When the RIAA sued the children of a dead man accused of infringement, the hapless organization was met with outrage from all sides. Now the RIAA has backed off that idea, issuing a statement: "Out of an abundance of sensitivity, we have elected to drop this particular case." Yeah, right. That wasn't enough for Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow, who ground the RIAA weasels' noses into the carpet whence they just shat and pissed:
The RIAA's approach to PR is much like their approach to culture in general: read-only. The RIAA issues statements like the Pope emitting a bull, and we mortals may squabble over its meaning among ourselves, but they are not available to participate in any further discussion. This is reminiscent of the RIAA's approach to things like YouTube lipsynch videos: "our songs are released to be listened to and nothing more; should you dare to make them part of your life, we will use the copyright law we bought to break you."
Suing grandmas, children and even dead people's children? There's got to be a better way than this. One solution to this problem is to just abandon all products covered by the RIAA. Podsafe music, anyone?
RIAA's "abundance of sensitivity" ends harassment of grieving family [Boing Boing, via The Consumerist]