Links of the Day

Rachel Nichols as Scarlett Poster - Honestly only posting about it cause have a crush on the lovely Rachel Nichols and she looks outstanding in this poster for the upcoming G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra movie.

Franken Officially Wins Minnesota Senate Seat - After probably millions in legal bills and 8 months of waiting, Democrat Al Franken is now officially the Senator from Minnesota after the state Supreme Court ruled in his favor and the Republican governor signed the certificate of election. Starting tonight, Republicans will use the "filibuster proof" majority as proof that socialism, communism, and end times are coming.

Best Nude Scenes in Games - Rather strange looking versions of human nudity in video games. Sure some like it, I just find it bizarre especially a naked dude doing cartwheels.

Video Game - E3 2009 - X-Play

Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 Trailer - Yep a new movie is coming, "The Squeakquel" that re-introduces the Chipettes to the next generation of fans.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Billy Mays Tribute - From G4's Attack of the Show, a small tribute to the late great pitchman Billy Mays.

Video Games - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

Pirate Bay Dead? - The Pirate Bay has been sold for $7.7 million to a gaming company and plans to become a legit P2P service by introducing a decentralized way of not hosting torrent files. Long story short, the Pirate Bay as we know it will probably cease to exist by the end of August as the company tries to turn it into a money making enterprise which you can't do without first making moves to appease the RIAA and MPAA.

Watchman's Maximum Movie Mode - If didn't have a reason to get a Blu-ray player before you might now as the snippet of footage at the link above from an extra feature of Watchmen: Director's Cut shows information rich possibilities. I live commentaries and behind the scenes stuff (which it isn't just an butt kissing fest of the stars).

Links of the Day

RIAA Layoffs Tomorrow - In what is probably an exaggeration, sites are reporting that the RIAA, the music labels corporate entity that exists to protect their archaic business model by any means necessary, is finally feeling the financial pinch as 100+ are laid off. Normally I don't like news of people losing their jobs but I have to make an exception for this group. The speculation is this is the beginning of the end for the group but I doubt it. The name may change but the goals and the waste will continue for this group. You can't keep crappy, useless lawyers down.

New Terminator: Salvation Trailer and Screenshots - New screenshots from the movie that includes the cast and posters can be found here. The trailer can be found here. It looks pretty good. The future is pretty dismal and as presented in the trailer the odds sure do seem long for the humanity.

Dow Drops Below 7000 - The market has hit 1997 levels now as more bad news from AIG which reported a record $62 billion loss. Sadly it looks like it may be best to just let everything sink so can finish hitting bottom because the outlook is not bright.

Midway Selling Mortal Kombat to Preserve Bonuses - In another sign of just how out of control the bonus system has become for company executives, Midway is very close to going under yet the leadership of the company set aside $3.8 million in bonus money to be divided by 29 upper management members if they reach certain benchmarks such as selling off their franchises at fire sell prices before the company goes under. At the same time this is occurring they continue to lay off employees and screw them out of compensation such as owed paid time off. Its crap like this you wish was illegal but isn't.

Links of the Day

Torchwood Season 3 Trailer - New season coming out of the darker side of the Doctor Who universe. It’s an acquired taste but makes for entertaining television.


Nintendo Training Video from 1991 - Amusing video that shows what a pain in the rear customers can really be as they demonstrate worse case scenarios when trying to help people. I just think its cool to see images of Nintendo and GameBoy games from back then, some of which I still own. My how the time has flown by and it just gets faster as you get older. Never believed that when I was a kid.


Violist vs. Beatboxer Duel - Click the link for two videos that shows Violinist Hilary Hahn and beatboxer Beardyman doing an impromptu duet/duel. Below is the second video from when the two got in their groove.


IMB Offers Moves to India...with Caveats - In a sign of the usual shit that passes as reporting, CNN.com reports on an IBM program that allows IBM's US workers the chance to move overseas where they are needed on the companies dime. The reporter, Karina Frayter, clearly just read the press release, emailed two people for a comment and called it a day without first asking the question of "what is the catch." After all, that would require real reporting skills. In this case, the catch is a massive salary cut as you get paid the local areas wage scale. This means that once you move there, moving back will be a bit of a challenge since you will not necessarily have the money to come back if things don't work out. Sigh, its lazy reporting like this that is why the internet and blogs have become new sources for information.

