Music industry watch

The RIAA hires an army of rent-a-cops

The LA Weekly reports that RIAA has hired a bunch of ex ATFers to take enforcement to the street:

Though no guns were brandished, the bust from a distance looked like classic LAPD, DEA or FBI work, right down to the black "raid" vests the unit members wore. The fact that their yellow stenciled lettering read "RIAA" instead of something from an official law-enforcement agency was lost on 55-year-old parking-lot attendant Ceasar Borrayo.

. . .

The RIAA acknowledges it all — except the notion that its staff presents itself as police. Yes, they may all be ex-P.D. Yes, they wear cop-style clothes and carry official-looking IDs. But if they leave people like Borrayo with the impression that they’re actual law enforcement, that’s a mistake.

. . .

Though Langley says he doesn’t know what tack his new boss will take, the recent hiring of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Bradley Buckles to head the anti-piracy unit has some RIAA watchers holding their breath.

While doing actual street enforcement sounds like a reasonable thing to do, aiming to look like cops is a bad idea. If these guys were hasseling me, I'd tell 'em to screw off and use due process. But then again, I wouldn't be selling CDs on the street corner.

Makes me want to go and download a bunch of Creative Commons (commercial use ok license only, of course) music, setup a shop on Sunset Blvd and wait for the RIAA cops to come hassle me. If they attempt to confiscate anything, I could stick the cops on them. Ahhh, to dream.

Posted by Mayhem at January 9, 2004 02:42 PM