Take Action Against Industry Manipulation by George Ziemann -- September 30, 2010 Recording industry lapdog Orrin Hatch has introduced a Senate bill designed to give the RIAA even more power for abuse than they have already achieved through President Obama's appointment of several RIAA attorneys to run the Dept. of Justice. The music industry is already out in force to support this act. It is up to independents to take a stand against this abuse. The following is the test of a letter I have sent to my Senators. As an independent musician, I urge you, please DO NOT support S. 3804, the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act." This is an effort by the thieves that run the music industry and routinely relieve the creators of our culture from their rights and to punish our fans for spreading music and providing musicians with free promotion. President Obama has staffed the Dept. of Justice with attorneys from the RIAA, a blatant disregard for his promise to limit access to government by lobbyists and this bill will only further this abuse. Sen. Orrin Hatch is the primary sponsor of S. 3804, and he has previously promised to take action against the abuse of the radio airwaves in the form of payola, only to forget about it completely. This bill only furthers the agenda of those who have a decades long track record of stealing the rights of our culture's creators. Copyright infringement is a civil offense and it is the responsibility of each individual copyright owner to determine if their work has been used improperly. It is not the government's job to police civil offenses. Many musicians use their own web site to offer music to the public and promote themselves. This bill would only make it easier for the recording industry to punish those who choose to remain independent and retain the rights to their own work. The U.S. copyright laws were initially create to "promote science and the useful arts" and to grant the creators of those works with a limited monopoly. The intent of our founding fathers has been bastardized by those who seek to profit from our work. It is time for this abuse to come to an end. If the men responsible for drafting the U.S Constitution were opposed to the sharing of copyrighted material, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison would have stopped Benjamin Franklin when he created the first public library. This action is contrary to the desires of our founding fathers.