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RIAA Wins Worst Company In America 2007
An anonymous reader writes "After 15 punishing rounds of combat involving 32 of America's most hated companies, 100,000 voters have spoken: More hated than Halliburton, more despised than Walmart, the RIAA has defeated all comers to become the Worst Company in America 2007."
Ok, just in case RIAA demands a recount, I've selected the final 8, and added 2 from the final 16 that were "close calls."
This is a poll:
Worst Company In America - 2007
Verizon
U-Haul
Sony
Exxon
Clear Channel
Halliburton
RIAA
Walmart
Comcast
Best Buy
Cowboy Neal Corp? That's always an option...
I thought they were an anarcho-fascist commune....
Why wasn't Comcast in the poll. I would have voted them all the way.
As much as the RIAA has stirred up resentment for attempting to keep the status quo at all costs, including alienating the record buyer, I pretty sure that this poll was done before Halliburton announced that they're moving their headquarters to Dubai.
Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
if you think about it, the riaa is just trying to protect its intellectual property. isnt halliburton guilty of a far worse crime to humanity?
Yes, about 7 years ago, maybe more (years, not times). I got an open box printer there for $20, the thing still prints great and takes inkjet refills. This was before you could get printers FAR and such. This was also when you walked uphill both ways to wherever you were going.
If Bush wants to kill the terrorists, he should jump off a cliff.
yes, i have... when i got a bunch of stuff that had rebates equal to their cost. free stuff is always good.
For a moment I thought RIAA actually won a lawsuit against Microsoft.
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
It's not Sony BMG, Warner, etc at the top of the list, it's their front group the RIAA. People hate the RIAA? Guess what, that's exactly what it was created with in mind. Recording companies get to engage in strong-armed consumer-alienating behavior, but dodge the consequences because the "RIAA" is there to take the flak.
So don't call this a victory for us! This is a victory for the record companies, because it shows that they have successfully redirected your wrath to a "company" (I don't know why the summary uses that word) that doesn't have a product, and could care less that you don't like them.
Relax I just want some peanuts.
From TFA:WTF? I think many, many people who respect others' copyright have problems with RIAA's tactics of suing random (often innocent) people, attempts to scare govt & the public by linking terrorism & piracy, and basically ignoring the fact that they have to change (or at least adjust) business models.
Painting all enemies of RIAA as illegal downloaders is just stupid (or perhaps a troll?)
Bootnote: This is mildly amusing for me, 'cause last thread I commented in I was accused of being a RIAA Shill (presumably that poster believes anyone who criticises Apple is a RIAA shill).
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
The RIAA is a trade group, not a company, although I have long wondered why they do not run afoul of anti-trust laws since they essentially serve as a vehicle for price fixing, joint litigation, and other forms of collusion between the member companies, which, taken together, represent a de facto monopoly in the music industry.
The RIAA will get a gift certificate for 100 song downloads at the iTunes store!
If Bush wants to kill the terrorists, he should jump off a cliff.
How sad it is that the fight over music usage rights eclipses war profiteering by Haliburton.
I think the US government counts as a company now, it's controlled by corporatist frontmen.
Take a look at the votes on their "Big Board" and you'll quickly find that their methodology is a complete crock.
:)
Comcast or Verizon or Microsoft could easily have won against the RIAA, given the appropriate competition on the big board. But, hahaha, to figure out who the "worst company" was they pitted the RIAA against United Airlines, U-Haul, Exxon, and Halliburton. Halliburton is the only one that was any challenge at all. Change the board around - make it RIAA against Microsoft, RIAA against Comcast, and you'll see different results.
Furthermore, the RIAA v. Halliburton... so funny... RIAA takes money away close to home, Halliburton kills everyone in the rest of the world - but who is hated more? America, you fail. Rot in hell.
Yep. I go in, browse either the dvd section or nintendo section (or the rare occassion, the computer accessories section), get what I want, pay and leave.
Never bought a big ticket item there though, so that might be different.
When asked about his opinion on Halliburton's ranking on the Worst company list, Cheney was quoted as saying: "Number two? This is bullshit!"
Totally stolen from http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48445
> the riaa is just trying to protect its intellectual property.
No, they're not "just" trying to do that. They've manipulated the law to their own ends and complain whenever people decry that as unfair. They sue innocent people, attempting to ruin their lives. And if they do find out that someone's innocent, they use discovery to invade the innocent person's life, looking to find the real infringer. Which might well be them, after they have MediaSentry flood the P2P networks with bogus files and bogus search data (including the very searches they use to find "infringers"!) And if you insist upon corruption, just what do you call payola? Are bribes not considered corruption these days, or what?
