Saturday, June 02, 2007

The Digital Rights Managment Battle

The battle over digital rights becomes more exciting as each day passes. Personally, I try and keep a close eye on the whole ordeal. This is very hard to do because it is so large and complex. The battle is all over the country; it is in many states rather than confined to any one specific state. The RIAA is trying to hang on to their overbearing, intrusive copyright monopoly on music, which they should not be profiting from in the first place. Supposedly, the RIAA is protecting artists and the music industry as a whole, but, in reality, they are just out to make a few dollars. Hopefully, artists and consumers alike will prevail in the end. Here are two articles that I feel are important regarding this topic from within this past month:

Harvard Professor Charles Nesson takes a stance against the RIAA.

Professor Johan Pouwelse agrees to testify against the RIAA in court.

Both of these men are very experienced in their respective fields. They, along with millions of other people, are against the RIAA. I think it is saying something when experts like this are against the RIAA. Additionally, many artists have voiced their opinion as being against the RIAA, too. A recent example of this is with the band Nine Inch Nails (a little background on this here).

All I have to say on this is:

Down with the RIAA!