RIAA Lawyers Take DoJ Top Posts - As the photo shows and the link gets into details, previous RIAA lawyers, many of whom participated in the current war on consumers campaign have taken top DoJ posts. This means that other then being at the RIAA's beck and call, they will likely try to swing the departments focus and resources on RIAA and MPAA's wishes. Considering that Clinton sign the DMCA that has become such a bane on technology, what comes next will probably not be pretty.

Links of the Day

Obama Signs Guantanamo Bay Closing and Torture Ban Orders - On his second day in office, Obama carried out a campaign promise to close the detention center within a year so sadly it will not be immediate. It’s sad that executive orders are needed for such common sense policies.

Judge: No 1:1 Relation in Pirating - For years now, the RIAA fundamental rule when decrying lost sales and problems with pirating is to assume a one to one relationship. There numbers, there legal briefings, quite literally everything is based on the assumption that a pirated copy equals one lost sale. This of course makes absolutely no sense logically speaking and finally a federal judge realized this in USA vs. Dove decision. This doesn't immediately effect current cases but could effect the RIAA's attempt at restitution and maybe (but doubtfully) help educate reporters who breathlessly repeat RIAA sponsored studies to "prove" what the poor innocent victims they are, rather then having an effect business model.

Inauguration Day Satellite Images - Click the link, with Zoom features to see a satellite view of Washington, DC area during Inauguration Day. Thanks to the crowd, it’s pretty spectacular to see.

Palin Whines Some More - Once again, the quest for special treatment while pretending she isn't asking for it, Sarah Palin complains that the press is being mean to her kids. The source this time is news that her daughter and husband to be dropped out of high school. Palin's reply is a) its none of our business and b) they are in correspondence school. For a) Palin has not problem trotting her family in front of the cameras and bring them to interviews when it appears to help her. If you don't want the scrutiny don't put them in front of the cameras to begin with. Also, her family views, no abortion, no sex before marriage, abstinence only education makes her daughter situation relevant considering her child is an excellent example of why those beliefs are naive at best. As for b) it is pretty clear those kids dropped out and are getting GEDs, another sign that Palin's politics are not based in reality.

Alba vs. O'Reilly - The lovely Jessica Alba handled O'Reilly attack team with grace with she just laid it out like it is. That Bill O'Reilly is an a-hole.


81st Oscar Nominations -The nominations are out; Benjamin Button got most and will win most. Heath Ledger is a lock for post mortem Oscar in the Supporting Actor Nomination. Wall-E will win best animated movie. I am sure there will be a single surprise over a see of predictability but frankly I just don't care.

Dr. Horrible Teaser, Eagle Eye Trailer, Kevin Smith and Charter

Dr. Horrible Teaser - From the mind of Joss Wheden (Buffy, Angel, etc) comes a webisodes staring Neil Patrick Harris. From Whedon "It's the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to." It looks good.

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Eagle Eye Trailer - Latest movie from Shia LaBeouf that comes out September 26, 2008. "In the fast-paced race-against-time-thriller "Eagle Eye" Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan are two strangers who become the pawns of a mysterious woman they have never met, but who seems to know their every move. Realizing they are being used to further her diabolical plot, they must work together to outwit the woman before she has them killed." I have a crush on Monaghan so I will be there just for her.


Kevin Smith on George Carlin - Kevin has written a great article for Newsweek where he remember the last great comedian.

Charter Delays Customer Spying Program - The internet service provider has chosen to delay their user tracking programs (for directed advertisement and who knows what else). They claim its concerns that customers have voiced. The real reason is bad press. I am betting they are hoping that time will delay interest and they can quietly start doing it under the radar without anyone knowing.

Get Smart Rules Box Office - Despite sub par reviews, Get Smart managed to exceed expectations by five million and land $39 million over the weekend. I expect the drop will be significant for next week. The other new movie, Mike Myers universally panned "The Love Guru", took in a pathetic $14 million and probably will quickly drop off the radar as its pushed even further aside by next week's Wanted and Wall-E. Incredible Hulk and Kung-Fu Panda both took in $21.7 million. Chances are Hulk will probably not another sequel though as it will probably just eke out profitability.

