Showing posts with label obeying rule of law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obeying rule of law. Show all posts

Saturday, June 27, 2009

RIAA Claims Jammie Thomas Jury Is A Representative Sample Of Views On File Sharing; TechDirt, 6/25/09

Mike Masnick via TechDirt; RIAA Claims Jammie Thomas Jury Is A Representative Sample Of Views On File Sharing:

"That's when the RIAA tried to claim that the Jammie Thomas jury provides a representative sample of "music industry outsiders" whose verdict disproves the theories of certain "pundits" who believe the digital economy should be a "new wild west" where "the rule of law" is not obeyed.

Talk about misrepresenting.

First of all, I don't know of many "pundits" who think that the digital economy should be a new wild west at all. I think that many of them are actually just focused on preserving individual rights against a constant landgrab by an industry whose history has shown it to not be above removing right after right after right from people. The RIAA and its supporters have taken content out of the public domain, making a government go back on a bargain it struck with content creators, much to the detriment of society, but very much to the benefit of a few record label execs and their lobbyists and lawyers. That's stealing from the public. It's taking a bargain and changing the terms. People don't want a wild west. They want the culture we were promised, and they want their individual freedoms.

Furthermore, calling the very specific nature of the Jammie Thomas trial a referendum on file sharing is ridiculous. Her case had a very specific set of circumstances unlike many others -- and even we (a "reliable critic" according to the RIAA) felt that she never should have gone to trial, as the evidence against her seemed strong."

http://techdirt.com/articles/20090623/1651345334.shtml