I’ve made many posts that decried the actions of the RIAA, but its most recent action shows just how petty, spiteful, and simply illogical the organization has become. In its latest attempt to crusade against “music piracy,” the RIAA sued 19-year-old Jesse Jordan, a freshman student at RPI. His “crime?” He started a search directory website for the RPI campus: “‘You go to the site, you type in a search term, and it finds files on the network,’ Jordan said. Jordan compares his site to Google, the popular Internet search engine.” Of course using this site can find all sorts of files on the network, including music files, but that’s the case with any search engine. However, RIAA has (once again) massively overreacted, saying Jordan “hijacked an academic network” and “installed an emporium for music trading.” Rather than duke it out with this industry bully, Jordan settled the case, giving up his entire $12,000 life savings.
The RIAA maintains that it took this action as a deterrent, but I think this is the shittiest thing they’ve done yet; read the Slashdot story for more discussion, comments, and rants. In the meantime, though, visit Jesse’s site, ChewPlastic.com, and donate to help him recoup his losses. Better yet, spread the word and let your Congressman or Representative know that you are strongly against the ham-handed tactics of the RIAA. It may not be much, but we can only hope that with enough pressure the RIAA will realize that it needs to embrace new technology rather than combat it; it’s the only way the music industry will survive.
