boycott-riaa.com - Article: Keep these dates in mind...

Keep these dates in mind...

Posted by Bill Evans on June 28, 2003 at 9:48 AM (printer friendly)

Boycott-RIAA is planning some action in the near future and you want to be aware of these dates. The dates are August 1st and August 2nd. Start thinking about what you can do in your area. We're wanting to co-ordinate fax campaigns to our legislators, phone campaigns to our legislators (August 1st is a friday). Some suggestions for local actions on August 2nd (Saturday) CD Burning Party (literally) Independent Music Concerts, Educational Seminars, Press Conferences, Handout flyers and picketing record stores that sell RIAA Products..It's time to get off of your rear end folks and get to work...We want pictures, we'll post them. NO Violence!

I'm in the process of creating a "Street Team" forms, and will be posting what actions are taking place and where, so that you can get the maximum turnout. Let us know through the form that will be available MONDAY JUNE 30.

AUG 1ST & AUGUST 2ND

User Comments (These do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of this site)


bellesouth	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 10:02 AM Where I'm at we have two big festivals going ...Taste of Chicago and Milwaukee Summerfest going on right now...any suggestions????

thumbtack	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 10:08 AM Make up some flyers to pass out..Education. MP3 files are not illegal, boycott the major labels, support indie music, that sort of thing..If you design one get it to me, and we'll make PDF's of the flyers to make available to everyone...

directive	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 10:41 AM Living in Los Angeles, my options are limitless.

directive	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 10:52 AM I reccomend having george put a flier together showing the RIAA'S fuzzy math when it comes to blaming P2P for decrease in sales.

thumbtack	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 12:14 PM He's busy with his Independent day..why do you do it? Send it to me and I'll make a PDF of it for download..

directive	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 12:23 PM I will wait for him to do it, he is much more of an expert on it than me. I know more about the corruption and lies behind the RIAA, then i do the numbers that he knows

directive	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 12:24 PM Feel free to email me fliers when you have some.

Feisar	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 2:05 PM No violence?! Damn it! Oh we'll, I'll guess we'll have to protest like voiceless, no attention-grabbing hippies. Again.

Litheon	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 4:20 PM Thumbtack, I have a "mp3's are not illegal" flyer ready and in jpeg format. Where can I send it? Also I would recomend printing just one from a home printer and making photo copies at Office Depot or something. Of course all permissions for copying are granted.

Funksaw	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 4:26 PM Litheon, please send a copy to me at funksaw@linuxmail.org Unfortunately, I'm going to be moving into my new apartment on August the 1st and 2nd, and I won't have time for anything but a few emails or phonecalls. I guess I'll just have to send money. -- Funksaw

billfred	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 4:35 PM Just pondering the possibilities... since Fairforshare would be online at that point, why not create a few mix CDs and send them out? I mean, if people know the good stuff is out there, they might want to ditch the RIAA stuff, right?

debazoz	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 5:04 PM Hey ya'll. I'm George's wife. I've been hanging back just watching, but it's time to jump in. I got an email saying they made it to Denver last night. Expect they will make it to Iowa tonight. As for a FairForShare CD, I think that's a great idea, but everyone will have to do their own in their own area for now. George is going to be just tooooo busy for a week or so.

thumbtack	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 5:18 PM Litheon Send it to me bill@boycott-riaa.com

thumbtack	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 5:21 PM I didn't say you can't raise ruckus...just no violins err violence...

