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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | garymaher@juno.com |
| Subject | Re: The Onion on the RIAA |
| Date | Fri, 2 Dec 2005 03:59:05 -0500 |
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'Tis the season:
DECEMBER 2, 2005 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - In the wake of Tuesday's
announcement by the Recording Industry Association of America that it was
investigating whether those who tell friends about new music might be
breaking copyright laws (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43029), it
was revealed today that the as the holiday season approaches, the RIAA
has been lobbying Congress intensely to enact legislation prohibiting
Americans from giving prerecorded compact discs as gifts. When
questioned about it, Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA's Chairman and CEO, admitted
to the lobbying campaign and explained the rationale for the
organization's efforts: "It is an indisputable fact that if someone
manages to come into possession of a CD, that person can easily make a
limitless supply of illegal copies. If this person has received the CD
as a gift, then this person never even paid for the CD which is the
source of all these illegal copies. The best way to curtail this
patently illegal conduct is to prohibit people from misusing CDs by
giving them to otherse." Bainwol says his organization strongly
disagrees with those who claim that the ability to give CDs as gifts
actually increases sales. "We have studies that prove exactly the
opposite. You can arrive at the same result using basic common sense. I
mean, if someone receives a CD as a gift, they haven't paid a penny for
it, have they? How can that not destroy our business? In any event,
these are our products, so we should be able to control how people use
them."
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