RIAA Takes MPAA's Condescending Response To Protests Up A Notch

from the true-colors dept

If you thought that the MPAA’s obnoxious, tone-deaf and out-of-touch response to the SOPA/PIPA protest blackouts was ridiculous, it appears that Jonathan Lamy, VP of Communications for the RIAA, wanted to take things up a notch by obnoxiously tweeting that perhaps students would be better off with Wikipedia down for the day:

After Wikipedia blackrout, somewhere, a student today is doing original research and getting his/her facts straight. Perish the thought.

Lamy apparently realized what a pompous jerk that made him sound like… and removed the tweet — but thankfully, the good folks over at Gizmodo already had saved a screenshot, which you now see above.

The MPAA and the RIAA have never been good about doing any kind of communication with “the public.” They’re just not set up for that kind of thing. They communicate with elected officials and with the press. And that’s about the extent of it. Of course, in this situation, where the public is actually paying attention to them… all they’re doing is showing off their true colors: condescending, entitled, spoiled brats who are seriously pissed off they’re not getting their way. Boo-freaking-hoo.

Filed Under: , , , , , ,
Companies: riaa

Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “RIAA Takes MPAA's Condescending Response To Protests Up A Notch”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
50 Comments
wvhillbilly (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

“I guess Obama actually can have it both ways.”

Yup, he did it on NDA! He said he would veto it, and what did he do? He very sneakily signed it on Jan. 2 when I guess he thought nobody was paying attention.

I believe the USA is on the fast track to becoming a police state like Nazi Germany, Russia and China, and Obama has a thousand horsepower bulldozer behind it shoving it along as fast as he can.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:

Yup, well spotted. Or, just maybe, frustrated Wikipedia users could have read what Wikipedia said about SOPA/PIPA. There, they could have discovered that all they needed to do was turn off JavaScript and Wikipedia would and did work just fine during the “blackout”. Turning off JavaScript is a whole five clicks in Firefox. Poor darlings, so difficult …

Reading comprehension is a wonderful thing.

hmm (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Re:

this ISN’T a racist post btw, this is a genuine event that happened at the RIAA. Some people will find this post offensive, please don’t block it. The opinion of the RIAA is NOT MINE and I hate what they stand for.

The funniest thing is, the RIAA claims to be for the artists, then in private they’re the most hideous and disgusting racist and sexist monsters you could hope to meet.

Recent dinner meeting last week and one of the public speakers made a joke how “internet people” should be arrested and they should ignore all this “jew process” that stops them just arresting people…cue uproarious laughter from everyone present (vile/evil racism which sort of gives you the idea just what the RIAA is like just under the surface)

Course in public they happily pretend to be nice (well nicer than they actually are)

DAISHI says:

Out of Touch

While nobody is going to be widespread citing Wikipedia as a source, it’s foolish to think that – at the very least – it’s not a good launch point for research, especially when unfamiliar with a topic. I work on a grant program extended through several universities, researching online education and its effectiveness. To say researchers don’t use Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons would be a lie. Don’t get me wrong, all the heavy research still happens in the books, in experiments, interviews, etc. But Wikipedia has become a reliable launch tool for startup research.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Out of Touch

Not to mention, students should not be taught “don’t use Wikipedia”. They should be taught “learn to assess your sources”.

If your students think Wikipedia is a good source, then you’re not doing your job at teaching them how to assess and select sources. Assessing sources is the first thing I learned in university (Scientific major). I was free to use Wikipedia all I wanted provided I knew HOW to use it. You can’t cite it in a paper as it’s not an academic source, but you can certainly use it to help your research.

Anonymous Coward says:

As much as I dislike these guys, I can’t help but feel he has a point. Very hypocritical of him, but he has a point. Students need to learn how to use databases to find primary sources rather than rely on wikipedia. Other than getting a minor summary, EBSCO, LexisNexis and the like are far better for doing internet research than wikipedia.

The Luke Witnesser says:

Here lies the truth about SOPA/PIPA that even TechDirt has yet to report: what MPAA, RIAA, and Hollywood execs do not want you to see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJIuYgIvKsc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzS5rSvZXe8

The truth behind why these big companies responsible for SOPA and PIPA are also responsible for piracy itself is far more insidious than even their outmoded business model.

Can you say, do as I say so I can crush you under heel?

Don says:

Ass Hats

RIAA and the MPAA are just alternate terms for terrorists.
The easiest way to make them go away hit the artists in the pocket book. I know that there are some that will cry fowl and say its not the artist. Oh but it is the artist they sign with the record labels who in turn donate money to the RIAA and MPAA. If you make it hard to make money for the ones creating the content they will find a way to do business that pleases the masses. The record industry robs the artist blind but they just keep letting them do it. You do not need the suits to make a living doing what you love. Stop looking at piracy as money lost because it is money you would never see. Piracy(copy right violations) will never go away if you want to stop it educate don’t litigate. In the age of information I don’t think we need the record labels any more physical media should have died years ago.

Rapnel (profile) says:

Big Media 21st Century Manifesto

Big Media 21st Century Manifesto

Our Goal: Take over and control the Internet so as to, once again, control 99.9% of media distribution and licensing through our traditionally oppressive and iron-clad self enriching models of success.

Our Plan: Turn the Internet into an insidious pool of copyright infringement. Increment awareness of infringement and escalation of our self-preservation litigation stratagem. Lobby for and implement laws that cede control away from individuals and back to us, where it belongs.

Our Most Significant Impediment: You.

PassinThru (profile) says:

Actually the tweet is consistent with RIAA/MPAA philosophy

Like many of the sites they complain about, Mr. Lamy sees WIkipedia as having a single purpose, namely providing students with an easy source from which they can copy material without thinking. Clearly this is the only possible use of Wikipedia, and only plagiarists visit the site. Kind of like MegaUpload…

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...