Defending the RIAA Position

Cary Sherman defends the RIAA’s tactics in a USA Today editorial. Please allow me to boil it down to its essence:

piracy problem … piracy epidemic … multiprong strategy … warranted and effective … illegal file-sharers … our business … right and wrong … illegal file-sharing … threatening the jobs of tens of thousands … shoplifting … illegal file-sharers … distributing stolen copies for free … illegal file-sharers

Actually, the matters of free speech, personal privacy, the next generation of communication, and the future of the electronics and communications industries are vastly more important than the future of your little antiquated business, predicated on controlling the flow of information, enforcing scarcity, and labeling those who don’t agree “pirates” and “shoplifters” rather than “independent promoters” who work for free.

Again and again I say this: I want to see creators be fairly compensated for their work, but this is not the way to do it.