Friday, April 14, 2006

One Man's First Hand Account of Being Put Through Hell by the RIAA


I received this email from a reader in Pennsylvania. I reproduce it here because I think it captures the torture and anxiety that so many Americans are facing due to the out of control litigation campaign of the RIAA.
-R.B.

I am being sued by the RIAA for copyright infringement, and the case has been going on for the past 2 years.

So far they have deposed all 5 of my children, and my wife, and myself. I also had to fill out admissions and interrogatory answers twice so far and they are still not satisfied with my answers. Most of them I answered that I did not know. I did not know, and was completely unaware of whatever the RIAA is claiming happened. My responses were honest, but that was not good enough for them.

I am defending myself in this case because I can't afford a lawyer, and it's hard for me to understand all of the paperwork and the rules of the court. The RIAA is on its 6th different group of lawyers. It seems like they are bottom feeders.

I was just in court in Philadelphia with the RIAA's Philadelphia representative.

I had been called into court by the judge, Judge Cynthia Rufe, because I had not responded to the RIAA's second motion to compel even more discovery.

The judge gave me additional time to send in the paperwork, and stated that she intends to set up a trial date sometime in May.

The real shame is that I had no knowledge of any of this until I was served in the mail. Apparently my daughter who was 12 years old at the time had been listening to music on Kazaa

I do not even know how it got on the computer.

I know that I didn't do anything wrong and I am going to defend myself, but I'm scared to death of the outcome.

.....................

Sincerely


Keywords: copyright download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs

4 comments:

StephenH said...

The RIAA did no investigation, and such. They are just racketeering in my opinion. Additionally, many parents aren't tech savvy enough to monitor their children. RIAA should stop this lawsuit campaign ASAP!

Polybius said...

The more I read, the more thankful I am that I do not live in the United States. I find myself wondering, what kind of a country allows such abuses of the legal system to go on, unchecked? What is wrong with the American courts? From an outsider's perspective, at least, it would appear that one can file suit without any evidence whatsoever.

The courts in Canada and Holland appear to demand at least _some_ evidence before allowing suits to proceed. What is it going to take to halt this barratry?

blogger said...

What the RIAA is doing and has done in the past several years by suing is wrong. When they sue the consumer, they are definately commmiting the greatest crime. The consumer doesnt have, rather the consuemer has the resources scattered, but individually does not have the resources to fight even if they didnt do anything wrong. A new law needs to be passed to stop this. Senators need to be contacted. The power of the resources is just so scattered that individually we cant do anything. Today I came across a new site: www.allofmp3.com and its great because it made me think. Just to support my hate against the RIAA, I am going to sign up $10 prepaid on this website. I think music downloads should be priced a lot more realistically. $1/song is ridiculous. I would NEVER pay that much per song under any circumstance! If an album has 16 songs on it and songs are $1/song then you are paying more for music downloads than if you went to the store and bought a CD!!! Are you kidding me? Technology should make things cheaper by cutting costs not raise the price. All more money for the RIAA for something that they didnt do.

In addition, I do not think music downloading is illegal. I have read many laws on this and after reading them, I feel very stongly that music filesharing is legal. The RIAA is a legal mob. As a matter of fact, I remember them settling on a lawsuit which gave back million and millions of dollars to anybody that signed up. I got $20 back several years ago. The lawsuit was based on their pricing was taking advantage of consumers.

Jay said...

>From an outsider's perspective, at least, >it would appear that one can file suit >without any evidence whatsoever.

You're exactly right in your accessment of the US legal system--anyone can be sued at any time for any reason...period.