The RIAA Sees a Little Bit of Itself in Google

As Fresh Media’s REMIXOLOGY event rocked Vancouver on Wednesday, with ideas including the blurring line between paid professionalism and noncommercial creation for media producers, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) along with several other music organizations penned a letter to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt asking that they use their influence on policy to keep this divide in place.

Referring to their initiative as something that reflects “an Internet predicated on order, rather than chaos”, and likening copyright infringement to child pornography, the RIAA asks Google to join with them to create an even less neutral internet than had been outlined in the Google/Verizon proposal.

“The music community we represent,” the letter states, “believes it is vital that any Internet policy initiative permit and encourage ISPs and other intermediaries to take measures to deter unlawful activity…”

The recording industry’s position bases itself on the idea that ISPs should be able to control illegal activity on their networks. This would include copyright violation by way of file-sharing, given the current laws surrounding content ownership.

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Read the letter here.
Click here for OpenMedia.ca's position on the Google/Verizon joint proposal.