The RIAA are fuckwits

The RIAA really piss me off. I happen to be one of the millions of people that use Youtube to watch video clips of music I'm thinking of buying.

So today I go to youtube, and try to watch the music video by Keane called Everybody changes. It's got a real neat piano riff, and I was interested in seeing the video.

But no - the stupid f$%^&*g RIAA have asked Youtube to remove said video, and now there is a red banner stating "This video has been removed at the request of the copyright owner RIAA because it's content was used without permission".

From Wikipedia

There is much criticism of the RIAA's policy and method of suing people for copyright infringement, notably with Internet-based pressure groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Boycott RIAA and FreeCulture ^[18]. To date, the RIAA has sued approximately 16,000 ^[19] people in the United States suspected of distributing copyrighted works, and have settled approximately 2,500 of the cases. There are some suggestions that the RIAA begins legal proceedings without any knowledge of whether they have engaged in copyright abuses or not ^[20].

The RIAA has been criticised in the media after they subpoenaed Gertrude Walton, an 83-year-old grandmother who had died in December of 2004 ^[21]. Mrs. Walton stood accused of swapping rock, pop and rap songs. The RIAA in 2003 attempted to sue Sarah Seabury Ward, a 66 year-old sculptor residing in Boston, Massachusetts. They alleged that she shared more than 2,000 songs illegally. The RIAA dropped the suit when it was discovered that she was a computer novice. The case was dismissed, but without prejudice.

The RIAA has also been criticised for bringing lawsuits against children, such as 12 year old Brianna LaHara in 2003 ^[22]. The RIAA also attempted to sue Candy Chan of Michigan, for the alleged actions of her daughter, 13 year old Brittany Chan. The court dismissed Priority Records v. Chan ^[23] because it was ruled that the mother could not be sued for the alleged infringements of her daughter. ^[24] When the court ruled in favor of the mother, dismissing the case, the RIAA proceeded to sue her child. However, prosecuting a minor is more difficult, and many previous adult defendants have said that the P2P software installation and copyright infringement was done without their knowledge by one of their children.

The RIAA's recent targeting of students has generated controversy as well. An April 4th story in the MIT campus newspaper The Tech indicates that an RIAA representative stated to Cassi Hunt, an alleged file-sharer, that previously, "the RIAA has been known to suggest that students drop out of college or go to community college in order to be able to afford settlements."^[25]

The RIAA has recently sent cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users for publishing their own works without licensing.^[26]

So f%$k you RIAA - I'm not going to buy the album now. And Keane - you've just lost a sale.

And you wonder why the music industry is in trouble.

But help is at hand...