p2pnet - rss feed: New York mom battles Big Music
p2pnet.net News:- “Seven and a half grand and we’re off your back. You don’t wanna know what happens if you don’t pay.”
A sleazy line from The Sopranos?
Close, but not quite.
In fact, it’s the Big Music Mafia’s standard approach to people it’s trying to sue into buying ‘product’ and in this instance, it applies to Patricia Santangelo, a divorced mother of five from White Plains, New York.
“It’s really surprising no one has attacked the record companies’ basis for the lawsuits because the record companies’ claims are actually very weak,” her lawyer, Morlan Ty Rogers, is quoted as saying in a Journal News story.
But it’s not surprising in the least.
Grandmas, grandpas and even a dead woman
Calling themselves the Recording Industry Association of America, EMI (Britain), UMG (France), Sony BMG (Japan, Germany) and the only American player, WMG (USA), are trying to terrorize former customers into abandoning the p2p networks for the likes of iTunes, which sells formulaic Big Four downloads at grossly inflated prices.
The Big Four own the RIAA and almost 13,000 very ordinary Americans, including a 12-year-old, grandmas and grandpas and even a dead woman who didn’t own a computer, have so far received RIAA subpoenas.
And yet not one of them has ever been found guilty of anything, or has even appeared in a civil, not criminal, court, which is where the action would take place if ever there was one.
That’s because there’s no way on earth the people being pilloried can afford to take on the multi-billion-dollar corporate music industry. And the industry knows it. So it makes its victims an offer they can’t refuse – Settle. Or else.
Its helpess victims always settle, awarding the labels a cheap victory by default which they then max out implying, with the help of the ever constant mainstream media, that they’ve “won” thousands of “successful prosecutions”.
It’s one big con, but Hey! - if you read it in the papers or see it on TV it must be true. Right?
An outright lie
It’s said that in the eyes of the law, everyone is equal.
However, “I’ve never had a situation like this before, where there are powerful plaintiffs and powerful lawyers on one side and then a whole slew of ordinary folks on the other side,” said US district judge Nancy Gertner in Boston almost exactly a year ago.
Now this August, “Santangelo, 42, was sued by several record companies in U.S. District Court in White Plains in February,” says the Journal News. “The record companies said Santangelo’s home computer and Internet account were used to illegally trade copyrighted song files. The record companies say people like Santangelo are destroying their multi-billion-dollar industry.”
That’s not mere disinformation, it’s an outright lie. The Big Four are raking it in.
The cartel’s demand for $7,500 came through the RIAA ‘settlement centre,’ but Santangelo plans to fight although, “I am still nervous about the whole thing,” the story has her saying. “I just got so aggravated about how threatening they were.”
She said the settlement center bullied her, trying to get her to accept a settlement offer, says the Journal News, but “I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “Why should I pay them?”
She says she’d never used Kazaa which was on her computer and, “She didn’t even know what it was before she was sued, she said. The Kazaa account name in the lawsuit belongs to a friend of her children’s, not to her or anyone in her house.”
‘I would love to see a mom fighting one of these’
US District Judge Colleen McMahon will decide the issue, says the Journal News, adding:
“McMahon already has had a glimpse of the case from a conference May 6, before Santangelo had a lawyer. The judge told Santangelo she should get an attorney. She told the record companies’ lawyers that the settlement center was no longer to be involved in the case.
“I would love to see a mom fighting one of these,” said McMahon.
Will Santangelo win? If she can find the means to battle a vicious behemoth which has unlimited financial, legal and political resources at its fingertips, she probably will.
But even if she does, the sad reality is: the Big Music cartel has been able to mischaracterize literally hundreds of millions of people around the world as liars and thieves who have deliberately and knowingly stolen something which doesn’t belong to them - of being actual, or potential, criminals.
The claim is as patently ridiculous as the cartel’s disingenuous statements that it’s being “devastated” by thieving p2p file sharers. And the supposedly fair and unbiased mainstream media continue to swallow it whole, asking for more.
But sharing isn’t stealing. Nothing has been taken physically or in any other way, depriving someone by its loss. No money change hands. No sales are lost.
But money talks and the press reports.
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See:-
Journal News - Taking on record companies, August 14, 2005
own a computer - RIAA sues dead woman, p2pnet, February 4, 2005
powerful lawyers - Big Music vs Ordinary Folks, p2pnet, August 20, 2004
settlement centre - File sharing, p2p criminals, p2pnet, March 12, 2005
August 15th, 2005 at 11:03 pm
“Will Santangelo win? If she can find the means to battle a vicious behemoth which has unlimited financial, legal and political resources at its fingertips, she probably will.”
therein lies the key, money. if she can pull it off (I’ll not get excited until it actually happens as others have sworn to fight then gave in later) it will have a big impact as the decision will be appealed to a higher court and possibly the supreme court. that could be disasterous to the sue em all caimpaign. (perhaps that’s why important or rich people haven’t been threatened.) we’ll see.
