More RIAA Madness

I first became aware of this over at the digitalmusicweblog. It turns out the Cary Sherman, the president of the RIAA, wrote an opinion piece over at the Pittsburg Post-Gazette. Apparently the RIAA is suing a bunch of students for illegal file sharing using Internet2, a high-speed network designed to share information between universities. Nothing new here. The RIAA wants us to believe that file sharing is a vile activity just shy of murder. What caught my attention, though, was this letter to the editor written by Roger Dannenburg, an electronic music professor at Carnegie-Mellon. He points out that Sherman's article is clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Read and be enlightened.

Just what were they thinking?

Get this. A group of scientists at Oregon Health & Science University did a study that showed that high doses of vitamin C might counteract some of the negative effects of nicotine on unborn babies. The article is clear to point out that pregnant women shouldn't smoke, but then goes on to say that by taking large does of vitamin C their babies might turn out OK after all. At least that's what happened with the monkeys in the research project.

Why do this kind of research? What's the point? Why even fund it? It is interesting to note their belief that the effect is because of vitamin C's anti-oxidant properties, but won't the findings still push some smokers into a false sense of security about the detrimental effects of smoking? It's crazy! We already know that smoking is bad for you over all, and even worse for unborn children. What's the point? Are we simply funding ways to make it OK to screw up our lungs, and the lungs of our unborn children?

Depressed in Utah

A recent men's magazine reported on the 12 happiest, and 12 most depressed, cities in America. Salt Lake City came in as the 11th most depressed in the nation, just after New York City.

The data was gathered by comparing the number of anti-depressants prescribed, and various surveys, across America. What's disturbing is that Utah has a rather high rate for rape, unwed mothers, and suicide as well. Why are we so screwed up?

One psychologist I heard on the radio mentioned that the rates could reflect the local attitudes towards depression. It could be that it is more accepted as a legitimate problem and so more people are reporting it, and being treated for it, that in other areas. That's great, but it doesn't explain the high suicide rate.

Other people, some of them social workers, blame it on the dominant religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They say that if the "Mormons" would just lighten up, and start behaving the way the rest of the world does, they'd be better off.

My initial response, as one of those "Mormons," is to firmly pick up my "siege mentality" and fight against the notion. To me it's not so much our strict moral standings in conflict with the "nature of man," but the world fighting against our moral standings to such a degree that we feel hurt by the fight itself. In other words, it's NOT living our beliefs that may be contributing.

On the other hand, I think there may deeper societal issues that are related to what many of these folks have to say. They may have a point, and it's not just on top of their heads.

Utah is notorious for its high work ethic, large families, and low pay rates. The cost of living, especially housing, is quite high when compared with people's salaries. There is great pressure on men to take care of their families, to be supermen, and pressure on women to be the perfect mothers and domestic goddesses. Because of economic factors, many families struggle with the idea that the mother's place is in the home, that she shouldn't pursue a full time career as long as there are children in the house. Economic realities don't always make that viable. So parents, and mothers in particular, are facing added societal stresses. The conflict seems to be between the depressed (and depressing) economy requiring some families to have a second income, vs. staying home to provide the best care for the children.

That doesn't solve the problem of the high rates of rape and teen pregnancy, but it certainly a social factor that may just be contributing to our collective depression.

The RIAA's New Comcast Fundraiser

Here's an absolutely frightening bit of information for you, if you're a Comcast user. If you've been downloading a lot of things from the web, you could be in danger of having your credit destroyed. At least that's what's apparently happening to one Seattle woman.

Rueters is running an article involving a Seattle woman who is suing Comcast for turning over her name and contact information, in violation of Comcast's privacy policies, to the RIAA. No court order was given. Comcast wasn't required to do anything. They simply buckled to the RIAA's demands.

What's even more vile is that instead of suing her in open court, they've handed her over to a collections agency demanding that she remit $4,500 for downloading music files over the internet, or face a lawsuit to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Is this a new fundraising technique for the RIAA, or something? Let's use intimidation tactics to blackmail people into giving us money? What did they do? Take a lesson from the Mafia in how to collect "protection money?"

Maybe it's their failure in open court to get the information that has led the RIAA to start doing this. They've already lost three suits (the original and two appeals) to force ISPs to hand over names back in January. No court order was given in this case either, so what does Comcast have to gain from it? Nothing that's been revealed so far.

Maybe what's happening here is that the RIAA is trying to take the law into their own hands, become the new vigilantes of copyright protection. It's the Despicable Duo! RIAA-man and Comcast boy! Saving the day for overpaid recording label executives!