Android Delayed, Difficult - The WSJ is reporting that Google's Android may not be the iPhone killer the non AT&T providers where hoping for. Its probably going to be delayed at least a year (I bet more), difficult to program for compared to the iPhone, and the OS still isn't locked down so it’s constantly changing. Long story short, if you are not getting an iPhone because you think Android will be better, you might as well stop waiting, it will be a while and more then likely need to wait for 2.0 anyway so the bugs are worked out.

MPAA, Due Process A Waste, Just Pay Up - In a story of the bizarre, a lawyer for the MPAA is basically saying that people should be charged as guilty and pay up and they should not have to bother with something as difficult as "proof". Proof is just so hard so why waste time demanding it.

Gay Marriage Ban, Nintendo Loses Lawsuit, CNET bought, and RIAA Loss

California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban - The court overturned a ban on same sex marriage which means same-sex couples can now legally marry in the state. The only way to overturn the ruling is to get the state to add an amendment to the state constitution which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says he will not support. This is also the very reason why so many states in 2004 skipped right by drafting a law and went to the amendment stage as they knew that the law itself is unconstitutional on most state and national levels. I just hope no same-sex marriage will makes its way to the US Supreme Court as we all know they will support any such law, hearing the merits of the case would just be for the case of appearances.

Nintendo Loses Patent Case - The game company has been ordered by the world wide leaders of patent law incompetence, the court of Tejas, Texas, to pay $21 million to patent troll Anascape Ltd. for supposed patent infringement in their Gamecube controllers. The problem with current patent law is the patent itself is often reviewed by government employees who simply don't have the technical knowledge to recognize what they are looking at so pretty much rubber stamp any idea whether its feasible or not. So in this case Anascape probably patented an idea related to a game controller but never developed a working version as it’s not required. Nintendo years later designed a controller whose technology is similar to the patent and thus a case is born. Patent law doesn't recognize a random idea from the actually existence of that idea in action. It’s all a farce much like copyright law is today.

CBS Buying CNET - CBS is buying CNET networks to the tune of $1.8 billion or $11.50 a share. The additional will make "CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States." CNET networks include CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot, TV.com, MP3.com, and News.com. If you work for CNET, I recommend updating your resumes as there will be a ton of job duplication and therefore many layoffs.

RIAA Pays $108k in Lawyer Fees - Tanya Andersen has scored another victory against the RIAA, this time for lawyer fees over the war the RIAA has waged against her and she is now waging against them. She was falsely accused of copyright infringement and her lawyer has basically been spanking the RIAA repeatedly over their intimidation tactics. Hopefully this will help set a precedent for other ongoing cases from the RIAA who are desperate to maintain an old and useless business model. The RIAA represents only the companies, not the artists so don’t worry about the ruling costing your favorite money.

Lego Tower, Nick Fury, reNESED, BitTorrent Throttle Test, and Stimulus Check Dates

World's Tallest Lego Tower - A gallery of a 100 foot Lego tower. It was built in celebration of Lego's 50th anniversary at the Legoland in Windsor, UK with 500,000 bricks.

Story Behind Nick Fury's Iron Man Appearance - Check the link to learn a little behind the scenes tidbits on the Ultimate Nick Fury appearance at the end of Iron Man. Turns out the end was scripted by none other then current Avengers writer Brian Bendis. Also the appearance was in the works over a year and also a "brain trust" of comics writers where assembled to critique the script and improve it. One result of this was replacing the Mandarin (too soon) with Obadiah Stane as the main villain. Considering the critical acclaim the movie is receiving it pretty much proves what comics fans have been saying...that yes those writers are worth tapping for ideas and ways to improve their movies.

reNESED - As the image shows, a slick re-design of the original NES from the 80s that uses wireless controllers. Sure it’s unnecessary in the age of emulators but I can't help but wish it existed so I could buy it. The design is from Javier Segovia.

