Ranting and Raving

As I consider the aggressiveness with which the RIAA has been attacking P2P networks and their users I am forced to conclude that they really are battling for survival. Sure, they were disturbed when tape recorders came out, but they compromised. Same with DAT (which never materialized into the threat they thought it would). But their policy on this whole computer thingy, and P2P networks in particular is nothing short of draconian. And that is because its not just about their Intellectual Property. It's CERTAINLY not about the artists. Its about a deep down threat to the very foundation of their existence. And anyone who has read Scott McCloud will surely have guessed at my meaning by now.

A P2P Network isn't much more troubling than cassettes when its just listeners exchanging music from listeners. These people will grow up and by legal albums of the pirated music they listened to in their youth. For thirty years that model has worked. But, when its artists exchanging music with listeners, things get truly dangerous. The RIAA becomes superfluous. And the issue of payment that plagues the web-comic world is of less import to musicians who get pittances from the RIAA but get their gravy at live shows. So, if an artist takes a P2P network by storm, and he puts on his web page "hey, I'm playing in Pullman tonight, come see me," he's getting his gravy, but the recording industry isn't getting theirs. Especially if the P2P networks make him popular enough that he can say "hey, I'm playing the Meadowlands tonight," and count on a packed house.

This has record execs quaking in their boots, I expect. And the best way to prevent this scenario is to completely demonize the P2P networks, to create an image of them that causes the listener to say "hey, if I download ANYTHING from here, I might get sued." Then, even if an artist releases a song under the GNU Public License, people will be afraid to download it.

This is also why the record execs don't worry about image. They're fighting to remain the only game in town, and when you're a monopoly, it doesn't matter what people think. But the REAL mark of fear is the recent price reduction on CD's. The RIAA gives enough credence to the threat that P2P networks can pose to their very reason for being that they are not only willing to scare users away with lawsuits, but to lure them away with lower prices. Now that's like publicly wetting your pants!

I wrote this piece back in February, before the war-noises became the war. Those of you who pay attention to GPF's forum might remember me posting it there. Sadly, as I look at it today and contemplate the way things are unfolding there and at home, I find it remains as current today as it was six months ago (except that Hussein is no longer on the world stage, though he may yet be in the wings). So I'm going to present it here.

Hussein and Bush: Doppelgangers?
by Rich Furman

Saddam Hussein is a bad man. Elections in his country are a mockery of democratic process, he tortures his people, starving them while he reserves wealth for his elite, and he has imperial dreams that include bringing Israel under Iraqi control. While any connections he has with Al-Qaeda are specious at best, it is an undisputed fact that he funds terror campaigns in Israel. He assures suicide bombers that their families will taken care of after they are gone. So, on an Arab Street where poverty fuels resentment and desperation, suicide bombers perform terroristic acts for reasons that may be more Willy Lomanesque than Osama Bin Laden-esque. He is a bad man and for all these reasons should have been removed from power long ago.

Thus, I should applaud W.’s campaign for regime change, yet I don’t. I am concerned that W.’s motivation is less about making Iraq more like the U.S. than it is about making the U.S. more like Iraq. My theory is that W. looks at Saddam and suffers from a case of regime-envy. The Bush family has already given him a good start. His brother in Florida, and his father’s appointee to the Supreme Court (Clarence “Oreo Houseboy” Thomas) have made a mockery of democratic process. Evidence is growing that prisoners are being tortured . His economic policies fuel a growing disparity between rich and poor, and through a combination of treaty defections, coercive foreign policy, and a willingness to make the International Community buy what we break (i.e. Afghanistan), we have now achieved Iraq’s popularity and credibility in the worlds eyes.

Bush learned a lot from 9/11. He learned that in the wake of a terrorist event, Congress rolls over and plays dead, giving him a free hand to do whatever he wants to the Bill of Rights. How to apply this lesson? March into Iraq and use the inevitable terrorist response to further increase surveillance, reduce freedom of movement, and move us closer to a police-state. He learned that even the threat of terror can make the American People obey the most ludicrous orders. This time the panacea was Duct Tape and sheeting. He also learned that people who are poor enough, given something to blame will gladly kill themselves to kill it. He learned this from Osama, but could just as easily have learned it from Hitler. And hence we have deficit spending, tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts in education spending, the decimation of health-care for the poor, and the gutting of even the meager workplace protections left intact by Reagan.

Our President has a vision. He wants to create a U.S. Street that is similar enough to the Arab Street that he, like Osama, can raise an army of the damned to . . . to . . . I’m almost afraid to ask. Perhaps after we have occupied Iraq and Iran and nuked North Korea, we’ll start working on the next Axis of Evil: France, Germany and Russia.

I was toying with using this in a strip, but its ultimately too long to work there. So, inspired by Psychic Friends Network, I am pleased to present:

Toxic Friends Network
Are you feeling a little too full of yourself?

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Are you nostalgic for those warm fuzzy feelings of guilt and shame your mother used to give you?

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Listen to what Famous Biblical Figure Job has to say about "Toxic Friends"

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