Just when you thought it couldn't get any lower than suing single moms for thousands of dollars, the Recording Industry Association of America has taken its fight one step further.
In papers filed in a federal case in December against Jeffrey Howell, an Arizona man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his computer, the RIAA contends that it is illegal for someone who has purchased a CD to transfer those songs onto a hard drive. Worse yet, placing songs you have ripped into a shared folder on your PC could be considered an "unauthorized copy."
So what does this mean for us iPod-loving, mix tape-making college students? The association's Web site reads that making a personal copy of a CD that you bought legitimately may not be a legal right, but it "won't usually raise concerns," as long as you don't give away the music or lend it to someone.
How it plans on enforcing this, well, your guess is as good as ours.
Does the RIAA have nothing better to do than go after people who are importing their CDs to a digital music library? What's next, suing someone for playing a CD in a car full of passengers? It seems that in this last-ditch effort to scare digital music lovers, the association is now just grasping at straws.
