RIAA sues 12-year-old girl

Dan

Senior Member
Aug 28, 2003
3,928
161
48
Aiken, SC
I think these people need a time-out.

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Sued for a song
Tue Sep 9, 7:08 AM ET Add Local - New York Daily News to My Yahoo!


By SONI SANGHA and PHYLLIS FURMAN
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

A shy Manhattan schoolgirl who gets a kick out of nursery songs and TV themes was among 261 people sued yesterday for downloading music from the Internet.


Brianna LaHara, a curly-haired 12-year-old honor student who started seventh grade yesterday at St. Gregory the Great Catholic school on W. 90th St., couldn't believe she's one of the "major offenders" the music moguls are after.


"Oh, my God, what's going to happen now?" she asked after hearing of the suit. "My stomach is all in knots."


Told she may have to go to court, Brianna's eyes widened behind wire-rimmed glasses and she said, "I'm just shocked that of all the people that do this, I'm on the list."


The Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) said the suits filed yesterday included about 60 that targeted suspects in New York who downloaded more than 1,000 songs.


The group blames computer users such as Brianna, who use software programs to trade music with others on the Internet, for a 30% drop in music sales.


Each person sued yesterday could be liable for fines up to $150,000 for each poached track.


'Appropriate action'


Experts had predicted a large number of the suits likely would name youngsters.


"Nobody likes playing the heavy and having to resort to litigation, but when your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take appropriate action," said Carey Sherman, president of the recording association.


Sherman warned that the group may file thousands more lawsuits against people who use programs like KaZaA, Grokster, Gnutella (news - web sites), Blubster and iMesh.


Brianna's mother, Sylvia, 40, director of a nurse placement agency, said her daughter was helping her 9-year-old brother with his homework when the Daily News arrived at their apartment on W. 84th St. with word about the suit.


"For crying out loud, she's just a child," the mother said. "This isn't like those people who say, 'My son is a good boy,' and he's holding a bloody knife. All we did was use a service."


The mother said she signed up for KaZaA, paying a $29.95 fee. "If you're paying for it, you're not stealing it, so what is this all about?" she asked.


She said Brianna downloaded music by Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey, along with the themes to television shows like "Family Matters" and "Full House" - and even the nursery song, "If You're Happy and You Know It."


"That's really threatening to the music industry," she scoffed.


"If this was something we were profiting from, that's one thing. But we were just listening and sometimes dancing to the music," said the mother.


She vowed to get a lawyer to fight the suit, which she termed "ridiculous." With Robert Gearty Originally published on September 9, 2003
 
She paid for Kazaa? That's news to me... I really need to keep track of what software I have that's pirated.

Here's the deal though... I understand where RIAA is coming from, and the artists ARE getting ripped off. They are entirely in the right in trying to stop P2P 'sharing'. Granted, they charge an awful lot for a CD, but that's capitalism at it's finest! The old 'It's what the market will bear' cliche.

But the RIAA is going to get a ton of bad press, and stories like the 12 year old girl are just the beginning... they're going to get a black eye over going after P2P traders. And, legally, it seems to me if someone PAID Kazaa for the service, then they're on the hook for any legal battles. I'm sure there were statements in the Terms when she signed up, but a lawyer will rip that to shreds. You can't charge someone for an illegal service without being liable for it... that's just my completely ignorant legal take on it.

Anyway, I'm a hypocrite. I trade files all the time & I've got a very nice collection going, even though I know it's wrong. I just moved all my songs to a file that's not available for sharing to keep (hopefully) below their radar, but they'll change tactics and bust someone here very soon that only has 5 files available for sharing, and that will be the end of P2P here in America. They started out targeting the 'SuperNodes' but as those drop off, they'll begin going after the small guys... this is just the first phase. Unless someone figures out a way to keep your IP hidden on a P2P transfer, we're done for!

I read a very interesting article about this a while back, I'll try to dig it back up. Canada, as it turns out, will be a very convenient loophole for all of us if I understand the jist correctly.
 
The RIAA and the little girl have already settled out of court!

The girls Mom called them and they paid a fine of $2000!

Holy crap, if I get off that easy I'm only going to be fined about 2 million dollars!
 
HAHAHAHAH, I hear that on the news today myself! 2,000! I wouldn't have paid it!
 
The shame of this whole thing is most artists are not that worried, it is the industry who makes the money that is pushing this and they are mostly lawyers. Stinking vultures, they make more money then the artist does. The artists should get together and sell on line and eliminate the middleman and they would make more and it would be cheaper for us.
 
Sure sounds like a good idea, but you know that would never happen. Too bad about it all. I just got done getting my files moved. I had to download about 10 more this morning! hahahaha!
 
Kazaa has pretty much found a loophole around being charged for anything in this matter. They sold the company to some tiny nation in the middle of the Atlantic, and copyrights can only be brought about within your country.
 

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