Now, don't get me wrong--Halliburton isn't exactly some nice company, either. But this is "most hated" not "most evil" and the RIAA has gotten a lot more press lately.
But please, don't say they're "just" trying to protect their "property" because there's no way in hell I'll buy that lame excuse.
After all, MS software (Windows as the underlying operating system) is used to facilitate like probably 99% of all Internet music piracy.
Oops, I did it again.
So very sorry...
What?
Since when is the "Recording Industry Association of America" a company?
Last time I checked, it was a trade group, and the record companies themselves are members of this group.
Most of the dorks and geeks that hate the RIAA are to stupid to understand this subtle point. The dweebs that voted the RIAA worst company are also the same group of people who would vote BSA (Business Software Alliance), IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) as terrible "companies" as well.
I bought some stuff there at a decent price once.
No different than any other store.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Wondering (as one does) how much of a market there could possibly be for golden poop, I noted the Japanese writing on the screen and followed the trail to http://www.rakuten.co.jp/bif-shop/448445/156668/: so that award cost somewhere between $18 and $35. I see the little one doubles up as a rubber stamp, too.
Agreed, I really don't understand the gripe about Best Buy. I know anything that I buy at Best Buy I can get online cheaper, but sometimes I just like to go to a store, pick up some DVD's, and browse through a few other things.
For example, I bought my last TV from Newegg, but I wanted to see it in person before I made a purchase. No one really pushed me to make a sale at Best Buy, but they still answered any questions I had even though I told them I didn't want to buy it from Best Buy.
There is a Fry's right down the street, they have a lot more computer hardware and generally a much larger selection, but I really only go there if I want to see something in person. The DVD prices are crap and all of the "tech" salespeople sport an A+ certification (which ranks somewhere between tying your shoe laces and not choking to death on your drool in the universal spectrum of skills, but knowing that you are "1337")
P.S.,
This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated.
you seriously asked how you can hate walmart?
Lets see... Largest private employer in the world. Lowest percentage of health care coverage of any company in the world.
Those old people don't even make enough to cover 1 minor hospital visit, and they aren't covered by any insurance.
Those low prices come at a cost. We all are paying taxes which walmart employees use up every day on medicaid. Walmart is a horrid evil corporation. I wouldn't be suprised if Sergey and Larry were thinking exactly of walmart when they coined "Do No Evil".
Obviously the polls aren't statistically valid. But, in general polls have much lower samples than that. Any political poll will have a sample size of 1-2000. Yet MSNBC will get up and say "75% of Americans disagree with the war in Iraq" well... do you really think they called 275 million americans?
This appears to be a common theme. I have a good shopping experience at Best Buy (or anywhere) when I walk in, find the stuff I want right away, grab the stuff I want, pay for the stuff I want, and not
to talk to anyone (except for maybe flirting with the cute cashier).
Or people are smart enough to realize that getting a group vote for the Sony-BMG-Warner-FOX-Columbia-and-hundreds-more is a great deal, even if it's not technically ONE company.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
It's actually "Recording Industry Association of America, Inc.". It's a privately held not-for-profit corporation based in New York. No way to tell for sure, but one would assume the vast majority of shares (if not all of them) are held by the member companies.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
I was originally going to vote MPAA the worst corporation ahead of the RIAA, but then I thought about the charming Jack Valenti and all the pornography he brings us. That couldn't help but make smile.
Company: a corporation - or, less commonly, an association, partnership or union - that carries on industrial enterprise.
-Black's Law Dictionary
The RIAA is a company. It's even a corporation. Just because a bunch of people on slashdot have a different vague notion* of what constitutes a "company" doesn't mean it isn't.
* the fact that no one has articulated exactly why they think they don't constitute a company pretty well indicates that they don't know exactly what a company is.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
Come on Slashdot, don't you love polls? SCO should have made the prelims.
The RIAA Beat U-Haul? I'd take a lawsuit over running across the freeway to pickup my belongings that fell out because of the broken lift gate.
Then again I did need new furniture...
Ever had a car fall off on of their trailers because they hooked it up wrong?
Then again I did need a new car...
