In this case, the misfortune of which I speak is the class action lawsuit the recording industry may now face for suing innocent people in their efforts to shut down peer-to-peer filesharing. Understand that I’m not saying people should be allowed to illegally provide mp3 files of music to others. Rather, the RIAA has abused the legal system to intimidate people, and now it is getting the payback it deserves from those wrongfully accused or bullied even though they have committed no crimes.
The scene at RIAA headquarters this week must have been fascinating. The group yesterday announced that it has finished sending out a new batch of 503 “pre-litigation letters” to 58 different universities around the US, generously offering to let students settle copyright infringement claims “at a discounted rate” before those claims go to trial. The letters blanketed the country, going everywhere from the University of Hawaii to Swarthmore, from Boston College to Tulane, from Emory to Chico State. And then the RIAA learned that its aggressive litigation tactics have placed it on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit.
Single mom Tanya Andersen, a defendant in a previous lawsuit brought by the RIAA, was one of the first to have her case dismissed with prejudice (it cannot be refiled at a later date). Throughout the court battle, she maintained her total innocence, a claim given even more plausibility by the fact that she was charged with downloading numerous gangsta rap tracks.
Now, she is suing the RIAA, and her attourney has requested that the suit be elevated to class-action status. Happy happy, joy joy.
The illegal file sharing needs to be stopped. The manner in which the RIAA chooses to do that is too far-reaching and exceeds legal bounds constantly. This needs to be shut down and the agency needs to be forced to a new tactic in their efforts to shut down illegal filesharing.
[tags]RIAA being sued, Class-action against RIAA?, RIAA victim countersues for malicious prosecution, P2P, mp3[/tags]