RIAA Wins Worst Company In America 2007 306
An anonymous reader writes "After 15 punishing rounds of combat involving 32 of America's most hated companies, 100,000 voters have spoken: More hated than Halliburton, more despised than Walmart, the RIAA has defeated all comers to become the Worst Company in America 2007."
I Demand a Recount (Score:5, Interesting)
This is a poll:
Worst Company In America - 2007
Verizon [impoll.net]
U-Haul [impoll.net]
Sony [impoll.net]
Exxon [impoll.net]
Clear Channel [impoll.net]
Halliburton [impoll.net]
RIAA [impoll.net]
Walmart [impoll.net]
Comcast [impoll.net]
Best Buy [impoll.net]
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Re:I Demand a Recount (Score:4, Funny)
The truly funny bit was that this article came up with an ad for Sony's Blu-ray Disc Player.
Cheers,
Ethelred
They won't - the RIAA won (Score:5, Insightful)
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Also, the fact that a generally well-liked (at least in the past) electronics company like Sony can be hated and boycotted so much due to a sibling company like Sony BMG ju
Monsanto (Score:3, Insightful)
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what about... (Score:4, Funny)
Since when is the RIAA a company? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Since when is the RIAA a company? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Since when is the RIAA a company? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Since when is the RIAA a company? (Score:5, Funny)
Artists: Help help, I'm being repressed.
Lawsuit victims: Ah, now you see the violence inherent in the system!
Look: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Since when is the RIAA a company? (Score:5, Insightful)
* their lobbying efforts alone make their non-profit status pretty hard to justify under 501(c)(3)
Re:Since when is the RIAA a company? (Score:5, Informative)
501(c)3 is a designation for non-profits to whom personal donations are tax-deductible; there are many, many non-profits that do not fall under this category. Under federal tax law, a business may still deduct donations to a lobbying non-profit as business expenses, if the lobbying is in support of the business interests of the business -- personal contributions, however, aren't exempt.
Yet another way the corporations and their crony legislators have reinforced their domination of the legislative process.
comcast (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:comcast (Score:5, Informative)
Re:comcast (Score:5, Interesting)
When my parents arrived at the uhaul rental place to pick up our large truck, they had none on the lot, and informed us that the nearest one was roughly 200km away, in the opposite direction from where I needed to go. They offered us a trailer that was 1/3rd the size as the best they could do.
So here I am on moving day, with nowhere to store my stuff, no truck to put it in, and no other options. By a strange fluke of luck I managed to get the landlord of my new apartment let me move in a day early, and we just ferried it over.
I'd say that's why Uhaul is worse. If Best Buy fucks up, you just have to wait a little while longer (I'm sure someone will have a story to prove me wrong, but whatever). But if Uhaul fucks you around on moving day, you're boned.
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I had the same problem with them.
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It isn't even an original one. IIRC airlines started with the idea of deliberatly overbooking flights some thirty odd years ago, turn up "too late" and you don't get a seat. More recently some hotel chains have been caught taking bookings for more rooms than they actually have. Even including sending people round to other hotels in the chain.
Same business model; th
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They tried to call his insurance agent, who of course wasn't in (Saturday morning), and refuse
Re:comcast (Score:5, Interesting)
I got my revenge on moving day a few years later- I was renting a 26 foot monster and despite them promising me an automatic, I got a manual (never drive one). Being studious, I understand the mechanics of a manual and figured a few minutes in the parking lot (or perhaps an hour) and I'd have it down. I didn't know of course that when you start the thing, there's no park and they often leave it in gear to keep it from rolling in the lot- so when I tried to start it up to do a pre-trip (I leaned in from the side), as the engine started cranking, it shot back into the truck behind. It did minimal damage, so they let it go and sent me out of there with an automatic, albeit smaller. Things went well from there, but the bigger truck would have been helpful. Anyway, the point is, they pulled the same trick on me and it caused an accident.