> the riaa is just trying to protect its intellectual property.
h e-csi-lg-tv-freeze-cracked/2007/03/21/117415312601 5.html
1 .html1 .html
The problem is that IP laws have been so twisted by lobbyists and big business. They seek to profit by taking away our rights. We are supposed to have rights to fair use, fair pricing, and things entering the public domain in a reasonable period, and the artists receiving a fair deal.
But when Mickey Mouse was supposed to enter the public domain, Disney went to the politicans so firmly in their pocket and got them to change the way. Same for the public domain period which congress just keeps setting back and back and back. And the DMCA which was a rights grab and now I can't even watch a DVD I purchased in another country without breaking the law. Some anime series are overpriced: the maker puts 5 episodes on the first DVD, whittling it down to 2 episodes (on a $30 DVD) on the last. Yet this is legal. And while the MPAA and the RIAA hiss and spit about how they're only protecting the authors' rights, they use Hollywood Accounting to rob those very same artists blind. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting And look a the tactics the RIAA shareholders have used to steal royalties off music artists. Recently when someone submitting a movie to the MPAA for ratings, the MPAA made and distributed copies against their wishes, and the court found the MPAA could do what it wants. Their hypocrisy is staggering. We have the absurdity of Adobe, who engineered an incompetant encryption scheme, using the DMCA to throw the guy who exposed them into jail. The DMCA means Macrovision is now by law built into every video device, with the result that my old color TV can't watch new videos. In Australia Channel 9 was fiddling with their digital feed to stop people from copying shows, with the results digital TV sets across the country kept locking up. http://www.smh.com.au/news/home-theatre/case-of-t
The pendulum has clearly swung too far.
Orson Scott Card (Author of "Ender's Game") wrote an excellent essay on this:
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2003-09-07-
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2003-09-14-
With today's Internet in place, the RIAA and MPAA and their moneyed up masters would have never come into existence. They're a cartel living off an old business model, with duplicitous congressmen with bulging pockets changing the law at their beckoned call. If you want to know which congressmen have supported it and which ones have fought it, start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA
This is mildly amusing for me, 'cause last thread I commented in I was accused of being a RIAA Shill (presumably that poster believes anyone who criticises Apple is a RIAA shill).
[offtopic rant] I sympathize . I have noticed a growing trend to amongst the more excitable element on slashdot to scream "shill" at anyone with whom they disagree. I was accused of being on the Microsoft payroll twice last week. Presumably I must have taken up a position with them after leaving Nintendo, because I was apparently posting on their behalf around the time of the Wii launch.
The whole thing's just stupid beyond words. If MS or the RIAA were going to hire people to astroturf on their behalf, why in gods name would they waste time posting on slashdot? I could see them paying people to shill on, say, a BBC news discussion forum, but Slashdot? Owing to how the moderation system works, it would take multiple people months to have any success in penetrating the group think, and even if they did manage to earn get their stuff modded up, so what? Preaching pro-RIAA or pro-MS stuff on Slashdot is unlikely to change anyones mind.
[/offtopic rant]
Sorry. Had to get that off my chest
"I realise this is not a very popular opinion but it's the truth, and there for needs to be said" -Bill Hicks
As nasty as the RIAA is, they don't hold a candle to the tobacco companies: the only industry whose product, used as recommended, causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
It's depressing to see where peoples priorities are. Haliburton steals tens of billions and New Orleans gets thrown to the wolves to make way for rich people's condos. Oil companies control the government and manage to surpress information about global warming that will affect the lives of everyone on the planet. What people are really concerned with is the free exchange of music, movies and software. People really do need to get their priorities screwed on straight. Anna Nichol Smith and Brittany Spears get more press than global warming and Haliburton. If music and movies are more important that corporations stealing billions from every american with the governments help we're in serious trouble. If you want to get upset get upset about something important. Music and movies could disappear overnight and we wouldn't loose a single life. Global warming is threatening millions and our grandkids will be paying for the eight year term of our current administration. Those are important things. Get angry at the companies behind that not the ones that are trying to restrict downloads.
Where does SCO fit in with all of this hate?
They are quite down on the list because now they are seen as mostly harmless where the RIAA is doubling the lawsuits. If you weren't a SCO target yet, you can pretty much rest at ease. Even a couple of the SCO targets are sitting on the sideline waiting for a final rulling whether SCO has valid ownership on the code. If you aren't an RIAA target yet, you soon may be. They are still dangerous, active and getting worse.
The truth shall set you free!
Check the other posts on this. They're incorporated. They have share holders.