ISP Throttle Test - Comcast and other ISPs are suspected of throttling BitTorrent traffic. Use the link above to run the 7 minute test that emulates the BitTorrent protocol to see if it triggers whatever rules that the ISP may have and reports back the results. Be sure to read the site for more information and caveats.

When Is Your Stimulus Check Coming? - Click the link, provide SSN, status and exceptions and you can check when your check is coming. If don't want to provide that information, click here for the breakdown of dates based on last two digits of your SSN.

Hobbit, Slingshot, Supreme Court and Tanya Andersen

Del Toro Officially Set for Hobbit Films - New Line Cinema has announced that Guillermo del Toro has signed on to direct the Hobbit and its sequel. The filmmaker will move to New Zealand and work with Peter Jackson on the 4 year project. Del Toro is the handpicked choice by Jackson for the film. This should also scuttle any chances for a Hellboy III any time soon. The hope is to get the first film out around 2010.

Kamen Introduces the Slingshot - Previously called the Vapor Compression Distiller when first introduced on the Colbert Report a few months ago, the machine is now officially called the Slingshot. The machine is designed for 3rd world countries and claims to be produce clean water from any water source, dirty or not. The device uses no filters, costs $1000 to $2000 and can also produce enough electricity for 70 energy efficient light bulbs. I still think it uses pressure at a certain setting that vaporizes water, and only water, leaving behind the unwanted impurities.


Boston Legal Trashes the Supreme Court - The legal show does it again, this time taking the Supreme Court to task over its politics which drive the court rather then the legal which mostly seems irrelevant to the court in this day and age. Really, on any given issue, it’s not even a question of how the court will go as the five conservatives are always going to vote as a block and align 100% percent with republican values. It’s really just a question on what the other 4 will do. At this point I don't know why anyone bothers to bring a case to them since it’s decided before they even show up.


Profile on Tanya Andersen - You may not know her name but she is taking the fight to the RIAA for its tactics and secrecy over the last few years at it attempts to buffer its lagging profits via unjustified lawsuits and fear mongering. So far she is winning. Worth a read.

Sarah Returns, Music Tax, and Recession The Movie

Callie Returns to Prison Break - The lovely Sarah Wayne Callies is returning for the 4th season of Prison Break despite apparently having her head cut off. She initially left the show to enjoy motherhood but I guess she realized the same thing that many other parents do, that a sleeping, eating and pooping machine is entertaining for so long and sometimes other interests are good. Considering the tremendous amount of downtime that TV and movie productions have for the actors, she might as well get paid for her other interest. Apparently her return and Michael's quest to find her will be a major plot point for the season.

Mandatory Music Tax? - Warner Music, with the blessing of the RIAA, is attempting to push through a monthly music tax of around $5 on everyone's internet bill. For the $5 charge, you would have unlimited access to music, but no ownership of that music. The charge would occur whether you wanted that unlimited access or not. It’s estimated the tax would add $10 billion in revenue for the music industry, very little of which would make its way to the artists. The additional side effect would be that the industry would have no reason to change or adapt and would have artists over a barrel as they would de-facto become the only method of releasing music to the public via the internet. Long story short, it means that the music industry doesn't have to compete; it gets money whether what it produces is any good or not. Hopefully such an idea will never occur but who knows with the continue emergence of mega corporations.

Recession: The Movie - Cute fake teaser trailer that makes fun of the Bush and his cronies for continued inability to predict problems with the economy as they failed with Iraq.


White House on 4000 Dead - A video of the daily White House press briefing from 3/24/08 with Dana Perino where she attempts to hit all the Iraq buzzwords ("sacrifice", "not in vain", "kill us") while trying not to get flustered by Helen Thomas. For reasons I don't really understand, I just find Perino to be really hot, which is mainly why the video got my attention.

MPAA College Number Inflated

The MPAA has admitted that the numbers it uses in its attempt to sell its case that college campuses should be policing their students online activities have turned out to be false. They use to claim that college file-swappers were responsible for 44% of the studios losses but now it turns out its only 15. They are calling on human error but thats quite a big error. Especially considering how they use the numbers to bludgeon colleges about how put upon the entertainment industry is by pirates. These numbers where also used to help fool a House bill that would require college campuses to spy on student activity and filter it as needed.

