A couple of months ago I posted that the RIAA was gathering evidence in order to file suit against “music pirates” sharing music over P2P networks. As expected, last Monday 261 copyright lawsuits were in fact filed against file sharers, and the RIAA “warned it ultimately may file thousands of cases.” I think I’ve made my feelings on the RIAA’s actions very clear in the many posts I’ve made on the topic. However, this latest action has a couple of wrinkles that make it particularly egregious. One of the people sued happens to be a 12-year old girl and her mother, who was duped into buying a copy of Kazaa (which is free), thinking that it made file downloading legal. OK, ignorance is unfortunately not a legal excuse, but c’mon, now! If ever there was an example that the RIAA is overzealously pursuing its agenda, then this is it. The mother and daughter, who live in a rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan, have settled with the RIAA for $2000. I was incensed to hear that they were browbeaten into submission by this corporate giant, but I take heart in the fact that it didn’t even take a day for people to start collecting money for their cause, already amassing almost enough pledges to cover the settlement.
The other thing that really pisses me off is the RIAA’s “Clean Slate” program, “an amnesty program for people who admit they illegally share music, promising not to sue them in exchange for their admission and pledge to delete the songs off their computers.” I really hope that no one is stupid enough to buy into this affidavit that basically admits guilt to something which has not been definitively established as illegal. Not only does this “amnesty” program sign away all of your rights, but it also does not prevent the person from being sued by other companies, something deceptively hidden in the fine print. The EFF and several other news agencies are thankfully trying to inform people of these facts and persuade them to not take up the RIAA on their extremely dubious offer. I hope that this information gets out to the mass media, allowing people to think before they sign their rights away…
