The day pirates became citizens
When called to testify in an RIAA trial about music file sharing, Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG, embarrassed herself with a rather simplistic statement:
“When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” Making “a copy” of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ’steals just one copy’.”
It follows that according to Sony BMG, the second largest record group in the music industry, making a backup copy of a CD to take it on vacation, ripping a CD you bought to play it on your computer or on your portable audio player, all these constitute an illegal act.
This is particularly puzzling since digital copies is the encouraged, and often only, way to listen music on MP3 or minidisc players. It is also the sole purpose of CD-copying devices. All of which are of course manufactured and sold by another division of Sony.
The Obscurantist Music Industry
It is not the first time the majors have waved around largely nonsensical statements about digital rights. The real issue is that they blur the meaning of “legality”, by assimilating a widely accepted practice (even your grand mother “makes a copy” when she imports a CD in iTunes) to the morally reprehensible act of theft.
The underlying goal is obvious: to create a state of fear and confusion where people are afraid to perform anything that the recording industry considers harmful. But the futility of this effort is just as obvious: you cannot convince the public that something they and everybody else has been doing for decades is wrong. Worse, the nuance will be lost between what exactly is illegal, and what isn’t.
An end must be put to this nonsense because it harms our society. The only acceptable definition of legality comes from the Legal code, which itself should reflect our society and culture, and not the mere interests of corporations.
Fortunately, while those gigantic capitalist dinosaurs graze happily in a fantasy world of theirs where bits are getting harder (and illegal) to copy, other actors of the music industry move on.
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