A statement by John Sullivan from the FSF in the US has just been posted and sheds a lot of light on the ongoing RIAA lawsuits which the RIAA themselves said they would be dropping earlier this year. What is interesting about the article is the continued view that music, art and software, and the subsequent freedom of sharing these, are endangered by the actions of Big Business in the US, and the obviousness that this is purely a matter of greed. The fact that the generators of music get next to nothing for their labour, is a stinging indictment of the music industry in the US. And to top it off, you have a number of US senators in bed with these guys – are they so eager to sell their souls?
The social ramifications of this are huge – the public at large in the US are being told that it is bad to share. Anything. Imagine going next door to your neighbour, asking for a cup of sugar and the both of you are locked up because you shared. Extreme? Yes but that’s what the RIAA are aiming at – complete domination of what you can and can’t do.