Not mentioned in the various online reports is what I consider an important fact. All the numbers about pirating and the cost comes from the companies themselves. The studies are payed for by the companies themselves. How the data was derived, the numbers used, the costs calculated, every bit of information used in these various headline grabbing reports are secret information that the RIAA and MPAA refuse to release. No report to my knowledge has ever independently collaborated their numbers. Long story short, they have a vested interest to inflate their numbers, to claim higher damages because it helps in their cause to force laws th funnel money to them rather then force geniune competition.

First Admendment: 1, FCC: 0

The FCC of late has been on a rampage inconsistantly appling its definition of "indencey" against the broadcast networks for the last couple years, often with big expensive fines. Or as the 4th Appeal Court judges put it, they apply their rules in "arbitrary and capricious" ways.

As a result of this the networks finally had enough and decided to fight back. Before, its was simply cheaper to pay the fine and move on but when it got capped to something like $225,000 per instance, per station, well your talking millions. What made it worse is often the "complaints" the FCC was investigating in basing its decisions where often online form letters from Focus in the Family and other organizations. Not even real consumer complaints but people who have nothing else to do but look for "unchristen" type behavior on network television.

The networks had many arguements for fighting back, the least of which was the 1st admendment. The FCC's arguements, well they came down to "hey can't use sex words on TV!" even if the context of the words had nothing to do with sex. Well the FCC lost. In effect, the FCC has been stripped of its ability to tell the networks what they can and cannot air as any attempt to fine them can just point back to this ruling. The FCC is probably going to fight this to the Supreme Court as most of their responsibilities nowadays seems to just be policing the networks. Its possible that the right leaning Supreme Court could back the FCC but even the Fox Network is against them so no telling how it will go. Either way, right now its score one for the 1st admendment. Now if only something could be done about the RIAA and MPAA.

For an excellent breakdown of the ruling by Jeff Jarvis, click here.

RIAA Slapped Around By Judge

The RIAA's war against the consumer of its music suffered a setback as the judge rejected the RIAA's motions, rumors and propaganda that it one a case in which it was ordered to pay the defendants legal fees. Apparently in an effort to avoid payment, they tried to fudge the truth hoping the judge wouldn't look any deeper. However he did:

The plaintiffs stress that they "they are not aware of a single reported decision where a Court has found none of the Fogerty factors but still awarded fees ... ." See Plaintiffs' Reply in Further Support of Their Motion for Reconsideration of this Court's Feb. 6,2007 Order at p. 3, (emphasis in original). The Court has made no effort to canvass all such cases. Its cursory research has, however, uncovered a number of unpublished cases where courts granted record company plaintiffs, including several of the plaintiffs herein, awards of attorneys' fees without so much as a passing mention of Fogerty or its factors. See e.g, Capitol Records, Inc. v. Lyons, 2004 WL 1732324 (N.D. Tex.); Elektra Entertainment Group. Inc. v. Bryant, 2004 WL 783 123 (C.D. Cal.); UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Davito, 2005 WL 3776349 (N.D. Ind.).

Long story short, the RIAA has to cough up some money to buy some expensive legal fees. The bonus of this story is there is no legal precedent for all future defendants from the RIAA to get back money for legal fees as a result of their war. Until the RIAA learns to embrace technology, work with instead of against consumers, I say don't buy their major studio labels stuff.

Click here for better analysis of the decision.

EMI Goes DRM Free on iTunes

EMI and Apple announced a deal to sell its music catalog via iTunes DRM free (with higher quality) but for a 30% bump in cost. If you don't care about copy protection the price per song remains at $.99 but if you want to be able to play on other players then the price is $1.29. However, complete album purchases will be the same $10 and will be DRM free. One caveat is some players may not be able to play the ACC formated music.

To bad Apple and EMI didn't choose to also release the DRM free music in the universally excepted MP3 format. The EMI Group includes songs from the Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Coldplay and many more. Overall, this is a set in the right direction to give consumers control over their own purchases but as Engadget discusses, isn't the begin all and end all.

