this just in

you gotta love the RIAA. every chance they get to estrange themselves from their base, they grab with the fervor of a crackhead findin white powder in they shag carpet. not content to bust the downloadin malcontents, now they're claiming copying legally purchased cds onto your pc is against the law.

"In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings."

however, the RIAA's own website explains:

- It’s okay to copy music onto an analog cassette, but not for commercial purposes.
- It’s also okay to copy music onto special Audio CD-R’s, mini-discs, and digital tapes (because royalties have been paid on them) – but, again, not for commercial purposes.
- Beyond that, there’s no legal "right" to copy the copyrighted music on a CD onto a CD-R. However, burning a copy of CD onto a CD-R, or transferring a copy onto your computer hard drive or your portable music player, won’t usually raise concerns so long as:

* The copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own
* The copy is just for your personal use. It’s not a personal use – in fact, it’s illegal – to give away the copy or lend it to others for copying.

who's settin policy here? turns out that Jeffrey Howell has finally done what the RIAA didn't see coming, turned the table and sued them. this is purely speculation, but it seems as though, realizing Howell had done nothing illegal, they didn't want to back down and brought out the pc charge (kinda like gettin Capone on tax evasion charges, right???).

this got GIHYB thinking ... by extension, anyone with an ipod (er, walkman?), would be breakin same law? maybe the RIAA could contact local law enforcement to ticket offenders on a daily basis? even split fines with municipalities? tax coffers could explode. think about it. godblessamerica.

happy '08!