Another victim says No! to the RIAA
p2pnet news view | RIAA News:- Maverick records is the name at the top of a lawsuit lodged against Whitney Harper, claiming she’d violated its copyrights.
A small record label trying to protect its bottom line against the evils of file sharing?
Maverick is another Warner Music company and only one of the numerous labels owned by one or other of the Big 4.
Harper is now 20 and working for a Texas PR firm. But she was only 14 when the copyright transgressions alleged by Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG’s RIAA supposedly took place.
She admits downloading music years ago, “when she was barely in high school,” says David Kravets in Wired. “She just doesn’t think think she should pay $7,400 for it today.”
It’s standard operating procedure for the RIAA to initially attack parents, knowing from the start they had absolutely nothing to do with the alleged file sharing.
Only when they’ve caused maximum havoc within the household do they go after their real targets, the child, or children.
“I would do homework on that computer and listen to music,” Harper told Kravets. “I didn’t know I was stealing or distributing it. I thought I was like listening to MTV on the internet.”
And once again, central to the case is Kazaa, the discredited P2P application owned by Australia’s Sharman Networks.
“The recording industry wants $7,400 from Whitney Harper for infringing 37 songs on the Kazaa file sharing network,” says the caption to a picture accompanying the Wired story.
Last year, “the RIAA originally sued her father, Steven, but redirected its case months later to his daughter after she admitted she was the downloader,” it goes on.
“They contacted my dad, who doesn’t know much about computers except for e-mail,” it has Harper saying. “He said he didn’t know what they were talking about.”
But she isn’t caving in.
“She is demanding a trial, and the RIAA in court documents last week called her ‘vexatious’ for refusing to settle for $200 a song, the amount the Copyright Act allows for so-called ‘innocent infringement’,” the term coined by the RIAA to give the erroneous impression some kind of offence took place.
“I think it is wrong for them to sue me,” Kravets quotes her as saying. “I’m hoping I can win and don’t have to pay anything.
Meanwhile, the only case the RIAA has ever been able to bring to court awaits final resolution following the decision by the judge who originally heard it to declare a mistrial.
numerous labels – Big 4 Organised Music gang’s RIAA, April 5, 2008
Wired – Former Teen Cheerleader Defies RIAA Over $7,400 File Sharing Tab, October 20, 2008
discredited P2P application – Kazaa, the RIAA and Jammie Thomas, October 17, 2008
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October 21st, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I thought McCain was maverick!
October 21st, 2008 at 5:32 pm
This proves again that they rarely make mistakes in identifying offending computers.
Yes, they may direct it at a wrong person (how they would know who has been using a particular PC at a particular time).
That’s why the only proper way for them is to sue the account owner.
But after investigation, they let an innocent go and busted a true criminal.
They should stop going after people, without a doubt, but let’s face it….As long as the law says it is a crime, then it is a crime….
October 21st, 2008 at 9:56 pm
“As long as the law says it is a crime, then it is a crime….”
These are the laws you deserve. They will sue you into buying their corporate formulaic “product” and it will be OK for you.
Sheeple.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
There was once a famous lawyer who ran for office with a catchy slogan for a platform:
“ONLY OBEY GOOD LAWS.”
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:50 am
as long as everyone leaves their wireless networks unlocked, then we can all claim someone was stealing our wifi and doing the pirating! hell, i’ve used that excuse at least 4 times with Shaw when they complain about my hundreds of gigabytes of bandwidth usage, hahahaha