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Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it "creative observation." Creative viewing.
-- William S. Burroughs
CD Prices Are A Crime
2000-05-11 13:06:36
Fucking FUCK! Who the HELL do the RIAA and the music companies think they are, bitching us out as "thieves" for sharing MP3s on the Internet? What kind of fucking GALL does that take, when they're charged with CRIMINAL COLLUSION to keep the price of CDs up?
The FTC and five of the biggest music distributors settled a case today where the distributors were charged with CRIMINAL COLLUSION in keeping the prices of CDs artificially high. This is a CRIMINAL offense, people -- a conspiratorial crime against the free market and against consumers. The FTC says that the distributors have taken FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY MILLION DOLLARS from consumers by colluding and setting minimum pricing. $480,000,000!!!!
Meanwhile the music companies are pointing accusatory fingers at US, Internet music users, for SHARING with other people. They call us thieves and pirates and accuse us of starving poor musicians like Ethiopian warlords starve helpless children. They've been CHARGED by the FTC for stealing from US, but WE are the thieves! Fuck that!
Now, I ask you: are you legally or morally OBLIGATED to let someone steal money out of your pocket? Do you have to stand idly by while someone burgles your home or carjacks your Honda? NOO! So why should you be legally OBLIGATED to be the victim of a CRIMINAL SCHEME to rip you off? Why should you or I be berated for going around the CORRUPT and ILLEGAL compact disc selling practices of the recording industry? I for one don't feel any obligation to be SONY MUSIC's PATSY, and neither should anyone else.
The major BULLSHIT here is that the FTC settled the case too easily. They only asked that the companies stop their criminal practice of minimum pricing for 7 years. No compensation to consumers, no punitive damages, no NOTHING. They should have required that the recording companies immediately DROP their lawsuits against Net music listeners and help FUND the development of sharing tools like Freenet or Gnutella. Write your congressman and demand JUSTICE in this case! Fuck the RIAA and their illegal schemes! We don't have to take their shit!
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