Re:comcast (Score:5, Funny)
Re:comcast (Score:4, Interesting)
So, there you have it, bad karma has a way of coming back at you, even if you're a company.
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See http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNew s/20051021/wfive_uhaul_051021/20051022?hub=WFive [www.ctv.ca]
A few choice quotes:
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It's pretty standard practice to leave a larger vehicle in first or reverse, especially for older vehicles and hilly areas.
Cars this side of the world (Europe) normally have the hand-brake on the rear axle and are driven on the front axle.
If left parked in gear this means that both axles are braked.
Als
Re:comcast (Score:5, Funny)
"I made a reservation? Do you have my reservation?"
"Yes, we do. Unfortunately, we ran out of cars."
"But the reservation keeps the car here. That's why you have the reservations."
"I know why we have the reservations,"
"I don't think you do. If you did, I'd have a car. See, you know how to take the reservation. You just don't know how to hold the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anyone can just take them."
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]{
Results may already be dated. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Results may already be dated. (Score:5, Informative)
Unrelated to your post but I'm too lazy to create another post of my own: It's funny how 100,000+ voteS in the actual article turns into 100,000+ voteRS in the Slashdot summary. It seems that the highest number of individual voters in any single round was around 23,000. That's a pretty small sample size but considering that the people who frequent The Consumerist seem to be at least a bit more educated about consumer issues than your regular joe perhaps these votes count for a bit more than a poll that reached more people and got more numbers.
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A lot of them don't even know who Halliburton is.
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Annoying - I use their software which has already slipped to a yearly patch cycle and support has recently been moved offshore to people who do not understand the software - two or three days of email ping pong before my question gets to Texas. Another disruption will make things worse.
Gave me a fright (Score:5, Funny)
They should sue MS (Score:2)
This isn't a win for us (Score:5, Insightful)
So don't call this a victory for us! This is a victory for the record companies, because it shows that they have successfully redirected your wrath to a "company" (I don't know why the summary uses that word) that doesn't have a product, and could care less that you don't like them.
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Being in the RIAA can't help more than it hurts.
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Find new bands? (Score:3, Informative)
How about finding new artists that aren't associated with the RIAA? There are a LOT of them out there, some of them are quite good, and a good number of them are just giving their music away.
I don't know what kind of music you like, but I'll give you a few links to get you started:
Archive.org's Music Section [archive.org] - There's a lot of good stuff under NetLabels
Archive.org's Live Music Archive [archive.org] - Concert recordings from bands that allow it, including a good number of artists under RI
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Nonsense. The RIAA was formed in 1952 to do things like establishing standards for phonographs. Until recently the general public had never heard of it.
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Wanna bet? Seems there was this thing on Slashdot not too long ago about CD sales numbers..
Re:This isn't a win for us (Score:4, Insightful)
No Brainer. (Score:4, Interesting)
From TFA:WTF? I think many, many people who respect others' copyright have problems with RIAA's tactics of suing random (often innocent) people, attempts to scare govt & the public by linking terrorism & piracy, and basically ignoring the fact that they have to change (or at least adjust) business models.
Painting all enemies of RIAA as illegal downloaders is just stupid (or perhaps a troll?)
Bootnote: This is mildly amusing for me, 'cause last thread I commented in I was accused of being a RIAA Shill [slashdot.org] (presumably that poster believes anyone who criticises Apple is a RIAA shill).
RE: your Bootnote (Score:2)
[offtopic rant] I sympathize . I have noticed a growing trend to amongst the more excitable element on slashdot to scream "shill" at anyone with whom they disagree. I was accused of being on the Microsoft payroll twice last week. Presumably I must have taken up a position with them after leaving Nintendo, because I was apparentl
Trade Group Not Company (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Trade Group Not Company (Score:4, Insightful)
And the prize is... (Score:5, Funny)
How Sad (Score:4, Insightful)
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What a load of crock. (Score:5, Insightful)
Comcast or Verizon or Microsoft could easily have won against the RIAA, given the appropriate competition on the big board. But, hahaha, to figure out who the "worst company" was they pitted the RIAA against United Airlines, U-Haul, Exxon, and Halliburton. Halliburton is the only one that was any challenge at all. Change the board around - make it RIAA against Microsoft, RIAA against Comcast, and you'll see different results.
