Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, that’s the sound of my head hitting my desk:

DNC appoints RIAA shill to run Public Affairs for convention

Today, Jenni Engebretsen was named “Deputy CEO for Public Affairs,” for the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver — but she is better known as the Director of Communications for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The RIAA is the most hated “company” in America, according to a recent poll on the Consumerist. The RIAA’s campaign of suing thousands of American music lovers has been the single biggest PR disaster in recent industrial history — which is why Engebretsen’s employer beat out Halliburton, Blackwater and Wal-Mart for the coveted “Worst Company” slot.

Engebretsen’s PR approach is centered around stonewalling and avoiding difficult press calls. She contacted me in 2005 to deny that the RIAA had sent a takedown notice to a website called RPGFilms.net, and promised to answer my followup questions in a day or two. After four months of emailing and calling her, I finally got through to her (by calling her from a different phone, so she couldn’t see who was phoning).

She said that the RIAA had no comment.  Read more 

This rather long winded diary reminds us of the fact that the Corporatists will never stop. Freedom, innovation- they mean nothing to those who would charge you for the air you breathe if they could get away with it. This is a “done deal” but so far, my favorite stations are still up. I hope that this won’t change. The important point: Bush doesn’t always need a majority in Congress to rape and pillage the heritage and freedom of the American people. You can scroll down to the bottom of the diary for action alerts.

The Copyright Royalty Board has, in their infinite wisdom, increased the per song fees that internet radio stations, like Radio Paradise, must pay to the record companies. Of course, FM radio stations don’t pay a dime:

How is it possible for such a massive disparity to exist? For the answer to that we need to go back to the 1990s, when music industry lobbyists persuaded Congress to include wording in two pieces of legislation (the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995 and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998) that drew a sharp division between analog and digital broadcasts. Their reasoning was that a digital radio transmission was not a radio broadcast at all, but a sequence of perfect digital copies of music performances provided to the user, who could then copy them rather than paying to own a CD.  Read more 

EFF wants to know:

Well, with its 100,000 DMCA takedown notices aimed at YouTube users, now it’s Viacom that is netting its share of dolphins. Among the 100,000 videos targeted for takedowns was a home movie shot in a BBQ joint, a film trailer by a documentarian, and a music video (previously here) about karaoke in Singapore. None of these contained anything owned by Viacom. For its part, Viacom has admitted to “no more than” 60 mistakes, so far. Yet each mistake impacts free speech, both of the author of the video and of the viewing public.

Did Viacom take down your video? Let them know if they did. DRM Current copyright law is one of the worst things to happen to free speech in this country, and if it weren’t for all the other horrors shredding the Constitution, this would be a much bigger issue.

Here's the 'news' report. Barf. Of course, "no drugs or weapons were found," but one never can tell with those people. I mean, look at them! They've got baseball caps on, and they're not sitting on their heads properly. Honey, hide the pearls. As the TechDirt folks point out:

hree years ago, we were a bit surprised that the RIAA had hired a former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and jokingly (we thought!) suggested that perhaps the RIAA was getting ready to bust down some doors. Not long after that, we were dismayed to hear that the RIAA had taken to dressing up foot soldiers in uniforms that made them look like they were a part of the FBI or some other law enforcement agency in order to intimidate street vendors. When that wasn't enough, Hollywood lobbyists pushed to have the FBIplay the role of enforcer, even having them raid a school at one point.  Read more 

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