The SOPA opera is enjoying a defining episode today.

Many important sites like Google are registering their protest. Some, like Wikipedia, have gone entirely dark.

So what do members of the RIAA--which, some tell me, stands for the Record Industry Archaic Association--think of all this? It seems they think it's funny.

Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

For behold a witty tweet from Jonathan Lamy, the Recording Industry Association of America's senior vice president of communications: "After Wikipedia blackrout (sic), somewhere, a student today is doing original research and getting his/her facts straight. Perish the thought."

I know there will be many who will wish to offer contextual analysis of this highly nuanced message, which seems to have first struck the eyes of Gizmodo.

Might it be that Lamy is offering a rib-dig to students because he believes them to be the prime pressure group for the congenital habit of torrenting and file sharing?

Might it be that he merely feels that all students are so very obnoxious that he needs to show just how well he can channel their very nature?

Or might it be that someone whispered in Lamy's ear that the tweet teetered on the troubled side of, well, lame? For he has, indeed, blackrouted (sic) it.

It's odd how those who might even have some sort of a case--if they thought deeply how to present it--manage to locate their inner Plaxico Burress with such careless ease.

At least Lamy hasn't resorted to the popular suggestion of the loose-fingered that his Twitter feed was hacked.

Which means that he might choose today to work a little harder on his timing and delivery.

Perhaps he could look up "Jon Stewart" on Wikipedia.