The RIAA is not a company, their job is to maximize damages on behest of the record labels againts infringers, violators and whomever (the trade labels deem elligible targets. Their goal is not corporate karma, international love or good faith. They maximize damages. This means an all out assault against ALL infrigers.
Mothers, innocent parties, mentally handicapped, children, nuns, Kim Jong Il, it doesn't MATTER. They want you all to know that there is no international border that they will not cross, no corporate entity that will shield you, no means they will not pursue to attack their file infringers.
Without a scorched earth policy there would be no fear (not that there is now), but that IS their goal.
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
I've met a few of the professors in the dept., all of whom have industry backgrounds, and let me tell you, meeting these guys and the graduates from these departments explains alot. You see, the the RIM college offers three basic majors: one for artists, one for techs, and one for business and pre-law in the recording industry. The most common? You guessed it, business and pre-law. These are the same asshats who, at any other school, would be learning how to ask for TPS reports and iguring out the best way to make partner in the shortest amount of time. Further still, I live in Murfreesboro, 30 min. away from Music Row in Nashville (or as we like to call it, Crackhead Alley), and I used to live in Nashville. When I lived there, I hung out in West End alot, and met alot of people in this business.
So let me say this: some of these people are cool, and I mean no disparagement towards them. But, in my time dealing with alot of these clowns, I have met a higher concentration of assholes than in any other sector (including advertising sales, the Devil's Piggy Bank). Most of these guys could give a flaming crap less about the actual music they produce: the techs normally do, and the artists, of course, but the lawyers and admin. people are so incredibly full of themselves that it's ridiculous. What was always great was hanging out at Cafe Coco, still kind of a hotspot, but mostly Vandy kids now, and seeing one of these jackasses walk in and expect to be treated like the Lords of All. Please understand though, that when I pick on these guys, I'm doing it because, even in a world full of jerks, these guys oftentimes stick out.
So, back to here at MTSU and our RIM dept. Quite literally, contempt of artists, techs, and fans is quite literally indoctrinated into these guys. I've sat in on some lectures, and my God. One of the classes was for artists contracts. I've always known how shady these things are, but to see completely unethical and illegal tricks being taught ina college course absolutely dropped my jaw.
Essentially, what I'm saying is that the reason the RIAA is so friggin bad is because it is expected of them. MTSU got it's RIM dept. up and running before Napster hit, so you have to understand, some of the people involved in the RIAA's modern tactics almost certainly came from this dept., where, as mentioned, these kinds of illegal and unethical behavior are correct answers on practical test questions. Further still, there is a culture on the admin side of the business that expects people, even demands, that they act this way. You want to fix the problem? It's not about fixing the laws, or methods of distribution. These people will just find new ways to screw artists, fans, and techs over. To change the problem, you have to change the education and the culture: nothing else will do. How we do that though, I have no idea.
Mod Points: Helping you keep your opinion to yourself.
Why does saying "I know I will get modded down" get you modded up? Some kind of reverse psychology?
:)
yes now you can mod me down
... that they get soon the Darwin Award, Company Edition.
What is the Worst Company in America 2007?
Halliburton has cost lives, harmed our troops, and gave us Dick Cheney.
The RIAA has cost us money, and inflicted DRM on us.
If I had to pick one to destroy off the face of the earth and one to let go unharmed, I'd nail Haliburton. The RIAA can be rendered irrelevant by the movement of technology. Dead US troops can never be gotten back.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
Personally I think governments should handle health care for this and many other reasons.
I've never had a problem at Best Buy, either. To the contrary. Late last year I bought one of those iPod->Radio adapter things so my wife could listen to her iPod in her car. It was sketchy from the beginning but she wasn't too concerned. Eventually its little LCD screen (on the adapter) started going black and it just wasn't working. I always save boxes and receipts but that time my wife happened to throw away both. Anyway, one day--about a month later--we were close to the Best Buy where we bought it and my wife asked if I wouldn't go in and try to exchange it. I grinned and said I'd try, but I didn't have the receipt or the box, and wasn't even sure if it was still in the 30-day exchange period. So I walked in with this little adapter thing and went to the customer service desk and explained the situation. The guy looked it up in their computer and I was on day 34... but he said, no problem, go back and find another one. So I brought it up to the guy and he said I was good to go. I asked him if he wanted the box or anything since I hadn't given him one and he said, "Nope, no problem."
