[OT} All this 'anti-piracy' stuff

[b]

While it is always comforting to side with the law-abiding majority 
and the [benevolent?] powers-that-be, there are a few facts worth 
noting, regarding the rise in so-called 'piracy' and the drop in CD 
Music sales.

The RIAA blames the rise in piracy for the fall in sales. This 
overlooks the fact that there is widespread economic 'anemia' and 
changing consumption patterns on the part of consumers.

Globally, sales fell 5% in 200 and 2001, and the figures for 2002 
show, according to the RIAA a drop of 7%, globally, and 10% in the US.

Downloading veterans contend that the users of peer-to-peer are 
divided between those that simply don't buy music, and those that use 
downloads to make more informed purchasing decisions.

RIAA people say that 'downloaders are getting music for free, and 
buying more DVDs, instead". This is true, however, in the US, music 
CD sales dropped $1.02 billion [to $12.6 Billion], while DVD sales 
climbed 61% to $8.7 Billion. Clearly the downloaders of music have 
found a way to save 1.06 billion on the one hand, and spend $3.3 
billion on the other. So, what is the logical conclusion that one 
might draw from the 'woes' of the poor record industry?

Their product, dominated in the States by Dion/Aguilera/Spears/HipHop 
wannabes, is becoming less attractive at the cash register than 
DVDs... to say nothing of Game consoles,  whose sales are also 
climbing in a huge way.

Vinyl records [singles] and tape cassettes accounted for nearly 40% 
of the drop in overall revenues, leaving the global figure for the 
drop in CD sales at minus 5%. Most of us realize that it is the CDs 
that are 'copied' [ripped] for sharing purposes.

If the 'whining' and the efforts to pervert the notions of 
'copyright, and  'consumer as potential 'thief', weren't enough, 
these greedy animals have the gall [and the willing accomplices at 
the FCC, in government, and amongst hardware/software manufacturers] 
to attack the entire Internet community with gestapo-like 
legislation, ill treatment of the people [us] who pay for the 
software/hardware/and MUSIC, in the first place, and make token, 
belated efforts to participate in simple online distribution.

The companies that hide behind the RIAA, and abuse the DMCA, deserve 
whatever befalls them, and if the users of Personal Computers wake up 
one day [in the not-too-distant future] to find their every movement 
restricted and/or, monitored, after siding with these lying 
'whiners'...well then, they deserve their limited usage and lack of 
privacy, also.

~flipper