An open letter to the MPAA, RIAA et. al

[GT40FIED]

Consider this an open letter. To whom, you might ask? The RIAA, MPAA, BayTSP (an internet tracking firm), and anyone else hindering the flow of information, protected or not, by way of threats and lawsuits. Here's to you, you money hungry cock-juggling thundercunts.

Let me start by saying one thing right out. Yes, I have, in the past, downloaded what was probably copyrighted material. Hell...I'd do it right now just out of spite. Why? Well...here's a few side notes for the above mentioned parties.

The RIAA - They pretend it's a big mystery that their sales have gone down. Blame Napster. Blame Limewire. How about blaming yourselves, dipshits? While you're busy suing 12 year old girls you're overlooking the key factor facing the music industry at this very moment: 99% of new music SUCKS. Maybe if the shit you were peddling were half way ingestible people would start buying again. Think I'm kidding? Only one way to find out. Also, your marketing schemes sure aren't winning you any brownie points with consumers. When I was a kid I thought paying $11-$13 for a CD was a lot (and those even came in those nifty longboxes that no one else remembers). Now, a little over 10 years later you expect me to pay $19 for a CD? That's not inflation, that's extortion. I happen to find it ironic that just a few years ago the music industry was found guilty of screwing it's customers via a price fixing scheme and now they're crying foul and claiming that those people are screwing them. Sounds like justice, not crime.

The MPAA - I could say a lot about the MPAA that would sound an aweful lot like the RIAA. Remember the last time you went to your friendly local Borders (haha...just kidding...there's no such thing) and you found that great movie that was regulalry priced for $12.99 and it didn't star Pauley Shore? Me neither. You can thank the MPAA for that. Consider this...one can fit roughly 7 hours of video onto one DVD-9 disc, were you so inclined. So...why is it then that I routinely see "special edition" 2 disc sets that contain one disc with a 2 hour movie and a second disc with roughly an hour (maybe) of "bonus" footage (usually worthless bullshit like director's commentary)? Why indeed. Maybe it's because they think I'll feel justified being charged $25 because if one DVD's worth $18, surely 2 are worth at least $36...so by that logic $25 is a bargain. I swear there are people walking around that think that. No...I'm in college...I'm not paying $25 for some "dodeca secret special edition" shit when all I want is the movie. I'm also not paying $7.50 to go sit in an uncomfortable chair with shitty overpriced snacks while my shoes stick to what I hope is spilled soda on the floor. Those folks at the MPAA have some balls, that's for sure.

BayTSP - Don't think I forgot about you guys. For those who don't know, BayTSP is a firm that helps the above listed entities track down and punish regular people like me and you. They're the worst kind of evil because their greed is only made possible by another source of greed. I have personally dealt with BayTSP on at least one occasion by way of a very polite letter informing I had downloaded something that didn't belong to me. It's hard to make yourself a menacing presence when your based on a whole lot of talk and literally NO follow through. Wow...you really taught me a lesson by politely asking me to delete that file and not do that anymore. So much of a lesson that I found firewall software that keeps you from checking up on me...ever. Suck on it. But I digress. It should be pointed out that BayTSP isn't the only firm out there doing this...they're just the highest profile. Their crutch is a 7 or 8 year old law known as the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). Now...7 or 8 years doesn't sound like a whole pantload of time, but think of how much the internet has changed since '97 or '98. Hell...I was in high school until '98. All we had there was mIRC. Go to hell BayTSP.

I would encourage everyone that reads this to take up arms. Or not...whatever. I'd encourage you all to go out and download at least one thing that doesn't belong to you...but I figure there's more than enough people doing that already. Just remember that the next time you DO decide to use Kazaa or Bittorrent, you're not doing anything wrong. It's all just an eye for an eye.