Switchstrike	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 5:40 PM Granted, I have only known of Boycott-RIAA since 25 June, but I have a few questions. Obviously, you are not covered in the media. Is Boycott-RIAA just a message board site or do you have some organization behind it. We need to get our message out there without violence and without seeming indifferent to artists. We have 33 days to pull this together guys, we can do it, let me work on some ideas. 1. Have we thought of using EFF for purposes of Countersuit for Defemation of Character and Harrasment? 2. Next of all, it occurs to me that the internet is a free medium, untouchable by any government. 3. Does the RIAA have a definition for "Substantial Collection?" and wouldn't that run the risk of seeing which files were actually covered by RIAA statutes, I'm assuming remixes are not covered for some odd reason. 4. First and fourth amendment rights are being questioned here. I recommend that everyone have a copy of the consitution with them. 5. How can the RIAA tell if you didn't download that file from outside the U.S. in the first place. 6. Apple's ITunes are a) only available in Mac Format, b) available for $.99 - that means, logistically, at $1 a file, the RIAA, an organization which obviously can bankroll some small countries, is out maybe (extended estimate -- a couple million, when artists such as Brittany Spears and Madonna can go blow a million easily in a weekend in Morocco) , and dont they realise some of these downloads actually do generate sales? 7. Some of these songs, especially Mixes that I'm downloading are unavailable in the U.S., I find it illogical for them to tell me that I can't have something just because I dont want to pay 100% of an import tax for European CDs, as a consumer, it is my right to find the best bargain. I am in Denver. I imagine something stronger will go down in L.A. , Chicago, NYC, and DC. E-mail me with ideas. Chesspalace@hotmail.com -- Circumstances prevent me from doing much but I'll see what I can do

thumbtack	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 6:26 PM Switchstrike..We are covered very little in the media however I do do an interview on thursday with a reporter from the Denver Post. I was also on a talk radio program out of Spring filed Il. Just did an email interview with A Canadian reporter, a phone interview with a reporter from atlanta, and one from the Universtiy of Michigan Newspaper.. "Substantial Collection?"=they aren't tellin..

Switchstrike	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 6:43 PM Now, the common defense for people being sued should be akin to "The Freedom of Information" act. I have no idea if this applies, however. A more forceful argument, however, could be this: I am a semi-professional chess player. Chess games played by Grandmasters and International Masters are being published weekly, and subsequent ideas are being used by players all across the world. They are available for free download even though it can be argued that the fact that they played them or used that "line" as chess-players call them, enabled them to win the tournaments, and make money. Chess games themselves can not be copyrighted, or their corresponding diagrams. Analysis of same, however can be copyrighted. The same argument can be applied to the music industry. We, as users of the internet can not be held responsible for the information available on the web. Do we have the right to turn around and sell the information as profit? Clearly not -- unless we can demonstrate that we have adapted and used such information independent from it's original creator. Music that we listen to, can not be used for our profit. Information in it's electronic form (such as chess games AND mp3 files) is just that, ... information. We have the choice to listen to it, or read, or not. In the end, all this information is, is a stream of 1s and 0s, binary code. That is something to work with, I am thinking about more stuff.

