Internet2 ‘pilferers’
p2pnet.net News:- RIAA president Cary Sherman wrote a highly coloured OpEd which ran in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 1 under the equally inaccurate heading, Universities’ high-speed Internet2 used by students to pilfer music.
He led off with, “America’s universities are home to many of the great minds and future leaders of our nation and our world. It is on these campuses that knowledge and skills are developed and critical core values established. That is why the epidemic of music theft on our college and university campuses – Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh included – should concern us all.”
Ten paragraphs of pure, unadulterated hog-wash later he concluded, “As we educate the future leaders on campuses in Pittsburgh and throughout the nation, we have the opportunity to foster a climate where creativity is valued and respected. In this way, we can pave the way to a new century of innovation.”
Since when did Sherman or the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) have a role in education at Carnegie Mellon or anywhere else?
It’s a Big Music-owned marketing, PR, sales and enforcement organization, not a teaching institution.
However, ever since Hollywood invented the ludicrous Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities (JCHEEC) and then foisted it onto universities throughout America, the RIAA and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) have been out of control.
Sherman’s opinion piece was as, “one-sided and illogical as the whole Recording Industry Association of America he represents, as president,” said Roger Dannenberg, associate research professor at the School of Computer Science and School of Art, Carnegie Mellon University, in a rebuttal carried in the Post-Gazette on May 3.
Read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Sherman suggests that universities should remind users of “the necessity of responsible use of network resources.”
In my computer science class at Carnegie Mellon, “Introduction to Computer Music,” I spend a little time doing just that. I teach students how, historically, the major recording labels have dominated the recording industry, refusing to record some of America’s greatest artists, including Louis Armstrong. (His first recordings were manufactured by a former piano company in Indiana, which was sued by the major labels of the day for patent infringement.) Mr. Sherman, is this an example of “a climate where creativity is valued” that you are seeking?
My students also learn how the broadcasting industry, dominated by NBC and CBS, ignored recording technology until the NBC monopoly was broken up by the FCC. The innovations in magnetic recording for broadcast introduced by the struggling ABC were a major step forward, enabling the modern recording industry and even modern computer technology.
Mr. Sherman, was the monopolistic suppression of innovation the “responsible use of network resources” you are seeking?
Mr. Sherman, you say that stealing “is not OK,” and yet I have musician friends who cannot get RIAA members to pay them the royalties they are due. While you are asking universities to address your problems, please don’t forget that you too can be a “powerful leader in curbing theft of copyright materials on campus.”
If you’ll stop your members from stealing from my friends, and then study some history, maybe I can help you.
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“Some of my information comes from Rick Karr’s wonderful NPR series, which you can find here,” Dannenberg told p2pnet.
“I think your readers will enjoy this much more than my letter. It’s not as caustic, but gives a great perspective on these issues.”
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See:-
Post-Gazette – Puts & Calls: Mellifluous discord, May 1, 2005
May 5th, 2005 at 12:57 am
and while your at it start payings performers atleast %50 of the profits you fat bastards