Girl, 12, Settles Piracy Suit for $2,000
Tue Sep 9, 7:20 PM ET Add Entertainment - AP to My Yahoo!


By TED BRIDIS, AP Technology Writer

WASHINGTON - A 12-year-old girl in New York who was among the first to be sued by the record industry for sharing music over the Internet is off the hook after her mother agreed Tuesday to pay $2,000 to settle the lawsuit, apologizing and admitting that her daughter's actions violated U.S. copyright laws.



The hurried settlement involving Brianna LaHara, an honors student, was the first announced one day after the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) filed 261 such lawsuits across the country. Lawyers for the RIAA said Brianna's mother, Sylvia Torres, contacted them early Tuesday to negotiate.


"We understand now that file-sharing the music was illegal," Torres said in a statement distributed by the recording industry. "You can be sure Brianna won't be doing it anymore."


Brianna added: "I am sorry for what I have done. I love music and don't want to hurt the artists I love."


The case against Brianna was a potential minefield for the music industry from a public relations standpoint. The family lives in a city housing project on New York's Upper West Side, and they said they mistakenly believed they were entitled to download music over the Internet because they had paid $29.99 for software that gives them access to online file-sharing services.


Even in the hours before the settlement was announced, Brianna was emerging as an example of what critics said was overzealous enforcement by the powerful music industry.


The top lawyer for Verizon Communications Inc. charged earlier Tuesday during a Senate hearing that music lawyers had resorted to a "campaign against 12-year-old girls" rather than trying to help consumers turn to legal sources for songs online. Verizon's Internet subsidiary is engaged in a protracted legal fight against the RIAA over copyright subpoenas sent Verizon customers.


Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also alluded to Brianna's case.


"Are you headed to junior high schools to round up the usual suspects?" Durbin asked RIAA President Cary Sherman during a Senate Judiciary hearing.


Durbin said he appreciated the piracy threat to the recording industry, but added, "I think you have a tough public relations campaign to go after the offenders without appearing heavy-handed in the process."


Sherman responded that most people don't shoplift because they fear they'll be arrested.


"We're trying to let people know they may get caught, therefore they should not engage in this behavior," Sherman said. "Yes, there are going to be some kids caught in this, but you'd be surprised at how many adults are engaged in this activity."

WTF????? They think that taking $2000 from a family that stays in the PROJECTS is more fair? These people are not hurting for anything...this whole thing makes me sick! I WISH A MOFO WOULD try to sue me...:mad:.

From what I hear, artist's don't make much money from CD sells. The company's do. I remember there was a special on TLC when Left Eye (R.I.P.) explain how the record sells work. Artist make most of their money off concerts and endorsements.

I am tired of buying CD's that cost $18.99 plus tax for a CD with two good songs. I am not going to buy another CD until RIAA stops suing little kids. That is crazy.

This is a public relations NIGHTMARE for them.

People who download are not going to stop until it becomes technologically impossible, and thanks to the nerds that is NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. The RIAA has already lost this battle, they just need to accept it and learn to work with the new format.

Hell they should have done that 5 years ago. They are going to have to seriously modify their business model to survive because they didn't harness this technology when it was new.

GREEDY
 

The big exec realize that the little guy is making a profit off of burnt CDs. I'm in my 30s, I remember when one person bought a cassette tape, and all his or her friends when copy that tape. Now all of a suddent copying music is a serious problem.

It only became a problem when the big execs realize how much money they are not earning.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a website where you can check your user names against a subpoena listing.

http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/riaasubpoenas/

Do you have a subpoena?
 

Well as a parent who has a child who was in a couple of movies as well as photo shoots I would have NO to buying bootleg merchandise! These people work very hard to give us our entertainment, but more importantly we are focused on the artist. There are a lot of other people involved in the creative process that no one ever sees or hears about. These people are not millionaires. The guy/girl who holds the grips goes to work just like you and I do and they are hurt more than the artist when we as consumers purchase bootleg copies of CD's and DVD's.

Re: GREEDY
 

From what I understand people still do that with their Gospel CDs and cassettes. Personally, I'm not going to stop downloading as long as I can find somewhere to do it from.

For me, I only download things I owuld not buy or very old music that it is difficut to buy even if you want to. This whole thing assumes that I would buy it if I did not download it which is flat out false. With all the crap they put out, I almost never down load an entire album and if I stop getting them f the web, I just will not get them at all!

Also, this still does not stop people from buying one copy and making copies for all of thier friends.

Here is my take on the subject...

I buy CD's from those artists that I am a total fan of. For example I ALWAYS buy Mary J. Blidge and Monica. Other than that I burn CD's because 1. I don't like the artist enough to buy the entire cd, 2. I am a poor college student and I try and cut costs any where possible and 3. my university has CD burners in every computer lab so why not use them, I pay a technology fee so I need to get my money's worth!!!

I buy alot of CDs from the "hustle man"
And ever since I got a CD burner, I have been the occassional "hustle woman" when I needed a little change.
But if I genuinely LOVE the artsist I have no problem purchasing the CD

I will burn and burn and burn to my heart's content. Not only CD's but software, DVD's, and even stuff I don't need. The music industry is charging an arm and a leg for a CD.

Look at it this way, you pay $20 for a CD with only 1 good song on it. But you can turn around and burn a compilation CD for doggone near free with every song you like. I will buy a CD if it's overall pretty good. Like R. Kelly or something like that.

RIAA Files 532 Music-Sharing Lawsuits
(AP, 01/21/2004 12:48:00PM)

By Ted Bridis

The recording industry on Wednesday sued 532 computer users it said were illegally distributing songs over the Internet, the first lawsuits since a federal appeals court blocked the use of special copyright subpoenas to identify those being targeted.

The action represents the largest number of lawsuits filed at one time since the trade group for the largest music labels, the Recording Industry Association of America , launched its controversial legal campaign last summer to cripple Internet music piracy.

Music lawyers filed the newest cases against "John Doe" defendants — identified only by their numeric Internet protocol addresses — and expected to work through the courts to learn their names and where they live.

The recording association said each person was illegally distributing an average of more than 800 songs online. Each defendant faces potential civil penalties or settlements that could cost them thousands of dollars.

The resumed legal campaign was intended to discourage music fans emboldened by last month's federal appeals court decision, which dramatically increased the cost and effort to track computer users swapping songs online and sue them.

"Our campaign against illegal file sharers is not missing a beat," said Cary Sherman, president of the recording association. "The message to illegal file sharers should be as clear as ever."

All 532 lawsuits were filed in Washington and New York — home to Verizon Internet Services Inc. and Time Warner Inc. and a few other prominent Internet providers — although the recording association said it expects to discover through traditional subpoenas that these defendants live across the United States.

The RIAA said that after its lawyers discover the identity of each defendant, they will contact each person to negotiate a financial settlement before amending the lawsuit to formally name the defendant and, if necessary, transfer the case to the proper courthouse.

Verizon had successfully challenged the industry's use of copyright subpoenas, one of its most effective tools to track illegal downloaders. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled last month that the recording industry can't use the subpoenas to force Internet providers to identify music downloaders without filing a lawsuit.

The court said that copyright subpoenas available under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act "betrays no awareness whatsoever that Internet users might be able directly to exchange files containing copyrighted works."

___

On the Net:

RIAA: www.riaa.org

Subpoena Defense: www.subpoenadefense.org