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DefectiveByDesign Supporters to Call on RIAA Execs
johnsu01 writes "DefectiveByDesign.org is organizing a call-in campaign for today. People around the country will be calling high-ranking RIAA officials to deliver the message that DRM is an unacceptable restriction on the freedom of consumers and citizens. DefectiveByDesign will provide the numbers to call when you sign up. This action should attract the people who thought that Apple was not a good target because it is the RIAA that requires DRM and those who think that wearing HazMat suits is obnoxious. Everyone can vote with their dollars, but that doesn't tell the RIAA why they aren't getting the dollars. With a few thousand people signed up already, they will undoubtedly know after today."
Imagine if every Wal*Mart in a given city had a swarm of "customers" walk in, fill up a cart with goods and then abandon it. You can bet it would make the local news if it were done right. Even the national news. Look how that guy who recorded his "cancel my account" AOL experience. He managed to get digg and slashdot to cover it, and then it spiralled out onto the cable news networks. That one story could have profound effects on the entire AOL customer service staff.
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
They don't. They want to pull a Denial of Service attack on the switchboards to force the Mr. Powerful RIAA Person to use their own personal cell phone minutes to make outgoing phone calls and hopefully get them to "feel the pain" of paying through the nose to talk. Unfortunately, Mr. Powerful RIAA Person can use that as an excuse to jack up retail prices and blame the "pirates" for the need to do so.
Managers are usually happy when people call up and complain and explain why they're not getting peoples' money.
The RIAA might be very surprised to hear that they're actually losing money to DRM, and how DRM actually PROMOTES piracy.
If I have the choice between for-pay content, and pirated content, I'll take for pay, because it's neutral re functionality, and thus I make the moral choice. If I have the option between pirated and DRMed, I will select pirated, because pirated is superior (no restrictions).
"Everyone can vote with their dollars, but that doesn't tell the RIAA why they aren't getting the dollars."
I do love this idea. Has any one else noticed that if we reduce ourselves to voting with our dollars, then ordinary people get about 37,000 votes a year if they are lucky, while Corporations and the super rich get millions or billions of votes?
Boycotts may or may not work, but they should not be the primary means of collective bargaining for the people. The collective bargaining agency supposed to stand up for the rights of the people is called the government. Or at least, that was the impression I got.
I'm no longer buying CD's, for two reasons:
1. I don't like having to check each CD I buy to see if they're DRM'ed
2. CD's are old-fashioned anyway.
I like buying music online, but I don't use stores that enforce DRM, simply because I want to be in control of my music collection. So, where does this leave me? I can buy from AllOfMP3, and hope that some money goes to the artist(s), or I can download for free using various filesharing apps. If I didn't have a credit card, I would have no option but to pirate.
The record companies/riaa need to know that their distribution methods are getting too old, and that DRM doesn't work the way they want it to. What they need to do is to make their music easier to access/buy (And screw prices that makes an album online cost the same as a jewel-case in a store!). And they should be told so. By enough people to be heard!
BugMeNot has basically destroyed that mold. I wonder if the "sign-up" thing is like, a DefectiveByDesign is actually an RIAA shill that's trying to collect the names of people who call in who are likely pirates...
Sorry, what with the NSA and State Secrets and such, these days, anything that requires me to give personal information has me second-guessing motives (as implausable as this one probably is.)
Excuse my speling.
Making The Bar Project
I just don't understand whatsoever how "registration" is supposed to make anything more credible by making people use "real" information.
Name: Joe Blow
Email Address: joeblow123456@yahoo.com
Postal Code: 12345
It's a ilttle silly to assume or even expect people to give real information on "registration" forms these days.
BTW, my real name isn't Asphalt.
It's an inclusion by exclusion. The RIAA is in cahoots with the NSA and the FBI and any other TLA I can think of. According to this government, since you are not in the phone book, you must have something to hide (besides your phone number). Pirate... Terrorist... What is it?!?
Something tells me those with the money, but not the card, to purchase the music aren't sending checks to the artist after they pirate their music.
Sounds like a good idea to me. Download an artist's music off of limewire or whatever for free, and send a check directly to the artists saying "hey, I downloaded 10 tracks, here's a check for $10.00. F*** the RIAA." That would get the RIAA's attention real quick, and show that people aren't against paying for stuff, they are against being treated like criminals.
I got nothin'
Actually, I just got the strangest mental image. Let's work on that analogy a little. (Slightly OT)
If McDonalds fell under the DMCA, you can choose to buy a Big Mac or not (see exceptions below). Regardless, you still have the option of finding food elsewhere. However, if you purchase the Big Mac, you will be bound by a very specific set of rules found on the inside of the wrapper: You are the only person authorized to consume the Big Mac, you may not sell it or offer it to others. You may not examine, disassemble or modify the Big Mac (e.g. you cannot take the pickles off, or add more mustard, cut the burger in half). You may not tell others how to perform these actions, or possess or traffic in tools to assist with these actions (e.g. a knife). You must consume the Big Mac from the original wrapper; it may not be placed on a plate, in a lunchbox, or in a fridge. The Big Mac must be purchased and consumed within the US, and the right to consume may be revoked at any time without warning. Violation of any of these conditions will make you subject to civil fines (upwards of $150,000US per instance) and possibly criminal penalties.