RIAA renews attack on MS mother
p2pnet news | RIAA News:- It’s been a very long time since the corporate music industry made any pretence of giving a damn about the people who keep its executives and shareholders fat and happy.
The bottom line is all that counts and if anyone gets in the way of keeping it healthy, them’s the breaks.
Ask Ray-Jay Schwartz, a New York mother who’s desperately ill with multiple sclerosis, a chronic, crippling disease of the central nervous system which has no known cure.
She’s been sick for a long time with days when she’s barely able to leave her wheelchair. But she’s nonetheless accused by the Big 4 labels of being a massive online distributor of copyrighted music.
Nor is it stopping Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA, fronted by Holme Robert & Owen lawyer Richard Gabriel, from harassing her endlessly.
It’s a proven medical fact that undue pressure on people suffering from this terrible disease can only serve to exacerbate it.
Not our worry, say the Big 4, their RIAA and its functionaries.
First attack a parent
Now, “Despite a schedule agreed upon by the parties and fixed by the Magistrate Judge, the RIAA has written a letter demanding that the case proceed against her,” says her lawyer, Ray Beckerman on Recording Industry vs The People.
Why go to these lengths, given the circumstances?
Because it’s now standard practice for the RIAA to first attack a parent before moving on to the children and in this case, in a court document, the RIAA’s Gabriel says his client is, “seeking to take immediate discovery from defendants daughter and husband, in order to determine, who in the home is responsible for the infringements …” if indeed an infringement or infringements ever occured, which hasn’t been even nearly proven.
One could be forgiven for thinking the RIAA’s determination to proceed with its attacks on Schwartz are backed by a long string of successful prosecutions in which numerous people have been found guilty of the unauthorised distribution of ‘product’ online.
However, this isn’t the case. Far from it, in fact.
Not one of the estimated 30,000 men women and children across America who’ve been accused of being massive online distributors has ever appeared before a civil court or jury, or been found guilty of anything.
Boycott Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG
Intimidation is the RIAA’s primary objective, that and giving the impression it’s won a string of lawsuits, and in both respects, it’s doing wonderfully, thanks largely to the mainstream print and electronic media.
Earlier in the court document, “plaintiffs are aware of no authority that allows a defendant with a medical condition to use that condition to prevent third-parties, including family members, from being subject to discovery,” says Gabriel on the half of the RIAA.
Indeed.
Oregon mother Tanya Andersen, who’s currently leading the first class action against the RIAA, recently suffered the anguish of seeing her 10-year-old daughter, Kylee, being victimised by Big 4 enforcer.
But enough is enough. The RIAA and Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG must be stopped.
Get in touch with your local congresspersons and let them know you want them to take action against the labels and their hired legal guns.
In the meanwhile, join the legions of former Big 4 customers who now comprise a new base of people who’ll have absolutely nothing to do with Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG or their ‘product’.
And stay tuned.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
Also See:
desperately ill with multiple sclerosis – RIAA builds new consumer class, November 20, 2006
Recording Industry vs The People – RIAA Tries to Push Case Against MS Victim in Elektra v. Schwartz, August 22, 2007
first class action against the RIAA – RIAA named in first class action, August 18, 2007
victimised by Big 4 enforcer – RIAA targets 10-year-old girl, March 25, 2007
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August 22nd, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Thanks for the update. This is why I will NEVER, EVER purchase music again (in any form) from any labels who are members of the RIAA – especially Sony (music or electronics). I go out of my every chance I get to warn my co-workers, students, friends and family not to buy Sony products or anything from RIAA record labels.
If we dumbbell Americans would WAKE UP and pay attention, maybe everyone would stop buying this shit from these companies and bring them to their knees financially. We could do it overnight if we didn’t have such a simple-minded, immediate gratification mentality in this country.
Wake up America and quit financing these corporations!
August 22nd, 2007 at 2:44 pm
The RIAA really is disgusting. It’ obvious why they are going to these extreme lengths: they want to get the message across that if you p2p their copyrighted trash, they will come after you and they will make your life a misery until you cave in with a huge, crippling payout.
Together with the lamescream media (nice moniker Jon ), this tactic is supposed to gradually put people off doing p2p, in case they get one of these nightmares on their backs. The more they make people suffer, the louder and stronger their message. This is why they spent thousands on lawyers fees to get $300 back, in a story here the other day. The message is the harrassment that person endured and that they eventually *paid*, regardless.
Only this shit isn’t working and people are sharing more than ever. Good.
I’m sure they will push to the point where the defendent actually dies (eg Schwartz) and then simply move on to the next person connected with them, if possible.
I reckon this class action lawsuit is going to eventually derail them and put some of the top nobs there in prison for extortion, racketeering etc; and it can’t come soon enough.
August 22nd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
With the start of sue’em all came my start of boycott. I’ve not bought a single album since and am not likely to ever do so again as long as the cartels think this is the way to do business. My money is a vote in what I believe in, it’s withdrawal from spending on certain products as vote as well.
I do not support the cartels and their slimey methods they use today. Nor will they ever recieve another vote for their product with these sort of actions as a demonstration of what buying something from them supports.
August 22nd, 2007 at 5:56 pm
“extortion, racketeering etc; and it can’t come soon enough”
hehe ——– if only. there sales will keep going down and theyll blame file sharers not themselves
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:42 pm
If it were my mother that they were pillorying, it WOULD BE THEIR WORRY!!! I would wait for their slime bag lawyers to come out of the court house, and I would pick them off with my 30-06. If their bought and paid for police force were unable to stop me, then I would pay a few RIAA executives a visit too. Unfortunately, it seems that violence is the only way that common folks can get justice these days. It would be worth the needle to see these damned cartels brought down to size if they did this to my family.
This, I believe was the intent of the framers of the U.S. Constitution for guaranteeing the right to bear arms. They foresaw the day when big money and corruption would rule the governments and court system. I’m all for boycotting these bastards and starving them of their revenue, but unfortunately, there are still many who continue to buy from them. I only wish that someone who is put through the ringer would feel the same as I do about it.
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:48 am
Dude YOU have PROBLEMS!
If you are willing to go out and kill someone over a civil legal matter…which is ALL it is…it is not even a criminal offense….then you are out there mentally.
Don’t get me wrong….I don’t care ONE BIT for any of the legal tactics used by the RIAA or MPAA…they are real slimebags…but I am not going to say that I would get a gun and SHOOT and KILL them! Do I believe they need to be stopped? YES! But not by a gun! By a court of law…which is the only way you can do it without going to prison.
Their time will come, but to say you would murder someone just because they started a civil suit against you is just plain stupid! You would either end up in prison or death row. And they WOULD catch you, count on it.
People like you with guns scare me. You don’t have the sense God gave a mule! And in case you didn’t know, the right to bear arms is NOT a right to go murder people because you don’t agree with them! Get that straight.
You don’t need to own a gun if all you can do is think about killing someone that could possibly sue you!
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:29 am
There is something that the lowlife idiots in the entertainement industry do not understand: “mainstream print and electronic media” are irelevant. What’s relevant now is the internet and sites such as this one from where we get our news. Mainstream print and electronic media audience is .constantly declining. Who get their news from them anymore? More and more people are learning about the criminal activities of these parasites and you can measure it by the decline of what they still try to sale. They are uncool!