indreamsiwwu
I agree with your sentiment when you say:
Quote:
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am I really supposed to feel bad for the music and film industry during a recession? They've been bilking us out of billions and billions for decades. I have personally given them a small fortune, as I'm sure most of you have. Isn't it about time we got something back?
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Unfortunately, just because you have been ripped off in the past, in the eyes of most western laws, this does not give you the right take anything from the organisation that orchestrated the ripping off.
I feel especially aggrieved because the BPI has deliberately been rationing music in the UK for years, right up to the point where the Internet became a popular means of communication. What is worse, they’re still looking for ways to keep music CD prices high for the UK customer, for example in the US you can get six tracks on a CD single but in the UK you can only get three – that six track US single would be split into two three track UK singles. Therefore, in the UK, to get the same amount of music as you can get in the US, you would have to pay twice.
In the past, the BPI has tried and failed in trying to get UK governments to put a levy on blank tapes, both video and cassette, and ran advertising campaigns saying that it was illegal to tape (backup) your own vinyl records (so you should buy your records twice). Plus, DJ friends of mine were constantly telling me that the BPI were trying to close them down, mainly because they were playing imported records from the US and not approved UK releases.
As far as I am concerned, the BPI is there to encourage music rationing so that CD and album prices remain high, to that end they will go after new recording technologies in the public domain so that they can either control and/or abolish it, e.g. P2P usage.
Now in the UK, this new Digital Economy bill has handed the BPI (British Phonographic Industry - the UK version of the RIAA) policing powers, which I believe has happened with the RIAA in the US as well.
So, the Digital Economy bill and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act have curtailed UK citizens’ Internet freedoms, which effectively translate down to any jumped up petty official, i.e. anyone in authority, can demand from your ISP your Internet records without having to obtain a judicial warrant.
UK Bob