Opinions:RIAA

Opinion

RIAA:

The RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) is frequently cited as the antagonist of freedom in the arguments surrounding the DMCA's provisions. However, on its web site it goes out of its way to appear open minded. Whether the RIAA's intents are as it would have us believe or not remains to be seen, but in its posted statements it takes a very moderate stance.

In answer to whether the RIAA has a problem with MP3s themselves, the compressed format in which music files are most frequently collected, the RIAA has said: "No one is trying to stop technology -- all the RIAA and its members are trying to do is to put a stop to a new high-tech type of theft. Keeping someone from trying to use your ATM card doesn't mean you are trying to stop the use of ATMs." In effect, the MP3 format as an alternative to CDs is accepted by the RIAA.

Further, regarding copying of ones own music the RIAA claims: "If you choose to take your own CDs and make copies for yourself on your computer or portable music player, that's great. It's your music and we want you to enjoy it at home, at work, in the car and on the jogging trail." So so-called space shifting is also accepted by the RIAA.

However, when words give way to actions the RIAA seems less open to changes brought about by the digital age which it claims to espouse above. This new perspective can be seen by reading the opening paragraphs of the publisher complaint that the RIAA filed against a company called MP3.com. MP3.com provides a simple service: it provides MP3 versions of music files exclusively to people who have demonstrated that they have already purchased said music in CD format. In effect, MP3.com serves the function of an MP3 "ripper": a program that converts CD audio to the MP3 format, except with the caveat that said "ripping" occurs on a remote CPU rather than on the owner's own (potentially insufficient) hardware.

Yet the RIAA has filed suit against MP3.com for having illegally "delivered" the files it has made. In other words, the RIAA doesn't acknowledge the fact that MP3.com is simply space-shifting works and providing copies back to their original owners.

Conclusion: The RIAA wants to accept MP3 technology, but does not want people obtaining help in its use. The RIAA wants to allow people to obtain copies in other formats of music they have already purchased by means of software running on computers they own, but not software running on computers owned by someone else. The only way to reconcile these opposing views is to conclude that the RIAA only wants to be SEEN as allowing these freedoms, but really wants to ensure that the impediments to using new methods of music storage are great enough that its own monopoly of the older methods is unthreatened.

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