Furthermore, the RIAA v. Halliburton... so funny... RIAA takes money away close to home, Halliburton kills everyone in the rest of the world - but who is hated more? America, you fail. Rot in hell.
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That's why in any bracket they always put the #1 ranked team against the #16 ranked team. (and #2 against #15...and so on, so the only "real" competition happens in the middle.)
Check out your nearby Final Four bracket and check how they're grouped. I think you'll be pleasently disappointed.
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And, "Final Four? What's that?"
Cheney Quoted (Score:2)
Totally stolen from http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48445 [theonion.com]
In search of the Golden Poop (Score:3, Interesting)
MPAA more loved (Score:2)
Where is SCO? (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
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RIAA is, in fact, worse then the tobacco companies (Score:2)
I must respectfully disagree with you jcr. I think RIAA is worse, because the tobacco companies aren't trying to force me to deal with tobacco. They have had no material effect on the march of anti-secondhand smoke laws, and there have never been requirements to smoke tobacco. I personally feel that people should be free to engage in risky behavior, so long as they are at no point lied to about it, coerced in any way, and so long as it does not risk anyone else. Tobacco failed on the truthfulness point back
MoD... (Score:2)
What's your point? They're all selling assisted suicide.
Sad poll (Score:5, Insightful)
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Good luck fighting the Halliburtons of the world when you aren't allowed to learn about them anymore because all information is locked down on a "need to know" basis via nth-gen DRM, and even if you do manage to learn something, you aren't allowed to discuss it without facing felony charges because the other party didn't pay for a license. How about getting your priorities straight?
This is good news for the RIAA (Score:2)
Mothers, innocent parties, mentally handicapped, children, nuns, Kim Jong Il, it doesn't MATTER. They want you all to know that there is no international border that they will not cross, n
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I wish RIAA would sue, win a default judgement against Kim and then to collect it, they proceed to Pyongyang, where they "suddenly" end up in Kim's version of Gitmo for enemy combatant.
Man, that is one court battle i wish to see.!
Personal experience and a suggestion at the end. (Score:5, Interesting)
I've met a few of the professors in the dept., all of whom have industry backgrounds, and let me tell you, meeting these guys and the graduates from these departments explains alot. You see, the the RIM college offers three basic majors: one for artists, one for techs, and one for business and pre-law in the recording industry. The most common? You guessed it, business and pre-law. These are the same asshats who, at any other school, would be learning how to ask for TPS reports and iguring out the best way to make partner in the shortest amount of time. Further still, I live in Murfreesboro, 30 min. away from Music Row in Nashville (or as we like to call it, Crackhead Alley), and I used to live in Nashville. When I lived there, I hung out in West End alot, and met alot of people in this business.
So let me say this: some of these people are cool, and I mean no disparagement towards them. But, in my time dealing with alot of these clowns, I have met a higher concentration of assholes than in any other sector (including advertising sales, the Devil's Piggy Bank). Most of these guys could give a flaming crap less about the actual music they produce: the techs normally do, and the artists, of course, but the lawyers and admin. people are so incredibly full of themselves that it's ridiculous. What was always great was hanging out at Cafe Coco, still kind of a hotspot, but mostly Vandy kids now, and seeing one of these jackasses walk in and expect to be treated like the Lords of All. Please understand though, that when I pick on these guys, I'm doing it because, even in a world full of jerks, these guys oftentimes stick out.
So, back to here at MTSU and our RIM dept. Quite literally, contempt of artists, techs, and fans is quite literally indoctrinated into these guys. I've sat in on some lectures, and my God. One of the classes was for artists contracts. I've always known how shady these things are, but to see completely unethical and illegal tricks being taught ina college course absolutely dropped my jaw.
