RIAA blackmails another student
p2pnet news | RIAA News:- Pay us $4,000, or else, Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA ordered University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student Maria Wittman.
The extortion email, delivered on behalf of the RIAA by the registrar, told her, “she could be sued for illegally sharing music downloaded with LimeWire,” says Royal Purple, quoting Wittman as saying:
“The e-mail basically said I had 13 days to contact a lawyer or my educational records would be handed over to the [Recording Industry Association of America] and its lawyers.”
The threatening email arrived on May 17 and, “stemmed from the university’s receipt of a pre-litigation letter, a part of the RIAA’s latest program, enacted this year,” says the story, adding:
“Using the same tool that caused her the trouble, she reluctantly paid $4,000 online to settle the case out of court and avoid what the RIAA threatened: a federal lawsuit.
“The special education major from Appleton became one of 405 students across the nation that received similar letters spring semester forwarded to them by university officials.”
Harvard and other universities to which the RIAA sent pre-litigation notices, “ought to take strong, direct action” and “tell the RIAA to take a hike,” believe Charles Nessor, William F. Weld professor of law, Harvard Law School, and founder and faculty co-director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society; and John Palfrey, clinical professor of law and executive director, the Berkman Center, adding:
This Spring, 1,200 pre-litigation letters arrived unannounced at universities across the country. The RIAA promises more will follow. These letters tell the university which students the RIAA plans on suing, identifying the students only by their IP addresses, the `license plates` of Internet connections. Because the RIAA does not know the names behind the IP addresses, the letters ask the universities to deliver the notices to the proper students, rather than relying upon the ordinary legal mechanisms.
Universities, “should have no part in this extraordinary process,” said Nessor and Palfrey.
Also See:
Royal Purple – Student fined $4,000 in illegal file-sharing bust, September 5, 2007
tell the RIAA to take a hike – RIAA student victimisation campaign, July 21, 2007
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