America's Consumer Electronics Association is again hitting out against the Recording Industry Association Of America, this time following that previously reported speech made by RIAA chief Mitch Bainwol in which he said his association saw the casual ripping and burning of CDs by consumers as a serious piracy threat that needs to be addressed.
CEA president Gary Shapiro this week criticised Bainwol for focusing on CD burning as a target for the industry association's anti-piracy team. He told reporters: "There they go again. The recent news that the recording industry now considers casual, non-commercial CD burning as a threat to be stopped comes as no surprise. We are concerned that the record industry is targeting consumer place shifting and CD burning, even as they admit that it is legal conduct. The fact is, making a backup or mix CD for personal use is not copyright infringement, and Americans who enjoy personal CD burning are not lawbreakers."
Of course the RIAA will say they do not object to consumers making back up copies of albums for themselves, but that they do object to people making CD copies for their friends. The RIAA are keen to develop the use of anti-piracy technology which controls how many times you can rip tracks off a CD. However the CEA is likely to object to that technology too, arguing that it limits a consumer's legitimate use of the albums they have bought.