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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
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.
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.
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.
> 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.
Haliburton = trying to make money with a successful business model (corruption). RIAA = trying to make money with an unsuccessful business model (a different variety of corruption). Who voted? Consumers. Which company is worse for consumers? Take a look at the results and find out.
Here's how I view it--these big corporations with lots of IP and money to spend traditionally have fought hard over seemingly small IP issues. It's much like a game it seems, with one company choosing to infringe a little bit on another company's IP knowing ahead of time how it's going to argue in court, and then the court irons things out. There are tons of example of this, and the reason is because it adds up to millions of dollars. And it really is much like a game to these companies--"let's see what I can get away with."
The problem is that the RIAA is now playing the game against regular people who don't have wads of cash to throw at this. They aren't playing the game fair.
I think this is why the RIAA is easily comparable to a bully--they aren't picking on someone their own size.
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.
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.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
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?
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
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.
> the riaa is just trying to protect its intellectual property.
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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
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.
Kim Jong II, oye mama !
I wish RIAA would sue, win a default judgement against Kim and then to collect it, they proceed to Pyongyang, where they "suddenly" end up in Kim's version of Gitmo for enemy combatant.
Man, that is one court battle i wish to see.!
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
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.
Dun Malg, I love you. I basically created an entire Web site to say what you just said. People like you are VERY rare. My wife read the site and said, "but you're a writer, how can you want people to copy your stuff?" And I thought, wow, if my own wife totally misses the point -- a wife who is technology-friendly and talks with me about this stuff regularly -- then LOTS of people are out of touch with the ideas behind copyright. Here's to you, Dun Malg.
My Greasemonkey scripts for Digg &
I'd even go a bit farther than that. Throw out the idea of common "ownership," and instead consider the fact that the cost of communicating ideas and information is economically trivial, and getting lower all the time. Communication is a fundamental human activity, and creating artificial roadblocks to it for the benefit of a small minority makes no sense, no matter what's in the Constitution or the Berne Convention or whatever long-standing legal document you wish to throw down. Something that is not truly scarce cannot be considered property.
... that they get soon the Darwin Award, Company Edition.
I think that the RIAA, since it allowed 'artists' such as Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, and n'Sync to be played on the radio, nay, to even getting a contract, is the far worse crime to humanity.
I don't like Linux. This doesn't make me a troll.
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!
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.
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
Well, according to Thomas Jefferson, all copyright is a loan from the public domain. We do own all published creative works, it's just that the copyright holder is the only one allowed to profit by them for a while. Jefferson actually did not want copyrights (or patents, for that matter) because he felt that such would ultimately damage the public domain. As usual he was right.
We really should listen the Founders more often.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
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.
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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