Rick
August 15th, 2005 at 11:45 pm
If someone, say an organization that can be trusted (the EFF perhaps?), where to start a fund for her case, and oversee it, I would gladly contribute. This would eliminate the fear of someone “running off with the money”, or the money ending up being used as a “settlement payoff” down the road.
August 16th, 2005 at 6:43 am
And even if she doesn’t, the fact that she may fight, could still be good for our side.
I will say, if they ever come after me, they’re not gonna find an easy pushover… for one, I’ll be as rude as I can to their stupid claims department… XD I’ll make that phone operator wish she’d quit.
Also, my fathers entire side of the familly are Jewish loyars! XD And I have close ties with them, so if I ever need a good loyar, i got one for cheap or even free! >: )…
But of course, they dont target people that can fight back, thats the whole point, they target the poor helpless famillies… I’d bet they even research the families to see who is most likely to give in!… I’m pretty poor myself, but that doens’t mean I wouldn’t fight… =P
August 16th, 2005 at 10:12 am
This is why it is sad. It’s not about justice, but about money. Many may say, that’s “it’s life”…. But, is it really. Remember there are MANY ways to ’skin a cat’. The masters of RIAA / MPAA play dirty games. To defeat these “masters”, you need to be versatile and neutralize their persecutions on the people of the world!
August 16th, 2005 at 1:29 pm
thank god…i’ve been waiting for someone to get some balls about this. no guts no glory. i’m sick of reading about pansy chickenshit settlers. what’s the worse their gonna do if you can’t pay? put a 5 million dollar trade line on your credit report? i don’t think anyone would even take that seriously. and no judge will sentence that lady to jail. just wouldn’t happen. good luck to her! i don’t even think she’ll need it. a 10 year old child can see these guys are a bunch of fucks. thats what you get when your whole industry is comprised of ex strippers and prostitutes, people with alot of anger management problems, thiefs and drug users. Anyone actually pay attention to this Multi-Billion Dollar industry? Its got all the Refugees from all the past Wars on (Blank). To get rid of the RIAA all we need to do is video taping them do what they do best, since most of it is illegal.
August 16th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
I for one would have it play out in court. If I lost, I would declare bankrupcy. Even if I was evicted from my own home, I’d burn it down and pour chemicals on the land after they stole the title. I’d make sure that it would cost them much, much more than they could be able to steal from me. I’m using filesharing software even more now.
I would LOVE to see Big Music driven out of business, so that I will not have to listen to their poison on the airwaves. If it is legal to broadcast their “music” on the airwaves, then it should be pefectly legal to broadcast the same ‘music’ on the Internet.
August 16th, 2005 at 2:33 pm
How do we Get this womans name and phone number and website to start a legal defense fund. I pledge twenty dollars to get it started. Somebody Has to stand up to these People. What is so mind boggling is that this industry generates billions every year and still needs to sue kids and single moms? Finally someone is not willing to be bullied by these people and their high priced attorneys. I admire this woman. If anybody will post back with info I would appreciate it.
August 16th, 2005 at 5:45 pm
Unfortunatly there are two problems with your plan. bankruptcy won’t clear a court judgement, plus since they’ve really lost no money from your downloading and you’ve lost your land and home they’ll walk away laughing. like the mafia if they can’t make money off of you they’ll ruin you. either way they get their satisfaction.
August 17th, 2005 at 11:20 pm
After they stole my home and land, which will result in a large chemical cleanup expense for which the cartel will be responsible, their settlement centre is barraged with a bunch of crap calls (toll free numbers). It is amazing what computers can do. There are many programmers in countries such as Russia which control a vast army of zombie computers. Thanks to M$’s poor security, technology can be turned against the cartels which use it against us. Believe me, if the cartels took everything I had, they would not be laughing. I wouldn’t harm anyone, but I would make sure it costs them plenty of money. Yes, I know that I would be put in jail if I did something like this and was caught, but I think it would be worth it. These filth pushers deserve to be put out of business.
August 18th, 2005 at 4:09 am
I agree with you that a 10 years old child can see these guys are a buch of fucks. However most judges are not as wise as that 10 years old child. Neither are most politicions. Both have to be FORCED to understand.
August 18th, 2005 at 4:15 am
My ethics prohibits me from releasing viruses. However, if I did it would only connect to and forward p2p packets. That way, Winblows users could claim that they were infected by this virus, the RIAA would have a hard time finding the real file traders, and they would be more likely be suing people who have never traded a file. This would create so much backlash against the RIAA that they might shrivel up and die.