I Hate DRM

The EFF has put together a number of articles about the craziness that is going on in Washington.  They call it “The Season of Bad Laws”.  The current articles are great reads and I’ll try to summarize them here.

Part 1: Trademark Dilution Act – some key wording around existing trademark law is being changed so that defending against trademark infringement will become more difficult, i.e. it will be easier to get sued for trademark infringement.  This will make it riskier for news agencies or reporting agencies to utilize free speech.  Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas is the sponsor of this bill.  Please, let him know how you feel.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002384406

Part 2: Criminal Copyright Infringement, Drug War Style – So you know how the RIAA is suing everyone under the sun right?  How grandmas and little girls are appearing in court?  How the RIAA would have you quit college to pay their fines (http://ihatedrm.com/cs2/blogs/i_hate_drm_blog/archive/2006/04/05/132.aspx)?  Well, get ready for legislation that rings something like this “Guilty until proven innocent.”  Wait a sec, I thought that every citizen in the US was, by law, “Innocent until proven guilty”?  The burden of proving guilt is on the shoulders of the accusers…not the other way around.  Well, there is a draft bill circulating right now that will make it easier to convict people of criminal copyright infringement and will increase the penal and financial penalties when someone is convicted.  All this will do is make it easier for the RIAA and the MPAA to sue its customers.  This is some very scary legislation.

Part 3: Banning MP3 Streaming – RIAA at it again.  This time they have their scopes on satellite radio provider, XM Radio.  XM pays them millions of dollars in royalties already.  They contend that there is no difference between recordings off of XM radio vs. a standard radio, which is currently protected.  Why is this any different?  It isn’t but since the record companies are in negotiations with XM, this law will give them the upper hand.  The law makers are also to blame here.  You can add U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn) to your shit-list.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/26/AR2006042600054.html

The moral to this story is WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN/WOMEN!  Tell them what you think of this shit.  It is all bogus and will only serve to squeeze the “little guy”.  Tell them you are tired of spending your hard earned money only to be treated like a criminal at every opportunity.  Send a message to the RIAA and stop buying their crap.  Unfortunately, everyone and their brother appears to belong to the RIAA (http://www.riaa.com/about/members/default.asp).  But there are plenty of independent labels and distribution methods that haven’t bought into the RIAA and their Gestapo-like practices.  Check the www.boycott-riaa.com site.  There is a list of artists that are free from the RIAA here (http://www.boycott-riaa.com/artists).