Hopefully, the above video will not be taken off of YouTube anytime soon. Comments have been disabled for the video directly on YouTube, but, all "three" of my readers (Hi Mom!) can comment here. Thank goodness for backups. Fair warning, if you haven't noticed already, it has absolutely nothing to do with, directly, our usual geeky fare of video games, etc.

The video does however, touch directly on the area of free speech and the effort being made by some to stem it when it goes against their ideology.

I believe, that free speech is a non-partisan aspect of the United States, after all, it is a part of the Constitution.

Sitting here, before I wrote this, I wanted to have my facts entirely straight concerning the officer featured prominently in the video. We telephoned the Baton Rouge Police Department, were given a direct number to the Sergeant in charge of "Media Relations" and unfortunately had to leave a message. In the message, we gave, as best we could, the link for the video and the request for the officers name to go along with our article, and precisely what statutes and authority (because we're certainly not going to second guess) the officer had utilized to contravene the Bill of Rights.

Large organizations, whether they be the MPAA, RIAA, (which we have frequently discussed here) MediaSentry, or non-governmental organizations like ACORN (with budgets of 100 million US$ annually) need to not believe they can trample upon the rights of every US citizen.

MediaSentry, specifically, gathers information without the license of the Private Protective Bureaus of several states. We should know, they've been blocked by our computers, but they often knock.

The RIAA employed MediaSentry in their anti-piracy efforts, then smartly canned them. We're pretty sure where we know the MPAA sits on suing people for 675,000 US$ at a pop, that's a matter of public record.

We're certain, that at some point along the line, we'll be labeled as "Right Wing Extremists" and totted up with others on some half-secret tax payer sponsored government report. Cool beans if we do.

We'll remain there, until the Constitution is treated with the respect it deserves or an ammendment is made banning free speech. When that happens our IP will be coming from somewhere else.

Here we go again. When, in our country, I speak specifically of the US here, did "We the People" become "We the Corporation"?

As a young, aspiring classical musician, I was able to find work, though I can't and don't do that anymore and at the time, was terribly flattered to be considered semi-professional. It was great, I enjoyed it and seriously recommend anyone that can, take the chance and put yourself out there, it will change your life.

Stating that, I'm trying to defuse the usual arguments that crop up, that the authors of anything that criticizes the RIAA and MPAA are horrible artist hating morons that want something for nothing, before they begin here.

What I abhor, is the abuse by a very wealthy few (especially during our global recession, geesh) of frankly, anyone.

When the VCR first arrived on the scene, many, many attempts were made to block consumers from legally being able to record television broadcasts. Obviously, that didn't go over so well.

Last time I personally turned on the radio, I was still able to pop in a cassette tape and record broadcast. It becomes illegal to do so when you copy this to sell it, to make a profit off of someone else's hard work. That is a legitimate protection that artists need and are entitled to.

In the case of Jammie Thomas-Rasset, recently found guilty, by jury, of infringing the copyright of twenty-four songs over Kazaa (back when it wasn't a legal site) the RIAA apparently believes, and so does the jury, they are entitled to reparation to the tune of 80,000 US$ per song. I know commercial CD's have gotten a bit expensive, but I didn't realize they cost that much now.

A favorite phrase of indivuduals of an older generation, "What are they gonna do, they did away with debtor's prison?", comes to mind. The RIAA will never see that money, and don't tell me, or anyone else with half a brain, that this is to send a message to pirates that they can't get away with this kind of thing. What this decision, and in fact, all DRM legislation does, is encourage right-minded citizens to flaunt the law at every opportunity. I'm reminded of the period of "Prohibition" in the US, where eventually, a constitutional change came about, now you can drink all the alcohol your liver can stand.

Here is the RIAA reaction to the decision, and I get to copy it out of fair use, ain't it great.

RIAA REACTION:

“We appreciate the jury's service and that they take this as seriously as we do. We are pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable. Since day one, we have been willing to settle this case and we remain willing to do so.”

-- Cara Duckworth