'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."