAA's interests.
The MPAA piracy site list is better than PCMags (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.mpaa.org/Resources/fdff7027-1a9e-46dc-9a80-7cf20aa1b686.pdf [mpaa.org]
Yes, it's real, and right off of the MPAA site, lol! Skip to page 3 for the list. There's honestly some stuff in there I didn't know about, like kino.to