Over the past two years, the RIAA has launched 14,800 lawsuits against its listeners in America for allegedly illegally downloading and distributing copyrighted music on the Internet. Doubtless, many of these defendants did indeed download the music. Personally, I think that the RIAA deserves to die a quick and painless death rather than the slow death it's currently facing. But in its throes, it's hurting a lot of people. People such as Ms. Foster of Oklahoma City, who is being sued for downloading music although she doesn't have a computer. People such as the woman in Oregon who is being sued for downloading "gangster rap" at 4:30 AM. Perhaps her 8-year-old daughter did it.
You may also recall the 60-year old sculptor accused of using KazAa on her Mac to download rap. KazAa only runs on Windows. Or the dead grandmother who was sued by the RIAA. These guys are out of control.
And now, Patricia Santangelo, whom I've written about previously, has hired a lawyer to fight her copyright infringement suit, claiming a kid's friend may have downloaded copyrighted material without her knowledge. She is accused of downloading the following:
This is important because it's the first case that's gone to court. Until now, the suits have been well-financed bullying by the record industry. Even those in the right have been unable to fund their own defense. To date, over 3000 people have coughed up thousands of dollars each rather than face the expense of a trial. If Ms. Santangelo has the chutzpah to pull this off, she will be my hero. I'll wear her face on a frelling tee shirt.