RIAA p2p file share defeat
p2p news / p2pnet: The Big Four Organized Music record label cartel’s RIAA is licking its wounds after losing a bid for unfettered access to the hard drive of an Oregon mother it’s victimizing in a p2p file sharing case.
The woman, Tanya Andersen, lives alone with her nine-year-old daughter, Kylee, surviving on Social Security disability payments.
On behalf of the Big Four’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) RIAA, “settlement” worker Mark Eilers accused her of “illegally” downloading music files, demanding an extortion payment to get the labels off her back.
But Andersen, 43, says she’s never downloaded or distributed music in her life and since February last year, when the labels’ civil copyright infringement lawsuit was filed, has been trying to end her nightmare by having the RIAA examine her computer so they could see for themselves.
The RIAA had always ignored her but then, out of the blue, suddenly wanted a court order to allow it to ferret freely through her hard drive.
Andersen and her lawyers, Lybeck Murphy from Mercer Island, Washington, refused to give carte blanche access, and judge Donald Ashmanskas has told Andersen to go ahead and hire her own independent private forensic expert to look for specific files, also ordering the RIAA to foot the bill for the examination.
“Finally!!!” – declares Andersen. “I’ve been asking them to look at the computer ever since I first heard from them.
“I’m glad the judge has finally given me the opportunity to show I didn’t do what I’m being accused of, and that the RIAA won’t be able to just search through my entire computer and invade my privacy by looking at stuff they don’t need to look at, like tax info, family photos, financial stuff, etc,” Andersen says.
“One other thing I wanted to tell you about,” she adds. “These cases are starting to finally get some news attention, here. A couple months ago, I was on channel 6 in Portland. (It was a real short news segment.) Then, on Thursday, I went to Seattle and the news team there talked to me for quite some time. I’m glad awareness of what these people are trying to pull is beginning to spread.”
The interview is slated to air on CBS affiliate Kiro 7 tomorrow (Monday).
Not at all incidentally, the RIAA is also being sued by Andersen – in a RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization) case which is on hold pending the results of the investigation of Andersen’s hard drive.
RICO suits are more normally used in Organized Crime prosecutions.
Also See:
end her nightmare – The ‘We’re Not Taking Any More’ club, September 17, 2005
Organized Crime – RIAA RICO case hearing, January 30, 2006
March 19th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Good on you Tanya ! The walls around their garden are starting to crash and if you win this RICO case, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t accept a settlement and suck the acid dry of their lifeless corpses. They need to feel excrutiating pain for what they’ve done to the other 180000 persons such as yourself.
March 19th, 2006 at 8:40 pm
Give ‘em Hell, Tanya !
March 19th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
She’s so hot…
March 19th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
AboutTime the Bully got his Ass Kicked!!!!!!!!!! LOVE to see the look on their faces when they find nothing!!!!!!! Thank God people are starting to stand up for themself’s and FIGHT these Bastards!!!!
March 20th, 2006 at 12:59 am
I would like to ad my voice to that of the above Writer. DO NOT ACCEPT AN OFFER OF A SETTLEMENT!!
When that event happends, you will be in the driver’s seat totally,and there is no doubt in the world that a jury will grant a judgment for ten times that amount.
Be patient — it will be worth the wait. It will look ever so tempting right away; but oh man! The absolute joy and ecstacy you will feel at having been patient will make up for it.
Right now, the whole working-man world is waiting anxiously to see the outcome of your case. You should feel insulated by the millions of sould who are holding nothing but good thoughts for you.
You are a true hero!
March 20th, 2006 at 2:35 am
The judge ordered the riaa to pay for the hard drive inspection by a private firm, this great.
March 20th, 2006 at 2:53 am
Doesn’t the fact these fools have tried to extort funds from a dead man, a compuerless grandfather and now a lady in Brooklyn who’s never ever booted a PC in her entire life prove that they are in fact engaged in racketeering practices? I mean you just can’t blame filing a wrongful lawsuit and everything it involves on clerical error, there’s no doubt these are blanket extortion campaigns.
March 20th, 2006 at 3:16 am
See, where the RIAA Settlement Centre says “You really need to pay us to stop something bad happening”, what they REALLY meant was “You really don’t have to pay us anything and we’ll let the courts decide”.
They forgot to update an earlier draft of the script given to the call centre. It was a clerical error, end of story.
March 20th, 2006 at 5:48 am
How did she come under suspicion in the first place?
could there be malware that fakes IP addresses?
March 20th, 2006 at 7:07 am
FINALLY!!! We Americans need to put privacy ahead of corporate interests… the Internet wouldn’t have been born if Corporate interests had been garnered…
March 20th, 2006 at 7:28 am
Yeah, it’s called DHCP. SO 3v1L! LOLOMGBBQ!!!11!!1!
March 20th, 2006 at 10:09 am
I’ve been saying this ever since this idiot lawsuits started. That once in their grasp, the victim has no where to turn to prove nonablitily, to prove they didn’t do it, to prove anything on their behalf. This farce is so new that nothing is set up to help the victim and the **AA’s are milking it for all their worth.
The so called “Settlement Center” is nothing but a collection agency with instructions that nothing short of money is acceptable. The **AA’s are using financial ruin as a club to extort money from folks that even if they were guilty, would not really fit the crime. Since they themselves made no money on anything, they can’t be charged with profiteering. The best the **AA’s can come up with was an alteration of the defination to read “we didn’t get paid”.
