14 DAY TRIAL // Individuals and organizations who fight for freedom of speech and freedom of information are certainly not friends with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other similar companies that represent the artists. A statement released by Anonymous yesterday reinforces this fact.
The hacktivists believe that the record companies are putting pressure on artists to fight piracy just for their own gain. According to their calculations, while record labels earn millions, the musicians themselves only make a few tens of thousands after paying taxes, lawyers and managers.
“But the RIAA doesnt stop there, their delusional cartel actively seeks out any avenue of dominion by finding anything it deems fit to be illegal. An example would be as in 2008 when they filed a federal lawsuit against Jeffrey Howell in Arizona, for creating ‘unauthorized copies’ of CD tracks by ripping them to his computer,” they explained.
The online activists also highlight the fact that even the music that is purchased legally by users is still not owned by them, as revealed by the “Terms and Conditions” of use which many don’t bother to read.
“Makes you wonder if they will install a program that sniffs out “illegal music/videos” and reports back to them your information, and before know it you get a fine, a court date and a nice early wake up call by the police,” they add.
So far, there aren’t any mentions of hacking operations against the media industry, but the concluding statement hints that a campaign may be outlined as we speak.
“The Censorship of music won’t stop there [at the attack on Demonoid], no, it will evolve and progress until the goverment is transpassing on our privacy and our personal lives,” the activists wrote.
“How much longer until they monitor our every move on the internet, everything we look at, all the emails we send, including those by our loved ones? I don’t want to live in the world where the Police and secretive angencies of the Goverment control everything we do.”