The RIAA is once again trying to assert that ripping a CD and space-shifting it to your iPod is not a noninfringing use (fair use) of the music you have bought, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The EFF found a filing from Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) rule-making proceedings where the RIAA argued that moving music to an iPod was not noninfringing, a position that not only is devoid of logic, but that is also diametrically opposed to its position as argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The passage as found by the EFF:

"Nor does the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted, necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization. In this regard, the statement attributed to counsel for copyright owners in the MGM v. Grokster case is simply a statement about authorization, not about fair use."

And the RIAA's position argued by its attorney in front of the Supreme Court:

"The record companies, my clients, have said, for some time now, and it's been on their website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod."

Should the RIAA have its way on this issue, one would presumably have to buy a copy of a song for your car or home CD player, and another copy of the same song for any digital media devices you wished to play it on. This has been a dream scenario for the RIAA for some time, and one that this editor has often discussed when writing on the issue at The Mac Observer.