“The Recording Industry Association of America’s successes in the sphere of eradicating copyright infringement are now being spoken of by everyone. Even our enemies are forced to admit that the successes are substantial. And they really are very great.

It is a fact that by January 1 of this year over 30,000 file sharers throughout the USA had been sued. That means that by March 3, 2009, we had overfulfilled the five-year plan of copyright infringement litigation by more than 100 per cent.

It is a fact that on February 28 of this year the lawsuits targeting infringers had already succeeded in collecting upwards of a figure in judgments which cannot be disclosed at this time, for legal fees not unreasonably exceeding the amounts collected, which is more than 90 per cent of the plan. It must be admitted that the diminution in revenue earned by RIAA-member labels over the past five years — compared to that which was forecast before the implementation of our five year plan to eliminate illegal infringement — is a tremendous achievement.

What does all this show?

That a radical turn of the American public toward respect of copyright may be considered as already achieved.”

(With apologies to the estate of Josef Vissarionovich Stalin for any infringement of that author’s copyright in the speech, Dizzy with Success – Concerning Questions of the Collective Farm Movement)

Last 5 posts by Patrick

• "There Are No Second Acts In American Lives." - February 9th, 2010
• "It Is A Barren Wasteland, Riddled With Fire, Ash, And Dust. The Very Air You Breathe Is A Poisonous Fume." - February 3rd, 2010
• Dear CNN, Reuters, New York Times, Fox, Et. Al. - January 29th, 2010
• State Of The Union - January 27th, 2010
• Read The Whole Thing - January 26th, 2010