One thing they have noted is its EMI, not Apple that is leading by example. After all the CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, is the largest stockholder in Disney. He has the heft the encourage Walt Disney music labels to go DRM free, but so far they are not. Another point they had, and a valid one, is the EMI is stilling selling DRMed music. They are not out of the control business. They just are providing an alternative at a 30% increase. TV/Movies will remain DRMed for the foreseeable future and I don't see RIAA letting up on its war. As pointed out before, even though the music is DRM free, it doesn't mean that suddenly that music can be played on any player you have. Most of the iPod competitors including iRiver, Creative and SanDisk, do not support ACC. To be truly wide open and free, the music should be 256kbs and in the MP3 format.

Still despite these problems, its still a small step in the right direction that if proven to be positive in the only value that matters, money, could cause the other music companies to lessen the stranglehold just a little bit.

12 Ways to Boycott the RIAA

The RIAA continues its heavy handed tactics against its own customers. Being the customers our only response is to simply quick giving them money that allows them to treat us in such a shitty matter. However, we still want to get new music, so go read "12 Ways to Boycott the RIAA" that gives ideas on how to get your music without rewarding the RIAA.

RIAA Boycott: Out To Destroy Webcasts

The RIAA struck again over the weekend, helping push a new royalty rate that is retroactive to January 2006 that requires webcasters to pay a fee for RIAA protected music. The fee of course is moronic in scope and goes up in double-digits each year.

TechDirt.com has the details:

RIAA Pushes Through Internet Radio Royalty Rates Designed To Kill Webcasts

It's been quite some time since we last heard about arguments between internet webcasters and SoundExchange (a group spun off from the RIAA to handle royalty collection). Back in the summer of 2003, there was even a lawsuit over the royalties being set, that were pretty clearly designed to put smaller, independent webcasters out of business. From the RIAA's point of view, this is perfectly typical. They still view the world (especially the internet) as a broadcast medium. Therefore, they want at small number of "professional" content producers who create the content for everyone else. Then they can just sign a few ridiculously large licenses with those large players, and "the people" get to consume it. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of the internet as a communications medium -- a medium where people express themselves back and forth to each other, rather than a place we go sit back and "consume." While the fight had gotten quiet lately, the good old RIAA was hard at work making sure that things were happening in the background. A bunch of folks submitted stories this weekend noting that late Friday (making it less likely to make news), the Copyright Royalty Board announced that it was adopting the royalty rates SoundExchange put forth, and making them effective retroactively to the beginning of 2006 -- meaning that many small independent webcasters are now facing a tremendous royalty bill they're unlikely to be able to afford (thanks to everyone who sent this in).

That last link goes through the impact of all of this on various players -- and it's not pretty. The new rates pretty much decimate a large portion of the industry. And, it's only going to get worse, as the royalty rates increase at incredible rates ("2007's rate is a 37.5% increase over 2006; 2008 and 2009's annual increases are about 28% per year; and 2010 adds another 5.5% increase.") Of course, this is utterly backwards and damaging to the industry itself. A webcaster (especially the smaller, independent ones) is a great means of promotion for artists. It tends to attract more loyal and well-targeted audiences, who are more likely to want to later go out and buy a CD, a t-shirt or attend a concert. It lets the industry better promote material from a wider range of artists. However, in the industry's desperate need to charge for every single use, they're effectively killing off yet another wonderful promotional vehicle. The industry continues to think that it needs to do this because it wants to own all distribution and promotional avenues in order to be able to continue to take its large cut. However, that's no reason for the Copyright Royalty Board to put in place these artificial barriers that only serve to protect the recording industry's outdated understanding of its own business model.

Boycott the RIAA In March

Gizmondo.com has decided to declare March as RIAA Boycott Month due to simply being sick and tired of the RIAA's anti-consumer, anti-freedom, anti-free expression, and just anti everything that doesn't feed dollars to mega corporations.

The boycott calls for you to simply stop buying any product that helps fund the mafia outfit of the RIAA. This includes anything produced by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Sony BMG and any of their subsidiaries. Now before doing the whole "but the artists" bit, just remember that part of the RIAA's functionality is to help screw over the artists and keep as much royalties out of their pockets as they can. Again, remember, the RIAA exists to benefit the corporations and the higher ups bonuses. Giving money, earned or otherwise, to artists would be counter to that goal.

