David Hughes, a former Vice President of Technology Strategies and Digital Policy for Sony BMG who now serves as the Senior Vice President of Technology for the RIAA, held a question and answer session at Arizona State University this morning. The audience held several Consumerist readers, one of whom asked David about winning the “Worst Company In America” contest. Reader Anthony describes the event:

The RIAA is well-aware that they are becoming irrelevant. They are also aware that nobody likes them, but they don’t care about that. Someone also brought up the fact that the RIAA was recently voted as being the “worst company in America”, to which David responded with some laughs and a quip about how they’ve been “beating Exxon-Mobil for years” in that arena.

Other highlights of the talk include Mr. Hughes calling Steve Jobs a “hypocrite,” and some protesters crashing the party…

Four people, likely students, walked into the back of the room, all holding cardboard signs. One sign had a scythe attached and said, “Don’t fear the RIAAper.” Another guy had no pants on and had a sign that said, “The RIAA sued the pants off me.” Another girl had a sign that said, “Download like it’s 1999.” And the last girl had some spare change in her hand that was to go to “Metallica’s retirement fund.”

—MEGHANN MARCO

The RIAA Came to ASU Today [Anthony Garone]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.