That was my most "amazing" experience with Best Buy, but I haven't had a single problem with Best Buy ever. I don't know why everyone says they're evil (but I'm sure people will tell me now).
I must respectfully disagree with you jcr. I think RIAA is worse, because the tobacco companies aren't trying to force me to deal with tobacco. They have had no material effect on the march of anti-secondhand smoke laws, and there have never been requirements to smoke tobacco. I personally feel that people should be free to engage in risky behavior, so long as they are at no point lied to about it, coerced in any way, and so long as it does not risk anyone else. Tobacco failed on the truthfulness point back before the major lawsuits, but at this point I don't feel anyone who does even a cursory check, or even who has paid remote attention to society, can genuinely not have any notion of the dangers of smoking.
Meanwhile, RIAA et al are successfully destroying basic parts of our nation's laws, undermining society in general and the tech and media industries in particular. They really do have a claim on being one of the most purely destructive corporate forces ever.
Forget reverse psychology, if it were me I would try to work some variation of the Liar's Paradox into it. If I'm going to get modded down I'd at least like to cause someone's head to expload.
Evidently, the key to understanding recursion is to begin by understanding recursion. The rest is easy.
I wonder where the Evil Empire ranked? I did not see them in the polls.
It would be nice to have a top 10 or top 20. That'd be funny.
But, in my time dealing with alot of these clowns, I have met a higher concentration of assholes than in any other sector...
That's a classic comment in LA. Movie executives are smart. Music execs are dumb. Making a movie is complicated; bringing a big production together is a huge management and organization job. It's easy to screw up, and the industry's tolerance for expensive screwups is low. Making a musical recording is a few guys in a room. "Music management" is sales, promotion, and bullying; it's not about production.
"This is the music industry. We're all wiseguys." - Get Shorty 2
On Geek squad, a little old lady brought in her computer to be fixed - her grandson had loaded the thing with spyware, all it would take was a simple reformat (everything she needed was about 10 pictures and a text file), and I had to tell her it would be over $200. I offered to do the reformat myself off the clock, but my manager told me no. I slipped her my number and did the thing for a batch of chocolate chip cookies (worth it!).
Another shitty thing I experienced was people were bringing in their computers that one of my fellow technicians had 'fixed', (ie: ran Panda Active Scan and deleted a couple registry files), but there was still obvious problems with the thing. The customer complained and said that the product had not been fixed and the computer was still acting up, instead of honoring the 2-year warranty that she had paid $150 for, my manager told me just to tell the customer it had water damage to void the warranty and to send her on her way.
I blatantly told my manager he was a hack, to fuck off, and quit that very day.
Best Buy sucks.
At your orders sir ...
Don't you know it is now both immoral and criminal to think beyond the next quarterly report?
Reverse psychology on Slashdot has a bias toward negative: it goes double reverse when people would think that you are trying to use reverse psychology to your benefit !
Don't you know it is now both immoral and criminal to think beyond the next quarterly report?
So please explain to me how giving someone a low paying job with no benefits is somehow, in some magical fairy tale land you've concocted, worse than giving them no job? If Wal-Mart behaved like a socialist utopia and effectively implemented private enterprise socialism (paying more than the market requires), they would be nowhere near as large as they are, and the net effect would be less people with jobs in the US.
Or, more simply, who else is hiring those worthless old farts and giving them huge health insurance plans and paying them $12 an hour? Give me a fucking break.
I will not shop at CompUSA unless it's the only place I can get a part needed to get a system up and running. There is both a Best Buy and CompUSA near my office, and I always go to BB first. I know they may not have the best prices, but I'd rather pay a slightly higher mark-up than go to CompUSA.
And used as recommended, McDonalds causes heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.
What's your point? They're all selling assisted suicide.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Damn those lazy Pirates, stealing our opening paragraph for a Slashdot submission.
The RIAA changed their mission statement to reflect their priority to stay the most hated company in America. I think it's a good strategy.
Strange women standing on the steps of the Supreme Court distributing BS is no basis for a system of artist compensation.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
I don't know what kind of music you like, but I'll give you a few links to get you started:
Archive.org's Music Section - There's a lot of good stuff under NetLabels
Archive.org's Live Music Archive - Concert recordings from bands that allow it, including a good number of artists under RIAA labels
LegalTorrents - download entire archives of NetLabel music
Creative Commons Audio - more music under CC licenses
There are a lot more places out there, including the much-hated MySpace. I haven't payed a single bit of money to an RIAA member company in almost 2 years, and almost all of the music I've gotten since then has been legal.
