RIAA: Ripping Your Own CDs Illegal

The RIAA has lodged documents in the ongoing case of the Record Industry vs Jeffrey Howell that argues that ripping music from legally purchased CD’s is illegal.

If the Judge rules that the RIAA is right, any person in United States who has ever ripped a legally purchased CD will become a copyright thief and a potential target of the RIAA, and that means just about every iPod owner in the country.

Yeah, you read that right: you can’t back up music you already own. You can’t even transfer music from your CDs to your MP3 player. The RIAA has officially gone insane.

Wikipedia Should Learn From Yahoo’s Mistake

A paper encyclopedia can contain only the most “noteworthy” topics precisely because it’s restricted by paper. Wikipedia has none of those restrictions, yet some Wikipedians still want to impose those restrictions.

A dispute over whether volunteer administrators have become too quick to delete entries has produced two clashing factions within the ranks of “Wikipedians,” sparking enthusiastic and sometimes nasty sparring on blogs and discussion groups.

On one side are the inclusionists, who argue there are no space restrictions, so why not include articles that have limited interest?

On the other side are the deletionists, who counter that the compendium, which marked its two-millionth English entry this fall, should focus on quality rather than quantity.

I’m reminded of the early days of the Web, when Yahoo imposed a hierarchical structure for its topical directory. Hierarchical structures are necessary for paper card catalogs, precisely because they’re restricted by paper. The Web has none of those restrictions. Google understood that freedom early on, while Yahoo did not. We all know what happened next: Yahoo’s ass got kicked. Will that happen to Wikipedia, too?

(Via Steve Rubel.)