This post’s title (that you can’t see) is Pittsburgh! (The original title was “Pirates and Penguins, naturally” but it got renamed because of sports.)
Bush (third penguin from left) signed this anti-piracy bill into law today. Basically, what happened was the RIAA and MPAA pulled all their money out from under the mattress and sent their lobbyists to Washington where they convinced our ‘elected officials’ to write this little diddy. All the bill really does is make your life a whole lot more miserable if you get caught illegally downloading or distributing any intellectual property. It also creates an IP czar and provides the industry with more “tools” for prosecution. This is apparently somewhat controversial, according to the people who write headlines for Reuters.
I don’t know if it’s really all that controversial or all that big of a deal, especially around these parts of the music-genre hinterland, considering most of the associated labels aren’t members of the RIAA or have vehemently denied being members. If you’re illegally downloading oh say, the new D4 album, you’re probably not going to have the czar coming after you.
Most importantly though, if you’re downloading music illegally (before or after the release date) you’re being a jerk. As dramatically dialogued here and more observationally explained here, not only did that album cost money to produce, but a band producing such high-caliber stuff as CIVILWAR deserves to make a little money off their work. Pay off bar tabs and whatnot. Right? Stream it, buy it, or earn your free copy.
Otherwise the czar will get you. He can see through your dirty plaid and right into your smutty soul. Scary!
