Yeah, I like that poster. I have it printed and up on my wall at work.

One would expect entertainmet electronics industry to collectively stand against RIAA monopolistic behaviour in court. The problem is, some of them (like Sony, Phillips) are stradling the fence...

Some of them? How about all of them? Every single large electronics company is dependent upon support from the RIAA and can't oppose them. They sell products which are subject to the AHRA tax, and/or which incorporate the SCMS scheme. You won't see any big hifi companies going up against the RIAA. And the little mom-and-pop organizations don't have enough money to survive a legal battle with the RIAA. Diamond was good about defending the Rio, and they did win a small battle for us. But that was only a small line drawn in a much bigger piece of sand.

If RIAA sees enough money on opponet side, thay will be softer...

Somehow I don't see that happening. They'd just fight harder. They have a lot of money and power behind them right now.

Simply: it is a device to enable them price fixing in spite of global Internet commerce.

Wow, I'd never heard that argument in relation to region coding. But it makes perfect sense. It makes me want to go apply the region-removal hack to my DVD player now.

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Tony Fabris