Another RICO Case Against the RIAA and My Thoughts

I have often believed that it stood for "Racketeering Idiots Association of Absurdity". The RIAA is in another RICO class action suite. This is the second case that Ray Beckerman is aware of.

Mr. Beckerman states that the claims include; RICO, Fraud, Conspiracy, Trespass, Prima Facie Tort, and violation of the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act.

I don’t understand legalize very well at all but I think I get the big picture.

Again this is a class action suit so it includes many as described below;

"The class on behalf of whom the claims are asserted is all persons residing in the United States who: … were falsely accused by Counterclaim Defendants and RIAA of downloading copyrighted sound recordings owned by the Counterclaim Defendants and making them available for distribution or mass distribution over a P2P network and who incurred costs and damages including legal fees in defense of such false claims"

There is another paragraph describing more so who is included. I think it means something like "we hope we didn’t leave anybody out. If the RIAA accused you, you are in our group.".

I wonder if we can start a class action suit for being forced to sit through a "Do not Steal" PSA before we can watch the DVD we just bought? I know it has had an adverse effect on my blood pressure. And let us not forget the property damage, I swear there are dents in my ceiling from going through the roof after bing insulted like that.

I think this is all fine and dandy but I see one serious flaw. How in the world will anyone ever collect it? The RIAA can’t seem to account for the money the have collected. I mean it is in the organization somewhere but it can’t seem to find its way to the artist.

Seriously though, this is in some manner, great news for a cause. I have no knowledge or experience to fathom how a class action suit will stand against an organization that spent over 17 MILLION on legal expenses in 2005. (2005 tax return, Page two, item 32). To me, that seems like a Godzilla vs. Bambi fight. (Wasn’t that the world’s shortest feature film?)

If you look at the tax return for just a few seconds, you will notice Legal fees are the largest expense and accounting is the smallest. I wonder if that sheds light on why the artist have yet to see anything? 17 million on legal fees, one questionable court victory and you continue with the law suits? Even major league sports teams don’t waste money for results like that… Not even the Cleveland Indians.

We have all known for a long time that they seriously lack any semblance of mathmatical skills. They also seem to have a more serious mathmatical malfunction when it comes settlement amounts. Seriously, can anyone really believe that P2P created a 69 Billion dollar loss? The only thing that I can see explaining this is either they are flat out misrepresenting reality or the entire organization rode the short bus to school. (The MPAA may well have attended the same school.)

It would be nice to see this carry to a victory but given the math skills and the fact that the RIAA obviously seems to be an organization who’s primary method of operation is litigation, I can’t imagine anything getting to the victims of the "drift netting" lawsuits. They will receive the same expedience as the artist… More likely, less. I am still glad that someone is sticking up for the American common person hit by that net. I am too ignorant on matters legal to be anything other than skeptical of anything greater than a moral victory reaching fruition.

I have ranted and raved about this for years. I still feel that the quickest and most direct method to end all of this is to simply boycott the organization entirely. While it is somewhat interesting to watch a dinosaur business model collapse to the point that the those entrenched turn rabid and sue their customers, I do not consider it entertainment. The Recording Industry has turned the into a litigation industry. These litigations tend to drag on like the latest remake of "King Kong" and have the same effect; a bored to death audience from constant over-exposure to what would otherwise be a good thing. Those who advocate this "sue em all" campaign claim that they have had an impact on piracy. Why not move on to some distribution of these funds and retool your business instead?

Unfortunately, it is far from ending. They now simply attempt new methods to control their customers. They are even finding ways to use our tax dollars and government resources. They spend millions lobbying. The reality is that the legal and "buy the law" tactis are going nowhere until the rabid mammoth runs out of funds. Piracy is not the solution or the problem. The solution is that we can now get more of the money directly to the artist and we should. This benefits both the artist and the customer… For the RIAA, that is a problem. Neither the consumer or the artist need the RIAA.

Gone are the days when the musician was the monkey and the industry the organ grinder. For the consumer, gone are the days when the town only had one organ grinder. As a matter in fact, you wanted to see the monkey not the grinder… now you can.

Please, while reading this, do not confuse primates. A monkey and a Gorilla are very different. King Kong was a gorilla; as in the evil, vile, smelly, big ugly, kind, squeeze money out of fans kind of primate. You would not want one as a pet. A monkey is cute, smells much better than a gorilla and the odor is often masked by the smell of a malt beverage, likes to please its fans, and, at its worse, is slightly mischievous. Regrettably, many poor monkeys have been reprogramed by the gorillas. There is this one poor hit less monkey who used to go by Prince and got reprogrammed… He does not even know his name anymore. Folks, we, most regrettably, can do nothing for the reprogrammed monkeys. We can only support those not yet captured to servitude and protect them from the gorilla’s death grip.

In my opinion, I think the solution would be to get hip with the new tech. I don’t know who is doing what and when over at the RIAA. (I actually had to struggle with that previous sentence because using the word "thinking" didn’t seem right.) One thing is certain, they seem to have turned everyone off except for the attorneys.

This all has to be hurting RIAA membership. It seems they also use similar math to calculate how many members are in its organization. To be fair though, that article needs some verification. We need also understand with so many legal bills, competent IST personnel and liscenced investigators are likely not high on the priority list. It also seems difficult to find an accurate list of RIAA members but one thing must be certain. The membership must be decreasing. (BTW RIAA Radar is a great way to check and make sure you send your money to the right place.)

Personally, I am getting slightly bored with this whole suit and counter-suit thing but I have been interested for so long I simply have to stick around and watch Kong plummet to oneness with the pavement. Being a remake, I already know the ending and I know it is the best part. I can not simply stop following it now. After the large concrete caving dent, I can walk up and say "It was blind greed that killed the idiot", stick my ear buds in, and walk away from it listening to some podsafe, DRM free music.

The people do need a moral victory. Despite my satire, I would like to see more of the same. Will the RIAA will eventually see the light? If that were to happen, it would likely be a good day to buy a lotto ticket and attempt to sled ride through Hades.

For now, look for podsafe alternatives, don’t pirate, and let the gorilla spend and wear itself out. You don’t need that Prince CD. Try and convice yourself you are waiting until his next hit. You might wanna re-read the last sentence in the paragaph above though. ;) Help to free the monkey and tell the organ grinder to find a new line of work. We all need to do bussiness with someone who treats us like a customer and not a litigation target.

Thanks for listening to me rant.