Unfortuantely for them, they keep making statements like this that alienate consumers.

“Nor does the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted, necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization. In this regard, the statement attributed to counsel for copyright owners in the MGM v. Grokster case is simply a statement about authorization, not about fair use.”

What does this mean? What exactly is the Recording Industry Association of America hinting at?

The RIAA is now saying that ripping your own CDs to your iPod or other portable device doesn’t constitute as fair use.

The filing also says that creating a back-up CD of an album that you purchased goes against the RIAA’s current fair use policy.

Why can’t this industry get its act together? All this will do is encourage more people to steal music or purchase music from iTunes-like online distributors. Be sure to read the article from EFF and check out the legal briefings and the legal flip-flopping that is coming to define the RIAA as an association that doesn’t care about its clients or consumers.

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