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
The RIAA doesn't care if they are voted the 'worst company' - they have succeeded. Since they don't sell anything to the public, the fact that all the hatred has stuck to the RIAA _instead_ of the companies they represent, they have succeeded entirely in this goal - and I predict most people are too blind to this fact to see that this is anything other than an extremely hollow victory. The RIAA doesn't care if they are unpopular with the general public - because the general public is not their customer. So long as the hate and bile sticks to them, instead of the record companies they represent - they are winning.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
It's actually "Recording Industry Association of America, Inc.". It's a privately held not-for-profit corporation based in New York.
Only a minority of corporate enties are publically traded. Whilst there may be some private trading going on the most likely way for shares to change hands is through inheritance. For both real and corporate people.
No way to tell for sure, but one would assume the vast majority of shares (if not all of them) are held by the member companies.
It's a fairly common situation with many sorts of clubs and associations that all members are shareholders (and that no non member can be a shareholder.)
I needed a stack of blank DVDs badly enough to drop in there on the way somewhere else. All blank DVD prices are outrageous. I spy two spindles (of their cheapest 'house' brand) where the outer packaging is mutilated, to the point where the clear plastic casing itself is damaged. I grab them and go see the manager. "Any discount for these?" He paws over them before intoning "There is no damage to the discs so there is no discount".
Postscript: I go home, browse a bit, settle on cdrdvdrmedia.com and purchase blank DVDs for one-third (no exaggeration) the price. All have burned perfectly so far.
Side note: I find that the cheapest, most no-name blank DVDs burn the fastest (with the least coasters). Based on 5 different brands to date and an external less-than-year-old Lite-On drive.
I come here for the love
Sorry. Had to get that off my chest
With good reason. I generally get accused of being an MS shill because I actually like using Windows (nobody faint), and I don't like pointless lies about Vista functionality and other minor grievances. I've also been accused of being a government shill (because I don't care about CCTV cameras at all), and even of using sockpuppet accounts to harrass people I don't like.
It seems to be very difficult for people on this site to realise that somebody will disagree with you of their own accord. Hell, I would love it if I got paid to write this stuff - but strangely enough, in the real world, that happens less often than I have been lead to believe.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
The RIAA aren't a company, they're an organisation put up by the recording industry companies. I believe they're even non-profit.
"This is mildly amusing for me, 'cause last thread I commented in I was accused of being a RIAA Shill (presumably that poster believes anyone who criticises Apple is a RIAA shill)."
Hey, if you think that's bad, you should try being a creative artist. I'm a published author, and I certainly believe that copyright should be respected - and that pretty much goes against every single action of the RIAA that has made it into the news. They abuse copyright on both sides, suing their customers, and stripping away the rights of the artists (http://cdbaby.net/courtney). But, while they're doing this, they're claiming to be doing it on behalf of the artists (http://www.riaa.com/about/default.asp). And, so who also gets smeared with the bad PR these jackals are generating?
Authors, actors, people like me.
Almost every time I get into a discussion on here, I, and my entire profession, end up being accused of something. Most of the time, it's something along the lines of "greedy evil artist," and a lot of the time it has nothing whatsoever to do with reality. Here's my list of favorites (and I am not making any of these up):
1. Being a lazy bum who writes a single book and lives off it for the rest of his life.
(Um, no - seeing as the average first book will bring an author around $3-5,000 over its entire publication lifetime, this is pretty much fiscally impossible - and it's both sad and laughable when you're struggling under the poverty line to be told that if you lose your intellectual rights to your writing that you're going to have to start working at being a writer for a change.)
2. Using copyright to keep my creative work from the public.
(Sort of goes against the entire idea of publishing, doesn't it?)
3. Holding an evil monopoly over my writing so that nobody can create a derivative work.
(Well, sorry folks, but copyright doesn't work that way. You cannot copyright an idea - only an exact implementation of an idea. If my story inspires somebody to write something similar, unless they're using my exact characters, there is absolutely nothing I can, or would want to, do about it. Nor can I put a hit out on somebody using a similar plot or theme.)
4. Being guaranteed an income because of the evil copyright laws.
(Yes, there are some people who honestly seem to believe that somewhere in copyright law is a clause that says that if I write something, everybody is required to buy it. Perhaps that explains those armed guards around the bookstores..."Buy the book or ELSE!")