user65535	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 7:07 PM NO Violence! S'cuse me ?? More power to you and all, but someone else made a damned good point on this, which imma expound on some, here. No violence?! Damn it! Oh we'll, I'll guess we'll have to protest like voiceless, no attention-grabbing hippies. Again. I am all for the way you're goin about it, George, no offense is intended here - and I really hope like hell I am wrong, BUT.... Any study of history, recent or otherwise, has indicated that as long as a small group protesting a large group does so without at least the THREAT of violence, physical or financial (oh but we soooo have a monopoly on that last one, don't we ?) - they will do so without effectiveness. Take Benton Harbor, Michigan, for example - years of quiet protest accomplished exactly nothing, it was only when folks made it abundantly clear there was a LIMIT to the amount of crap they'd just lay down and take, and backed it with real, physical force - that anything was ever gonna change... the WTO riots are another fairly 'recent' example. The Combine* (RIAA/MPAA, et. al.) controls the media, and the distribution channels thereof, and as such has one hell of an edge that a grassroots campaign cannot match - and they seem utterly undisturbed by the impending economic stranglehold about to be visited upon them by John Q Public, most of whom do not know, and could give a crap less about our campaign here... but the RIAA has effectively managed to piss off the basic cussedness of your average american with tactics that would offend ANYONE with an ounce of sense, thus folks who are completely apathetic about the matter will hold off on buying CDs out of annoyance that has nothing to do with us - so our 'advantage' is about as shaky as can be, and yes, it's a damned good move to try to get the word out, but it's not enough, sorry to break it to you. The RIAA has just about declared war on everybody, and plainly showed that they are willing to destroy peoples lives via lawsuit/debt, which is to my mind NO different than inflicting a permanently-crippling physical beating upon them... the size and scope of such a lawsuit, when combined with the importance of credit history in our messed up society, makes this a WORSE weapon than a physical beating, and when attacking on the mass scale they propose, literally guarantees that innocent folks are gonna get hurt - financially or physically, there's little difference. The worst of it is that those who are gonna take the hardest hit are the ones who can least afford to, who cannot spare the TIME (cause of that thing called WORK, yanno..) or the money to mount any kind of effective legal defense. And so, enough is enough, the ivory-tower crowd isn't getting it, which they won't because any financial judgements against the RIAA will not affect THEM, but rather the horde of employees beneath them, who will suffer wage/benefit cuts... and legal action against them personally ? even the idea is ludicrous in our financially-based "just-US"(Justice) system... so they're completely immune to anything but the utter destruction of the corporate entity that they represent, and perhaps even immune to THAT, as we've all seen with such folks walking away slapped on the wrist and fined a pittance of the profit they made as a token gesture, Enron, anyone ? Like bloody hell are some folk gonna accept that, if they wish to personally hurt folk and attempt to wreck their lives and futures, and are apparently immune to any OTHER measure, the idea of violence is going to be considered as an acceptable, even preferred, option of recourse against folks against whom no other recourse would be effective. That being said, I hope your plan works better than we could ever hope for (and so far it is!) George.... me, I'd like to introduce some of them folks to a length of chain but I promised my girl I would present the case without active demonstration thereof, blah. I figure a lotta folks do feel the way I do, and frankly, some of em ARE going to act on it, no matter what's said about it - and I figured I'd put a voice to em rationally and coherently, is all. -user *- "The Combine" is a name taken for the 'bad guys' of an old, obscure public television show called "The Prisoner", and if anyone else has ever seen it, they might agree it kind of applies to our situation, for damned sure the NAME can apply to the RIAA/MPAA and Cronies.

Switchstrike	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 10:09 PM Violence creates Martyrs, martyrs create sympathy, sympathy creates outrage, outrage creates more violence and stricter laws. Violebce begets nothing.

Jay580	Date: June 28, 2003 @ 11:36 PM Hey guys im in canada and i really want to do all i can to help... just like me now how i can... i check this site a couple times a day. my email is jpattie@hotmail.com.. i think this is a great site, but never knew about till just a few weeks ago... maybe we should try to make more people aware of this site and maybe find more like it to see if maybe we can all work together. we are all in this together, so lets make it work guys.. Jamie Pattie

goldenpi	Date: June 29, 2003 @ 6:43 AM Nice to see some organisation. Lets make these days count.

user65535	Date: June 29, 2003 @ 10:20 AM Sure, you got a point, switch, but there's two sides of the coin - without SOME threat of force, people do not change behavior that profits them. I just figured I would put a voice to how a whole lotta folks feel right now. Violence in and of itself accomplishes little, and is often counterproductive, true, but it is the very threat of it which has caused many beneficial social changes over the years, whether that threat was ever realized or not. While we seem to have a pretty valid threat of economic force for now, that hand isn't as strong as we'd like to believe it is, thus the reason for george wanting to get the word out and add social pressure (i.e. force) to the matter, and we don't have much in the way of political force, so some folks are going to react that way - not so much justifying it, as trying to get folk to understand it, cause knowing WHY folks do things is kinda important if you wish to convince them not to, eh ? -user

Funksaw	Date: June 29, 2003 @ 1:40 PM Maybe not violence... but if someone were to light himself on fire at the grammy awards in protest, like that monk during Vietnam... -- Funksaw

Feisar	Date: June 29, 2003 @ 8:42 PM I'll say it again. Any lawyer, fed or other empty suit tries serving papers at my door will get a Mossberg shoved up his/her ass. And if they think that that pesky Melissa virus was bad. Hoo hoo, just wait.

