Over the past couple of years the RIAA has experienced more than its share of missteps while waging its War On Piracy ™. The organization’s ‘sue first, ask questions later’ strategy has produced some undesirable results. Like the time they sued a family that didn’t own a computer, or the time they suggested that an MIT student drop out of school in order to pay some arbitrary fine for piracy, or the time they sued a dead person for illegal file sharing.
You might expect that the heads of the RIAA would show some remorse over the fact that they’ve ruined people’s lives (well, except for the dead person). Not so. The following is from News.com’s surreal interview with RIAA President, Carry Sherman, and RIAA Chairman Mitch Bainwol:
Q: Do you view your lawsuits, even ones where you sued a 12-year-old girl or a Boston grandmother, as a success overall and do you think the process is working?
Sherman: Yes. We’re feeling pretty good. There will be the opportunity for business models that are consistent with P2P networks (such as demo versions or low quality). There have been a lot of conversations recently about ad-supported models.
That’s right, they’re feeling pretty good about it. Not only that, they’re eager to discuss their new ad-supported business models. Sort of makes you wonder just what, exactly, they’re trying to accomplish.
The rest of the interview is equally entertaining.