Gizmondo issued an Anti-RIAA Manifesto:

In case you missed it, last Friday we declared the month of March Boycott the RIAA Month. We've gotten sick and tired of always seeing the RIAA pulling deplorable moves and decided it was time for us to do something about it. We're kicking the month off with this, our manifesto. We want to be absolutely clear about what this fight is about and why it's so important. This is an overview of what the RIAA does, why it's damaging, and what we need to do to stop it. Consider this our planted flag.

First off, we want to be clear that this battle won't be over on March 31st. We declared March the Boycott the RIAA month to draw a line in the sand and to make a strong statement, but this is merely the beginning. Everything we're going to lay out here will still be true in April, in May, in June, and in the months that follow. March will be not the entirety of our efforts, but rather a kick off of our organized campaign to make a difference. We'll be posting tips for how to get the word out, ways to support artists without supporting the RIAA, and keeping you updated with everything that's going on throughout the entire month. With your help, we can educate people about how important this issue is and really make a difference.

Who We're Up Against
The RIAA is the industry group that represents the four major record labels — Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Sony BMG — and all of their subsidiaries. They work on behalf of their members, and they have been accused of a wide range of offenses, from price-fixing to stifling innovation. They're able to perpetuate these crimes due to their huge bankroll, but that happens to be the one aspect of their organization we have control over. As consumers, we are the ones who stuff their coffers. By buying albums released by RIAA labels, we're giving them the money they use to sue our peers, stifle innovation, and force DRM down our throats. By cutting off their income stream, we can help make the RIAA less effective and therefore less damaging.

We're huge music fans here at Gizmodo, and that's why it's really hard to advocate not purchasing albums from artists we love. However, what everyone needs to understand is that we are in no means advocating piracy or not supporting musicians. The fact of the matter is, the RIAA's practices do not, in the end, support musicians or put money into their pockets. A fraction of the money from album sales actually makes it to artists, and not a single penny that the RIAA has received from their series of lawsuits has actually made it back to the artists that had their "copyrights infringed" in the first place.

Piracy Lawsuits: Extortion and Privacy Invasion Under the Guise of Copyright Enforcement
The goal of the RIAA's lawsuits is to make people so afraid of being sued that they will stop downloading music. However, in their lawsuits they circumvent the law and extort money from people who haven't been given the benefit of a legal trial.

The process that the RIAA has in place to find and sue plaintiffs is designed not to provide a fair trial and prove guilt, but rather to confuse and intimidate people into settling out of court. What exactly happens is too detailed and lengthy for me to go into here, but Grant Robertson's Layperson's Guide to Filesharing Lawsuits is a must-read for anyone interested in what exactly happened in the 20,000+ lawsuits (so far) the RIAA has brought upon the citizens of this country.

Recently, the RIAA began looking to streamline the entire lawsuit process by cutting courts, lawyers, and any semblance of due process out altogether. Their new plan is to have ISPs point people to p2plawsuits.com (catchy!) and offer to discount their settlement by $1,000 if they pay up without going to court at all. By avoiding the court system, the RIAA can avoid paying those pesky lawyer's fees. Even better for them, they plan to require ISPs to retain all of their customer records for at least 180 days in order to be eligible for the $1,000 discount. This would make everyone's surfing and downloading history available to a non-governmental organization in order to make it easier for them to gather evidence for their intimidation lawsuits.

Smothering Innovation: If You Can't Access the Internet, You Can't Pirate Music
Beyond the harassment, extortion, and privacy invasion that the RIAA commits under the guise of lawsuits, they also stifle innovation by treating any open Internet source as a potential way for people to violate their copyrights. Recently, they filed a "motion for reconsideration" in a suit claiming that anything downloaded via an Internet connection is the responsibility of the owner of said connection. While the RIAA is trying to make it easier for them to get money out of the parents of kids they sue, the precedent that it would set would make it difficult, if not impossible, for open WiFi hotspots to exist. That means that the RIAA would make it impossible for you to connect to the web for free while out in a city that provides Internet access merely because you might use it to download music.

