Sell A Used CD, Go To Jail…?

Excerpt from “Damn The Man!” The Ability To Sell Second-Hand CDs on thelegality.com:

The music industry, it seems, is foregoing lawsuits in favor of promoting preventative legislation. Recent legislation in Florida, Utah, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island has made it more difficult to sell used CDs in those states than it is to get a driver’s license.

In Florida, for example, anyone attempting to sell used CDs to a retailer must present identification and be fingerprinted, and any retailer looking to sell those same CDs must apply for a permit and submit a $10,000 bond with the Department of Agriculture and Human Services. Thankfully, those restrictions do not apply to online or person-to-person sales.

As each day passes, these copyright cartels behave more and more erratically. You’re telling me they want to make it more difficult to sell a CD than it is to obtain a driver’s license?  Or vote in Iraq? 

Erratic behavior is common at the end of empires, and the RIAA is currently observed as lurching forward, acting out, and overreaching in as many areas as possible, further alienating the blossoming participants who are either already active or becoming activated in the New Music Order.  

The big question for me in October of 2008… do I want to spend time in an area that is growing?  Or in an area that is dying?