Essentially, what I'm saying is that the reason the RIAA is so friggin bad is because it is expected of them. MTSU got it's RIM dept. up and running before Napster hit, so you have to understand, some of the people involved in the RIAA's modern tactics almost certainly came from this dept., where, as mentioned, these kinds of illegal and unethical behavior are correct answers on practical test questions. Further still, there is a culture on the admin side of the business that expects people, even demands, that they act this way. You want to fix the problem? It's not about fixing the laws, or methods of distribution. These people will just find new ways to screw artists, fans, and techs over. To change the problem, you have to change the education and the culture: nothing else will do. How we do that though, I have no idea.
Re:Personal experience and a suggestion at the end (Score:2)
But, in my time dealing with alot of these clowns, I have met a higher concentration of assholes than in any other sector...
That's a classic comment in LA. Movie executives are smart. Music execs are dumb. Making a movie is complicated; bringing a big production together is a huge management and organization job. It's easy to screw up, and the industry's tolerance for expensive screwups is low. Making a musical recording is a few guys in a room. "Music management" is sales, promotion, and bullying
Just hoping (Score:3, Funny)
Article text (Score:2, Flamebait)
What is the Worst Company in America 2007?
Their New Mission Statement (Score:3, Funny)
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Never bought a big ticket item there though, so that might be different.
Re:has anyone ever had a good shopping experience (Score:2)
to talk to anyone (except for maybe flirting with the cute cashier).
Re:has anyone ever had a good shopping experience (Score:4, Interesting)
On Geek squad, a little old lady brought in her computer to be fixed - her grandson had loaded the thing with spyware, all it would take was a simple reformat (everything she needed was about 10 pictures and a text file), and I had to tell her it would be over $200. I offered to do the reformat myself off the clock, but my manager told me no. I slipped her my number and did the thing for a batch of chocolate chip cookies (worth it!).
Another shitty thing I experienced was people were bringing in their computers that one of my fellow technicians had 'fixed', (ie: ran Panda Active Scan and deleted a couple registry files), but there was still obvious problems with the thing. The customer complained and said that the product had not been fixed and the computer was still acting up, instead of honoring the 2-year warranty that she had paid $150 for, my manager told me just to tell the customer it had water damage to void the warranty and to send her on her way.
I blatantly told my manager he was a hack, to fuck off, and quit that very day.
Best Buy sucks.
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If you still know people working there and they have seen the same offenses you have, ask them to start documenting the incident: date, time, people present, short description, opinion of what was wrong about the encounter. When they have documented a sufficient number of incidents (I leave it to you do determine how many is enough) bring it to the BBB. They wil
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It's "most hated" not "most evil" (Score:5, Insightful)
No, they're not "just" trying to do that. They've manipulated the law to their own ends and complain whenever people decry that as unfair. They sue innocent people, attempting to ruin their lives. And if they do find out that someone's innocent, they use discovery to invade the innocent person's life, looking to find the real infringer. Which might well be them, after they have MediaSentry flood the P2P networks with bogus files and bogus search data (including the very searches they use to find "infringers"!) And if you insist upon corruption, just what do you call payola? Are bribes not considered corruption these days, or what?
Now, don't get me wrong--Halliburton isn't exactly some nice company, either. But this is "most hated" not "most evil" and the RIAA has gotten a lot more press lately.
But please, don't say they're "just" trying to protect their "property" because there's no way in hell I'll buy that lame excuse.
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Re:stolen music vs corruption (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is that the RIAA is now playing the game against regular people who don't have wads of cash to throw at this. They aren't playing the game fair.
I think this is why the RIAA is easily comparable to a bully--they aren't picking on someone their own size.
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Re:stolen music vs corruption (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:stolen music vs corruption (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:stolen music vs corruption (Score:5, Insightful)
We really should listen the Founders more often.