DRM: Pay More, Get Less
Digital Rights Management, or DRM, is the software that makes it so music you buy from the iTunes Music Store can't play on any other player other than the iPod, such as a Zune or Sansa. In an effort to keep people from sharing legally purchased music, DRM actually goes much farther than copyright law dictates, denying paying customers the fair use of the music they buy. You should be able to do what you want with an album once you've paid for it; like a CD or a record, you now own it for life.

However, music wrapped in DRM software cannot be played on devices other than those explicitly tied to the store you brought it from. Furthermore, listening to your music across multiple computers, or moving your music to a new computer when you upgrade, is often a huge headache that ends with you needing to repurchase your songs.

In effect, the RIAA's insistence on strict DRM takes value away from legally purchased music. People have a choice: they can either pirate unrestricted MP3 files that will let them use them however they'd like, or they can pay for files that won't allow them the freedom to listen where and how they choose. It only makes sense that many tech-savvy people choose to download MP3s rather than pay for crippled files. The RIAA wants people to pay for restrictions and like it.

Rescuing Artists From Those Claiming to Support Them
As we're a technology website, we're most in touch with the RIAA's actions in response to music downloading as opposed to their history of poor artist management and unfair retail tactics. However, it's worth noting that issues such as the underpayment of artists and album price-fixing are quite serious and should be considered as good a reason as any to keep your money from going to their pockets. Two articles worth reading to study up on how major labels screw over the artists they claim to represent are Courtney Love's speech to the Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference and The Problem with Music by Steve Albini. Both are written by artists who have first-hand knowledge of just how badly major labels take advantage of musicians, and both are guaranteed to change how you view the music industry.

Out With the Old, In With the New
So what would we like to see happen? First and foremost, we want the lawsuits to stop. Treating normal people like common criminals and using fear tactics and intimidation to extort thousands of dollars from them goes against everything that this country stands for. Secondly, we want them to stop insisting that DRM software be used on all of their music being sold online. People are willing to pay for their music, but they deserve to be able to own that music and use it however they'd like once they purchase it. And lastly, we want the RIAA to stop trying to stifle innovation and control the future of the Internet merely because the possibility exists for piracy to happen using upcoming technologies.

But all these things, in the long run, are temporary solutions to a problem that will eventually end with a permanent solution. The fact of the matter is, the RIAA is becoming more outdated and unnecessary by the day. Their seeming inability to grasp the reality of today's music industry has doomed them, and there will come a time when they will cease to exist.

That's because the era of the major label is over. Why should a new band want to sign with one? They no longer need a $50,000 recording budget; more sophisticated and powerful home recording equipment and software is released every day. Music videos are cheaper to shoot and edit as well due to the lowered costs of cameras and computers. Promoting for radio is increasingly unnecessary, as more and more bands are discovered via blogs rather than through traditional channels. And manufacturing is slowly being erased from the picture altogether, allowing artists to distribute their music online with little overhead costs.

While twenty years ago a band needed a record label to discover them, help them record, help them shoot a video, manufacture and then distribute their album, a resourceful band can do all of those things themselves. Eventually, bands will be able to sell their music online direct to fans with minimal reliance on a record label. The RIAA is teetering on the edge of irrelevance, and it's our job to give it a hearty shove. They can still do a hell of a lot of damage on their way down, and that's what we need to try to stop. Stay tuned. –Adam Frucci

RIAA Wants To Ban Wi-Fi

The RIAA, the recording industries mafia enforces, have filed a motion that basically says that Internet Service Providers should be held responsible for all activity of its customers including possible violations of copyright. If such a ruling occurred in their favor, it would in effect eliminate the possibility of any open wi-fi wireless networks such as those being considered by San Francisco and Atlanta and those that already exist in many restaurants and locations throughout the US. Considering that such a ruling would make anyone from companies to major corporations liable for whatever floats the boat of the RIAA, the MPAA and really anyone that wants a quick infusion of cash, the net result is it make it very expensive for any company to provide Internet connectivity. It never ceases to amaze me how a company claiming to protect the rights of its artists (bullshit, its really their corporations) seems to have no problem running roughshod over everyone and anything in that effort. This is just another example of why citizens need to flat out boycott any and all corporations that are apart of the RIAA and refuse to by any music if any artists that support them and their behavior.