Apparently mortified by the negative publicity they have received for suing the children of a dead man who is accused of file infringement (and obviously in no position to defend himself), the RIAA has declared a “temporary suspension” of the “productive settlement discussions” they were having with the grieving.

Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing expertly skewers them:

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.”

What a collection of assholes. Luckily, they couldn’t be doing a worse job promoting DRM: their extortionist tactics couldn’t be doing a better job of driving people away from purchasing from them. It’s all going to come around.

RIAA’s “abundance of sensitivity” ends harassment of grieving family [Boing Boing]

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