The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has once again proven their anti-consumer agenda which seeks to disempower consumers as much as possible in their personal use of recorded music. No longer does it suffice the RIAA to refuse new technology and instead use draconian copyright legislation to beat down emerging trends in the industry, now they are also demanding that merely ‘ripping’ purchased cd’s to a personal computer, in order to either back them up or to transfer them to portable music devices (mp3 players), be made an illegal activity. Fair use be damned! See BoingBoing article here.

Who the fuck are these people? I never miss the irony in these stories, especially as they occur in the ideological heartland of cut-throat global capitalism, the USA. I mean, when workers are laid off by the thousands, when drinking water is polluted, or when sick people are denied necessary care, its pretty hard not find a politician, legal bureaucrat, or industry representative to solemnly declare these events part of the inevitable function of market, which must never be interfered with – lest we risk becoming filthy communists.

That is unless “the market” is hurting established players, like the RIAA or subprime brokerage firms, and then of course, all sorts of measures to ‘influence’ the market are miraculously found. New technology causing problems with your pre-1950’s business model? No problem, strangle its use with legislation. Made some bad loans to poor suckers who can’t pay? Here’s a few trillion in liquidity, that might help, but probably not.

I’m not even going to get into the question of “stealing” and “fair use” here. That’s for another installment.