Well, they don’t get paid on second hand sales. They don’t get paid on gifts where someone gives a gift of music. Why is that any different than someone downloading for private use?
At no point in this farce of sue’em all is the victim given any sort of break unless they come to the decision that sueing the intended victim will backlash seriously on them. Offers such as Mrs. Andersen’s of giving them the computer to discover the truth has had no bearing on the situtation. Had they taken the offer when first made none of her expenses she has had to put out to date would have occured. Now suddenly it occurs that they can find out just what her exact financial status is by examining the tax records on her computer and they can ply into far more than they ever had a right to in the beginning.
Now that public opinion is swaying for her, they are suddenly willing to now do what they should have done at the beginning. Until this point and all the attention these cases are getting and her countersuit, they were not in the least interested in any sort of compromise short of hand us the cash.
I think this in its self speaks volumes on the idea that the RIAA is suddenly realising that this is another gone horribly wrong from their self-rightous viewpoint.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:59 am
The RIAA will inevitably die.
http://www.wirah.com
March 20th, 2006 at 11:39 am
She should of gotten away with lifting your CD player. What’s criminal is people such as yourself buying plastic discs from the thugs who sell them.
March 20th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
The lawyers are using their knowledge of technical procedures they have colectively created. They target internet users so the internet can only be used to promote their interests… and they pick ‘em.
Here is how to deal with this.
Much software is way too powerful today for 99% of internet users. You can live with today’s onboard software for years to come. You can create your own music and have fun learning to do so. You can stop consuming EMI, Universal, Warner and Sony BMG products to send your message.
P2P today is a model for tomorrow’s upgraded internet. Use the power of your current software, equipment internet services, money, consumerism and determination to send a message. Don’t let the wire to your business or house become the noose hanging your freedoms out to dry away while you pay into the hangman’s pocket.
I’m selling my EMI, Universal, Warner and Sony BMG cds. For cheap. I suggest not paying any more than $3.50 and keep em circulating in good condition.
March 20th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
There are stacks of ways of finding a “live” IP address and using it to fake communications with another computer.
March 21st, 2006 at 11:18 pm
“RICO suits are more normally used in Organized Crime prosecutions.”
And this is another normal usage. RIAA is a criminal organization and should be prosecuted as such.
March 22nd, 2006 at 12:08 am
They are the new mobsters.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:53 am
RIAA shysters should be put on trail for RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization), terroristic threatening, extorsion, frausd and libel and slander.
RIAA steals money from all artists and performers, steals their w2orks, avoid payments to artists using creative accounting and avoids payoing taxes through creative bookeeping, and spending money to avoid profits.
Price fixing by RIAA was proven in court and people walked with nothing in exchange.
It is time finally to fight organised crime and terrorists of RIAA.
FILE SHARING is lehgal and any one who bought the specific works as CD, cassette aquired rights to use the product any way it pleases him as long as it is non profit use.
There is no violation by converting it to MP3 compression, or sharing over the internet. RIAA illegally files lawsuits while havinhg no evoidence of any infringements as fraiudently claiming by the KOSHER MAFIA with licence to steal.
Finally the courts do not have any jurisdiction over any activities on the internet as Internet is an INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL WORLD and with the exceptionn of child pornography and pedofilia it is unregulated virtual world.
Obtraining the addresess of ISP users through ISP providers is unlawful, and any such illegally obtained alleged records should be thrown out of court!
US constitution prohibits illegal search and sezing and that what RIAA is doing when ILLEGALLY TRESPASSING people PCs!
Trespassing other computers without written permission of PC owner is a criminal act and should be prosecuted.
It should be brought b to attension of all that DRM is an unlawful act and it was passeds without the approval of people by the special interest, th act itself is unconstitutional as it was passed throug illegal public coruption in exchange for political contribution, the law are purchased using corrupt legislators through criminals like Jack Valenti!.
The judges are also bought or corrupr, and their verdicts should be in many cases thrown by the courts and ignored by the people.
The lawsuits filled by RIAA might be won or lost but to collect the money is another matter and despite the courts rulling people shall refuse to pay any such unlawful fines.
The file sharing is here to stay and it is totally legal.
We can not have laws which create criminals from people in one country what is legal in other.
For as long as INTERNET is international virtual world is and should be unregulated we need to keep shysters out of it otherwise the FREEDOM would be lost.
People should boycoit RIAA and stop buying any CDs, DVDs, for as long as others are RIAA is engaged in extorsion and innocent people are prosecuted!
No CD is worth more than U$ 1.00, and no one shall be overcharged and pay more than U$ 1.00 for 60 minutes of noise!
If RIAA wants to sell their silver disks for U$ 15.00 let them it it!
April 1st, 2006 at 6:03 am
Of COARSE there is malware that fakes IP address’. I USE IT!!
There are also proxy servers that hide the IP address. I am shocked that there isn’t rioting in the streets over the RIAA. This country is suppose to be a very “computer educated” society, and what the RIAA is getting by with is a BIG SHAM. It’s hauling in THOUSANDS of innocent people. But the RIAA has BIG BUCKS from the music industry. So why is there any surprise they are receiving serious, continual political “oral sodomy” from our politicians???
Oh well… we will put up with what we put up with. I don’t care, I am protected.
July 7th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
as people have said for centuries: power corrupts, absolute power, corrupts absolutelly…