5. Lobbying for unreasonable copyright extensions.
(You know what? I'll freely admit that like anybody, I'd like to leave something to my children and grandchildren, when I have them. But seriously, that whole Sonny Bono thing - I had nothing to do with it. And neither did most of the creative artists out there. We just want to create, and have our wishes in regards to our work respected.)
And my personal favourite...
6. Being part of a copyright conspiracy (I'm not making this up) to create an underclass of people who have no access to any content.
(Seriously, I'm not making this one up. I find it amazing that when our society is drowning in content, there are people out there who honestly think that not only is there a shortage, but that creative artists are behind it. I mean, come on - the creative artist is the artistic version of an exhibitionist - we like to keep a roof over our heads, but we also want as many people to see and enjoy our work as possible.)
The big problem, I think, is that there really isn't a whole lot of education about what copyright law is, and when I try to inform people about it, they don't believe me. They seem to figure that I'm some sort of RIAA shill, and lying through my teeth. They see copyright in terms of what the RIAA is doing, and the RIAA is abusing both the letter and the spirit of the law. And frankly, this is the sort of place where the grass roots movements start. We creative artists didn't ask for the RIAA to be doing what it's doing. Most of us (myself included) find the organization reprehensible. But we're getting demonized by it through association all the same.
Robert B. Marks
Author, Demonsbane in Diablo Archive
I will not shop at CompUSA unless it's the only place I can get a part needed to get a system up and running.
Wow, considering some of the BB tales here, that's a pretty strong statement. Can you please tell us why you feel so strongly against CompUSA? If you have horror stories, please share them: you might save other /.ers a painful experience.
--
Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
You idiot! I just opened all those links in Firefox! Couldn't you have warned me before I voted Verizon!!?
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
Not to imply that it is unnecessarily wise to engage in these activities but if someone wants to take that risk I say clog those arteries, harden that liver and phlegm those lungs. Fuck it - you're only going to live once.
...of course, I knew exactly what I wanted before I went in, and had already selected brand, make, model, and had found what competitors were carrying it (ammunition and "plan B" in case of problems). I went in, I asked for it, I took it to the checkout, I refused the extended warranty, I checked out, and I left. No problems.
I have done this three times to great success. Two of the purchases were large (a sound system and a digital camera).
www.wavefront-av.com
Funny I would have thought Rambutt would have been in there somewhere.
Not sure I understand why U-Haul is on the list. Anytime I've used them
I've been realtively satisfied.
A lot of people who read Slashdot and post here have a lot of influence in what people buy related to IT, and that includes operating systems, database software, mail servers, web servers, and even videogame consoles. If Microsoft can get people here to think that Microsoft products are worth renting, they win new customers.
'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
So, to clarify, your tale of woe is that you went in to buy something knowing it would cost more than ordering it. When you found the item at an extravagant price, you tried to get a discount on the basis of the damaged paackage (which probably means the plastic shrink wrap around the spindle in this case) despite no evidence of damage to the item itself. When the manager quite reasonably refused to let you have it for less, you decided to buy them cheaper somewhere else. You then wrote a post about it. Man, I guess you got pretty boned, huh? Those capitalist running dogs.
Thats the whole point of the RIAA. Its a cover organization for its member labels. It can go around being all sue happy, and it gets the blame instead of the member corporations.
Seriously, when the top 4 are Halliburton, Exxon, RIAA, and walmart, it sounds like a liberal hitlist + The RIAA.
Why is it that I first hear about this after it's done. and only 10,000 votes? This sounds like a good competition.
Btw I find it odd they have Verizon and AT&T going up against clear channel and Halliburton. Why not make a better bracket system (all consumer stores in one bracket, all media outlets in another, all of faceless corps (halliburton, riaa) in another. and so on?) So we get the "worst" of each and those compete.
Besides about the only reason we are even hearing about this is that the RIAA won. If it was Halliburton, Exxon or Walmart the news would have been "Riaa number 2 worst company ever." or "RIAA not the worst company ever", if it was even posted here.
...by Liberal pansies.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
Its "awesome" how the RIAA beats out organizations that have a regular + historically negative impact on the environment and the rest of the world. And by awesome I mean sad.
Sure they wrecked the economy and environment of 10+ other countries, but what about my mp3s!!!!!!!
