A Nation of Hairless Butts?

Is there ANYONE outside of the copyright cartel who thinks the RIAA’s current sue-your-customer’s-pants-off-then-sue-their-butthairs approach to “marketing” is wise, imaginative, conducive to a healthy business atmosphere, or anything other than self-defeating and vengeful? I’m waiting…

Newsweek’s Steven Levy doesn’t get the joke either:

Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, and his buddies in Congress think the time for patience is over. “We’ve reached a point where we have a legitimate marketplace for downloading music, and we want to give it a chance,” says Sherman, referring to the spiffy services like Apple’s iTunes Music Store, the new Buy.Com store and subscription services like Rhapsody. But the game is just starting, and the best way to make sure that these services come up with compelling innovations is to match them off against the Kazaas of the world, which are far from perfect (the quality is erratic, they put spyware on your computers, they’re loaded with porn). You can compete against free – ever hear of bottled water?

Ultimately the Internet is going to be great for music lovers, artists and even the record labels, if they are willing to hang loose while new business models emerge. But right now the RIAA and its congressional water carriers are hitting the wrong notes. It makes no sense to bring thousands of people into the dockets – and maybe the prison system – for turning on a friend to the fuzz tones of the White Stripes or the inspirational melodies of Orrin Hatch without a license. There are better things for prosecutors and the courts to focus on.

Like real national security.