This diary has already been posted but received scant attention yesterday. While the RIAA isn't threat numero uno, the group's activities are far too impacting and nefarious to ignore.
Regardless of how you feel about the morality of downloading music for free from p2p programs, you should hate the RIAA's tactics in suing people. Suing 10 year-old girls, grannies, stroke patients, dead people, and people who don't own computers is no way to win over customers. In the three years that they been suing people, p2p programs have only grown since 2003. Their recent blitz against college students hasn't changed their buying habits much. At the same time, the cartel thinks that they can push people around, in the form of cutting artists' royalty rates and moving to kill internet radio through royalty madness.
They are also posing a threat to our civil liberties online. Their ex parte motions for John Doe suits against file-sharers are already legally shaky so what do they do? Lobby the California state Senate to give them the right to pretext and lie to people in order to get confidential information. Legislation is currently being considered in the state Senate to ban this practice, and the RIAA and MPAA are seeking an exemption. Their argument that sacrificing consumer privacy rights to fight piracy is about as convincing as Bush's argument for being the Unitary Executive.
If you want to stop the DNC from hiring Englebretsen, contact them.