This is damn ridiculous...

Link Here

We already know that the entertainment industry loves to try to get people to pay for every possible use of their content. Remember the filmmaker who almost couldn't release his documentary because there was a four and a half second clip of The Simpsons playing in the background in one scene? It seems that with the rise of user-generated video, a lot more people are learning about the fun of licensing rights. The RIAA is apparently sending out cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users who dare to put up videos of things such as themselves dancing to music they haven't licensed. It's difficult to see how the RIAA can make a credible claim of "losses" in this case. Clearly, some kids videotaping themselves bopping along to some song aren't going to pay a license fee -- and these sorts of viral videos tend to help build up more interest in artists. So what good does it do to go after these videos?

 

by that same logic, red light cameras can't take pictures of me running red lights.

my driving style is art, and until the city has a license to photograph said art, they should cease and decist.

total bullshit.

 

that's totally different. you're driver's liscense is state issued, and you are driving on roads that are state owned. it's just like if you were some scientist working for some firm, and you come up with the cure for cancer under their time, resources, and facility, you do not have the legal right to claim the patent for that cure for yourself. instead, the firm you work for have the rights to that patent. similarly, when you are driving on public roads under the permission granted to you by the state via your valid driver's liscense, the city or state have the right to photograph you or film you if they choose. just like if someone was to come inside my house, i have the right to film or photograph them if and when i choose. their only option is to leave my house if they do not want to be filmed or photographed, just like your only option is not drive on public roads if you don't want to be filmed or photographed by the city/state. furthermore, you may consider your driving style an "art", but since you do not have a legal patent or copyright for it, you do not legally "own" it, and so the city/state cameras have not violated any legal "property" issues.

 

as in regards to the RIAA, i seriously hope people would just collectively and concertedly boycott the industry by not buying any CDs for a whole year...

 

^I've been doing just that for the past 10.

 

You have just inspired me to patent my driving style

 

well that's a relief. I was worried I'd get in trouble for having those cameras set up in the bathrooms of the hotel I own

 

Thats why people need to boycott CDs. When that happens, no money for artists = bitchy artists, etc etc.

I havent bought a CD in over 6 years. Doesnt stop me from having music though

 

I've done that for nearly a whole decade

 

Yeah, I have little desire to buy a product from an industry that sues its customer base, especially when the quality of music is generally garbage these days.