The hypocrisy of the MPAA/RIAA (Score:5, Informative)
The problem is that IP laws have been so twisted by lobbyists and big business. They seek to profit by taking away our rights. We are supposed to have rights to fair use, fair pricing, and things entering the public domain in a reasonable period, and the artists receiving a fair deal.
But when Mickey Mouse was supposed to enter the public domain, Disney went to the politicans so firmly in their pocket and got them to change the way. Same for the public domain period which congress just keeps setting back and back and back. And the DMCA which was a rights grab and now I can't even watch a DVD I purchased in another country without breaking the law. Some anime series are overpriced: the maker puts 5 episodes on the first DVD, whittling it down to 2 episodes (on a $30 DVD) on the last. Yet this is legal. And while the MPAA and the RIAA hiss and spit about how they're only protecting the authors' rights, they use Hollywood Accounting to rob those very same artists blind. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting [wikipedia.org] And look a the tactics the RIAA shareholders have used to steal royalties off music artists. Recently when someone submitting a movie to the MPAA for ratings, the MPAA made and distributed copies against their wishes, and the court found the MPAA could do what it wants. Their hypocrisy is staggering. We have the absurdity of Adobe, who engineered an incompetant encryption scheme, using the DMCA to throw the guy who exposed them into jail. The DMCA means Macrovision is now by law built into every video device, with the result that my old color TV can't watch new videos. In Australia Channel 9 was fiddling with their digital feed to stop people from copying shows, with the results digital TV sets across the country kept locking up. http://www.smh.com.au/news/home-theatre/case-of-t
The pendulum has clearly swung too far.
Orson Scott Card (Author of "Ender's Game") wrote an excellent essay on this:
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2003-09-07-
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2003-09-14-
With today's Internet in place, the RIAA and MPAA and their moneyed up masters would have never come into existence. They're a cartel living off an old business model, with duplicitous congressmen with bulging pockets changing the law at their beckoned call. If you want to know which congressmen have supported it and which ones have fought it, start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA [wikipedia.org]
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Last time I checked, it was a trade group, and the record companies themselves are members of this group.
Most of the dorks and geeks that hate the RIAA are to stupid to understand this subtle point. The dweebs that voted the RIAA worst company are also the same group of people who would vote BSA (Business Software Alliance), IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), and ISO (International Organization for Standardizat
Re:RIAA != company (Score:5, Informative)
-Black's Law Dictionary
The RIAA is a company. It's even a corporation. Just because a bunch of people on slashdot have a different vague notion* of what constitutes a "company" doesn't mean it isn't.
* the fact that no one has articulated exactly why they think they don't constitute a company pretty well indicates that they don't know exactly what a company is.
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Lets see... Largest private employer in the world. Lowest percentage of health care coverage of any company in the world.
Those old people don't even make enough to cover 1 minor hospital visit, and they aren't covered by any insurance.
Those low prices come at a cost. We all are paying taxes which walmart employees use up every day on medicaid. Walmart is a horrid evil corporation. I wouldn't be suprised if Sergey and Larry were thinking exactly of walmart whe
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So please explain to me how giving someone a low paying job with no benefits is somehow, in some magical fairy tale land you've concocted, worse than giving them no job? If Wal-Mart behaved like a socialist utopia and effectively implemented private enterprise socialism (paying more than the market requires), they would be nowhere near as large a
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They are quite down on the list because now they are seen as mostly harmless where the RIAA is doubling the lawsuits. If you weren't a SCO target yet, you can pretty much rest at ease. Even a couple of the SCO targets are sitting on the sideline waiting for a final rulling whether SCO has valid ownership on the code. If you aren't an RIAA target yet, you soon may be. They are still dangerous, active and getting worse.
I agree with that (Score:4, Interesting)
The RIAA has cost us money, and inflicted DRM on us.
If I had to pick one to destroy off the face of the earth and one to let go unharmed, I'd nail Haliburton. The RIAA can be rendered irrelevant by the movement of technology. Dead US troops can never be gotten back.
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