pepsiguy82	Date: June 30, 2003 @ 12:27 AM If there is anyone in Jacksonville, Florida that I can help Please add me to their Messenger or e-mail me at pepsi_guy_82@hotmail.com ... I would love to help, I just don't know where to start. I just learned of the website a few days ago.

yfoogsittam	Date: June 30, 2003 @ 2:36 AM I'm fairly new to boycott-riaa.com, (since the recent suings were announced) but i have been constantly looking on the internet and in the newspaper about the RIAA. I am outraged, and want to help by spreading flyers. During Aug 1-2 I am vacationing to New York City, where I feel I can reach a huge amount of people by passing out flyers (a whole lot). I can design it to look good, but i would need all the information, or if you have a design, please send it to me ( yfoogsittam@netscape.com ) in any file format (pdf, jpg, gif, ill, psd). I will make as many copies as i can. Also, Is there a mailing list? Because that would be a good way to alert people of events on Aug 1-2.

SoSueMe1979	Date: June 30, 2003 @ 7:32 AM Hi.I'm from Lower manhattan, New York. I would definitely love to help. I have some friends in a youth organization that would valuable to this cause. Feel free to email with any info and/or ideas. thanks!

Switchstrike	Date: June 30, 2003 @ 1:17 PM Feiscar, where has violence gotten anti-abortion activists?

Tudris	Date: June 30, 2003 @ 2:18 PM Nonviolent protest is indeed the way to go. Look at the civil rights movement and the protests that Martin Luther King Jr lead. Also, remember that we are NOT the smaller group protesting against the larger. We are the majority. The RIAA may be bigger in terms of financial ability and immediate influence, but we are the majority of the people, and we have the final say.

kfleming99	Date: June 30, 2003 @ 3:38 PM Ill help out any way I can On both Friday and Saturday afternoons here in the Tampabay area of Florida. May I suggest we set up a forum maybe divided by states or at least regions so as a way for us to find rally spots on this historic day? Safety in numbers

LucianSK	Date: June 30, 2003 @ 3:52 PM What needs to be done is, at these huge rallys, and filesharing protests we need to do serious fundraising. This money can be used to donate to the EFF, donate to freenet, or the money can be used for tv Ads on MTV. We shouldnt just have protests, consider this a political movement. The most important thing right now would be fundraising, and organizing. Take advantage of the media attention if you get it.

LucianSK	Date: June 30, 2003 @ 3:54 PM So who is willing to setup the non profit EFF style foundation ? We could donate to the EFF, but we could also just setup something specific for advertisements and education to counter-act RIAA brainwashing.

yfoogsittam	Date: July 1, 2003 @ 2:16 AM Anyone have flier designs yet? Pdf would probably be the best format, although a high-resolution jpeg might be easier to make for the avg user. We should post links to them here in this forum. Fill them with facts and expose the RIAA for the crooked execs that they are. *Bullets are quick and easy. People will read quick bullets, but will see a paragraph, and not take the time to read it. I want people to read these things, if i take the time to make them and pass them out!

m0ppy	Date: July 7, 2003 @ 12:19 AM I know it's probably a stupid thought, but I've never seen anyone actually mention it - doesn't everyone PAY to connect to the internet in the first place? Wouldn't that be considered PAYING for the music we download? Just something I think a lawyer may find handy to throw at the jury... Probably not too great an idea, but a thought nonetheless.

gisle	Date: July 11, 2003 @ 6:07 PM Please: The money you pay for your Internet connection goes to your Internet Service Provider. What you pay for is the use of infrastructure (fiber, switches, routers, etc.) necessary to use the net. Not a cent you pay to your ISP is passed on to the artists to pay for the music. Sometimes, the idea pops up that there should be surcharge (a "modem tax") on each downloaded byte to be passed on to "content owners" to pay for the "content" Internet users download from the net. This would be very difficut to administrate fairly, incur a huge overhead, and increase the cost of using the Internet.