Well, the RIAA is suing 261 file swappers for ille…
September 9th, 2003 | by Jeremy |Well, the RIAA is suing 261 file swappers for illegally swapping music. And one of them is a 12-year-old girl from the projects.
Now, the Fox story was written to make people say, “Ooo, look at the big, evil corporation making a little girl cry,” but I found it interesting for another reason. Originally, the RIAA tried to sue the companies who make and distribute the peer-to-peer trading software, saying they were liable for copyright infringements that took place using their software. But, a judge disagreed. For the record, I agree with the judge.
Since then, the RIAA has been going after the individuals that actually do the trading. Seems like the the RIAA has a better chance at winning by doing that, but could they really take on millions of file traders? They’re trying.
But what if the RIAA settles with dozens (or hundreds, or thousands) of file sharers for thousands of dollars each? Might those file sharers try to file a class action lawsuit again peer-to-peer software companies such as Kazaa, saying they were led by the company to believe what they were doing was legal? The sharing option in Kazaa is on by default, afterall.
Two quotes from the Fox article reinforced the idea for me that those class action suits may in fact occur. First, a quote from the 12-year-old named in the lawsuit…
“I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for it.”
Exactly. The family had paid $29.95 to sign up for Kazaa Plus, a version of Kazaa with no banners and enhanced search features. I could understand how the average person or family could think, “Hey, this is a legitimate company and I’m paying them… How could this be illegal?” Obviously, that’s what the girl’s mother thought. As she says in the Fox article…
“It’s not like we were doing anything illegal.”
The class action lawsuits from the file traders against the peer-to-peer companies will come. But will they win?
In other news… Tomorrow I tape another installment of Jeremy Borger on the Web. This time, we’re covering the Gravity Games. Should be a good time, so check it out.
“So, Jeremy, what the heck has happened to The Jeremy Borger Show? I’ve seen the same episode 27 times in a row and the website hasn’t been updated in months! I hate you!” I know, I know. Let’s just say it’s hard to do a TV show by yourself. I’d still love to do the show, but I need to focus on just one or two things - like hosting and writing - instead of hosting, writing, producing, booking guests, being floor director, prop manager, stagehand, promotions director, and sales manager. And I can’t afford to bank role everything by myself either. Someday… Suggestions? Let me know.