What are the actions of people who hate the RIAA? If they do anything, it will be to stop listening to the radio, and stop buying CD's, choosing to pirate and/or buy independant music instead. If they do nothing then it will be out of appathy, or lack of backbone, not misdirection over the name of the company. The fact is that people are pissed off at the music industry as it exists now, and their actions are directed towards that industry. Whether they call it by the right name or not is largly irrelevant.
I think the biggest form of misdirection that you will be seeing in the future isn't confusing RIAA with EMI/Sony/Warner but "independant" artists and labels that really aren't. For example, half of the people I talked to at the last Modest Mouse concert brought up how cool it was that they were supporting independant musicians, clueless to the fact that MM had signed with EMI (Sony/BMG).
FTFA, the real prize is a Golden Piece of Shit. It's actually quite attractive looking. =)
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
I find it disturbing that Monsanto didn't make the list. There's companies that screw their employees (e.g., Walmart), companies that screw their customers (e.g., Best Buy), companies that screw all Americans (e.g., Haliburton), and then there's companies that screw all people on the entire planet. Monsanto falls into the last category.
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
But unlike the others you are very obviously a Microsoft Shill.
http://lavidavegas.blogspot.com/2007/02/ipirate.ht ml :)
La Vida Vegas
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There are alot of studies which show that when walmart opens a store there is not a net gain in jobs. After 1 year, the loss in jobs from local retailers at least offsets and normally is greater than the jobs walmart provides.
Combine this with the fact that 90% of walmart jobs are part time (they will hire 2 people for 20 hours per week count it as 2 jobs created, when both of those people were available and want 40 hour per week jobs). So instead of creating 1 full time job with benefits they create 2 part time jobs without benefits. Which is better? Now you have 2 people who don't make enough to get by and if either of them gets sick, the tax payers pick up the bill or no one does and they die. Or you have 1 person who can live reasonably and is protected.
Ah, I wish I had known about that sooner.. I'll probably go back and see if any of the other employees are as fed up as I was and see if anything can come of it :)
That's probably a good idea. This is whole reason the BBB exists: to police the business practices of companies in the US and protect the customers.
:-)
If you still know people working there and they have seen the same offenses you have, ask them to start documenting the incident: date, time, people present, short description, opinion of what was wrong about the encounter. When they have documented a sufficient number of incidents (I leave it to you do determine how many is enough) bring it to the BBB. They will investigate for you.
Another track would be to try and elevate the problem to people higher up the food chain than the manager. Talk to the branch manager/owner, or call corporate. Sometimes the higher ups are not aware of the abuses of their policies that go on, and since they are more directly responsible to the shareholders, they are more likely to do something about it.
If you're willing to be a whistle-blower, it will be good for the customers, the employees, and ultimately the shareholders, who will see a larger long-term return from an honest company than they will from a dishonest one. It probably won't be so good for your manager, but, as you so aptly said in your anecdote, fuck 'im.
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I think RIAA is worse, because the tobacco companies aren't trying to force me to deal with tobacco.
Not force per se, but they did lie for decades about the effects of their product.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
A lot of people who read Slashdot and post here have a lot of influence in what people buy related to IT
Yes, but even assuming this is true, Slasdot is still a terrible place to shill, for several resaons. There's a huge anti-MS bias, and the mod system re-enforces that bias. A pro-MS/RIAA comment is unlikely to get moderrated up, meaning lots of people won't even see it. You would be better shilling on a standard forum, where every reply has equal visibility.
But even more importantly, the slashdot crowd is out and out hostile to MS/RIAA. Now if you're looking to get your moneys woth out of your shill, why waste time shouting at people who think you're the anti-christ? No, you would be better off posting on a forum where a large section of the readers have no strong ingrained views. Those are the kind of people who might be actually be persuaded one way or the other. Say, a BBC discusion on file sharing. That's going to be read by a lot of "average joe" type people. A bit if FUD on there might influence some readers. The same thing posted on slashdot will be flamed and modded into oblivion.
I'm not saying it never happens, I'm sure people have "shilled" on slashdot. I just think it's probably fairly rare. In any case, I think calling someone a shill is pathetic, and I have stopped reading peoples posts beyond that point. Unless people have hard evidence someone is a shill, (and no, holding a given view is not proof) then all they are doing is throwing around baseless insults. If you think someone is a shill, refute their arguments, but don't accuse them of it unless you think you can prove it.
"I realise this is not a very popular opinion but it's the truth, and there for needs to be said" -Bill Hicks
Haha thank you, that's awesome advice! I'm going to stop by tomorrow and see if he still works there :]