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The RIAA sees the face of evil, and it's a 12-year-old girl
By Ashlee Vance in Chicago
Posted: 09/09/2003 at 13:54 GMT
The RIAA has nailed one of the most prolific file-traders in the U.S., filing a lawsuit against 12-year-old Brianna LaHara.
When not at the playground with her friends, "Biggie Brianna" is trading music files from her home in New York. The little girl received one of the 261 lawsuits filed by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) on Monday, according to the New York Post. She may look like a sweet and innocent child, but the RIAA says it's only going after major copyright violators at the moment. So you make the call.
"I got really scared. My stomach is all turning," Brianna told the Post. "I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for it. Out of all people, why did they pick me?"
It turns out that Brianna's mum paid a $29.99 service charge to KaZaA for the company's music service. Brianna, however, thought this meant she could download songs at will. How naive!
When reporters charged into Brianna's home, she was helping her brother with some homework. She is an honors student at St. Gregory the Great school.
Brianna could face charges of up to $150,000 per infringed song. but we have a feeling this might be a tad unrealistic. We suggest the RIAA take all of her toys instead.
"Nobody likes playing the heavy and having to resort to litigation," RIAA president Cary Sherman said in a statement. "But when your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take appropriate action."
This is the problem with the RIAA's tactics - the stories of the RIAA shutting down a cd factory will go untold and this type of story will receive publicity.
Maybe the RIAA should rethink their tactics? Maybe at least hire someone to identify potentially damaging targets like a 12 year old girl.
Maybe the RIAA shouldnt have been granted the right to file papers without a court's ruling, and maybe they should actually listen to their 'evidence' (remember the Professor Usher's .mp3 recordings of his lectures screwup?).
The RIAA have just brought proceedings against a newly born child for downloading music from the internet. A spokesperson for the RIAA had this to say:
"Obviously, a newborn child cannot have downloaded any music yet, but we're taking a pro-active approach and targeting potential music downloaders before they even have a chance to download music. We have already successfully prosecuted the father, a 13 yr old boy and believe that this sort of lawless behaviour may be hereditary."
Looks like I'm not buying anymore CDs. Congrats Mr Sherman. Maybe I'll take the cash from the 5-10 CDs I purchase a year and buy independent music or better yet, donate it to the EFF.
I can understand a company or such suing over copyright infringment in such a way. But how do they come up with the $150,000 per song. I mean, if I share out some Milli Vanilli's songs that no one even downloads, how they come up with $150,000 for each song. If they are going to sue, they should try to get the exact figure, not a guesstimate, but which in turn would be impossible to find out how many times someone downloaded a song from the person sharing it...
Oh well, I never used such sharing services as most of the music I listen to isn't on major labels, so most of my money well spent went to Indie labels and bands....
seems they realized this could only make a PR disaster even worse -- settled it in a hurry...
note Sen. Durbin's comments
Quote:
Girl, 12, Settles Piracy Suit for $2,000
Tue Sep 9, 7:19 PM ET
By TED BRIDIS, AP Technology Writer
WASHINGTON - A 12-year-old girl in New York who was among the first to be sued by the record industry for sharing music over the Internet is off the hook after her mother agreed Tuesday to pay $2,000 to settle the lawsuit, apologizing and admitting that her daughter's actions violated U.S. copyright laws.
The hurried settlement involving Brianna LaHara, an honors student, was the first announced one day after the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) filed 261 such lawsuits across the country. Lawyers for the RIAA said Brianna's mother, Sylvia Torres, contacted them early Tuesday to negotiate.
"We understand now that file-sharing the music was illegal," Torres said in a statement distributed by the recording industry. "You can be sure Brianna won't be doing it anymore."
Brianna added: "I am sorry for what I have done. I love music and don't want to hurt the artists I love."
The case against Brianna was a potential minefield for the music industry from a public relations standpoint. The family lives in a city housing project on New York's Upper West Side, and they said they mistakenly believed they were entitled to download music over the Internet because they had paid $29.99 for software that gives them access to online file-sharing services.
Even in the hours before the settlement was announced, Brianna was emerging as an example of what critics said was overzealous enforcement by the powerful music industry.
The top lawyer for Verizon Communications Inc. charged earlier Tuesday during a Senate hearing that music lawyers had resorted to a "campaign against 12-year-old girls" rather than trying to help consumers turn to legal sources for songs online. Verizon's Internet subsidiary is engaged in a protracted legal fight against the RIAA over copyright subpoenas sent Verizon customers.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also alluded to Brianna's case.
"Are you headed to junior high schools to round up the usual suspects?" Durbin asked RIAA President Cary Sherman during a Senate Judiciary hearing.
Durbin said he appreciated the piracy threat to the recording industry, but added, "I think you have a tough public relations campaign to go after the offenders without appearing heavy-handed in the process."
Sherman responded that most people don't shoplift because they fear they'll be arrested.
"We're trying to let people know they may get caught, therefore they should not engage in this behavior," Sherman said. "Yes, there are going to be some kids caught in this, but you'd be surprised at how many adults are engaged in this activity."
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