] RIAA agents, backed up by police, have started to raid
] Midwestern record stores that carry DJ mixes. On
] September 23, Berry's Music in Indianapolis, Indiana, was
] raided; according to proprietor Alan Berry, police
] confiscated $10,000 worth of mix discs by the likes of DJ
] World and DJ Paul Bunyan. "The record labels want the
] independent record stores out of the business," Berry
] says.
] City%u2014it's consolidation, just like any other
] industry. The RIAA knows that mixes are an integral part
] of urban stores' culture and profit margin. By
] eliminating them, they can eliminate a lot of indie
] stores."

RIAA raiding small music stores for selling DJ mix CDs

] But the spread of Linux could be hurt by another
] group--and ironically, it's the free-software proponents
] themselves.
]
] For months, in secret, the Free Software Foundation, a
] Boston-based group that controls the licensing process
] for Linux and other "free" programs, has been making
] threats to Cisco Systems (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people )
] and Broadcom (nasdaq: BRCM - news - people ) over a
] networking router that runs the Linux operating system.

Forbes supports companies that take GLPed software, modify it, and then sell it without distributing source. The GPL is spun as anti-capitalist.

Forbes.com: We hate the GPL

] Any digital content can easily be transformed into a sound
] file, or in technical copyright lingo, a "sound
] recording," which when fixed becomes a "phonorecord."
] Many compulsory license schemes only apply to "music" but
] since they don't define the term, or discuss changes in
] how audio works are categorized, one must assume that
] they are using the current definitions of "sound
] recording" and "phonorecord." Consequently, any creator
] of digital content can benefit from a music-only
] compulsory license scheme.

LawMeme - Compulsory Licensing - What is Music?

] "There are lots of reasons why people need anonymity
] online and why it should not be so easy to lose," Hansen
] said. "If the recording industry can uncover your
] identity simply by claiming that a copyright violation
] has occurred, then the Chinese government can use the
] same tool to find out the name of a dissident, and a
] batterer can use it to find out the address of a domestic
] violence shelter."
]
] The ACLU's lawsuit says the DMCA subpoena provision is
] "totally lacking in procedural protections," making it
] "an invitation to mistake and misuse."

RIAA news roundup. Only new information not covered here is the 41 percent drop in kazaa use over the last 3 months.

ACLU Steps Into DMCA Subpoena Controversy

] "People in their 60's are burning CD's at home," said
] Gerd Gebhardt, the chairman of the German Phonographic
] Industry Association. "Housewives, who should be cooking,
] are burning. It's not like we can go after 80-year-old
] men or 12-year-old kids. We have to find the right
] approach."

German RIAA counterpart thinks women should stay in the kitchen!!

] The irony of all of this is that Mr. von Lohmann only
] last year attacked the recording industry for not suing
] individual file sharers, telling Billboard magazine (and
] many other publications) that if we were really
] serious "about stopping piracy" we should be bringing
] "lawsuits against the actual people sharing the files."

I'm impressed for two reasons. 1. Lohmann did go too far, and 2. Sherman called him out right in the heart of the community. Impressive.

U: The response: http://politechbot.com/pipermail/politech/2003-September/000014.html

[Politech] RIAA President reams EFF on lawsuit amnesty [ip]

] The landscape has not changed so much that if you had a
] vote taken today, even with all the horror stories of
] RIAA subpoenas sent to grandmothers and honor students,
] the vote would come out in favor of seriously altering or
] removing" that section of the law, Godwin said. "I think
] what you are getting is some impulse, somewhat more
] strongly from the Republican side of the aisle, toward
] some slightly higher level of judicial review and some
] safeguards and remedies for misuse of process."

The DMCA supeonas are a way of removing judicial oversight (and therefore the rule of law) from the information collection phase of intellectual property proceedings. Congress has shown a repeated interest in removing the rule of law from the equation when it benefits their friends in the media industry. Some Republicans are starting to point out that the DMCA supeonas can be used (and abused) by other people, some of whom Congress doesn't like. This is a good thing in general because this law needs to be tightened up. Fortunately its unconstituional for the goverment to give a specific interest group a special right, so they are going to have to lock this thing down across the board. The RIAA offers the same sort of non-technical, and therefore irrelevant response that you're seeing to questions about the security of voting machines. That means they are wrong, and are probably going to loose. This is progress.

Congress starts to look critically at the DMCA

] "Lawsuits on 12-year-old kids for downloading music,
] duping a mother into paying a $2,000 settlement for her
] kid?" said rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy. "Those scare
] tactics are pure Gestapo."
]
] "File sharing is a reality, and it would seem that the
] labels would do well to learn how to incorporate it into
] their business models somehow," said genre-busting DJ
] Moby in a post on his Web site. "Record companies suing
] 12-year-old girls for file sharing is kind of like
] horse-and-buggy operators suing Henry Ford."

ajc.com | News | Artists blast record companies over lawsuits against downloaders

... In a nation that flaunts its capacities to produce and consume, much of the culture's heat now lies with the ability to cut, paste, clip, sample, quote, recycle, customize and recirculate.

Beyond File-Sharing, a Nation of Copiers

] Barely 24 hours after suing alleged file swappers around
] the United States, the recording industry has settled its
] first, agreeing to drop its case against a 12-year-old
] New York girl in exchange for $2,000.

RIAA takes $2,000 from 12 year old who lives in the projects. (Can you really get more sinister then this?!)

RIAA settles with 12-year-old girl | CNET News.com