RSSRIAA Sues Deceased Grandmother
By Nate Mook | Published February 4, 2005, 10:50 AM
The recording industry's latest assault on file sharing has netted an unusual suspect: a deceased great-grandmother from West Virginia. In a lawsuit filed in January, the RIAA accused 83-year old Gertrude Walton of sharing over 700 pop, rock and rap songs under the alias "smittenedkitten."
What the RIAA didn't know is that Walton had passed away in December following a long illness. Her daughter, Robin Chianumba, has lived with Walton for the past 17 years and told the Charleston Gazette that her mother refused to even have a computer in the house.
The Recording Industry Association of America admitted that Walton was likely not the smittenedkitten it was after, blaming the mixup on the time it takes gather information on illicit file swappers.
"Our evidence gathering and our subsequent legal actions all were initiated weeks and even months ago," said RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy. "We will now, of course, obviously dismiss this case."
But to many, Walton's case underscores fundamental problems with the RIAA's effort to crack down on peer-to-peer piracy. Because online identities are mostly anonymous, industry police utilize IP addresses to track the specific Internet account sharing music. Unfortunately, the process is riddled with inaccuracies and sometimes innocent -- or deceased -- people are fingered as pirates.
"I believe that if music companies are going to set examples they need to do it to appropriate people and not dead people," Chianumba told the Gazette. "I am pretty sure she is not going to leave Greenwood Memorial Park to attend the hearing."
The process doesn't need to be perfect, however. While the RIAA may not have enough hard information to win in court, most named defendants opt to settle for a few thousand dollars and a promise they will cease file sharing activities rather than face recording industry lawyers.
"I don't know if this is a scheme to get money, I just don't know what's going on. I am concerned," said Chianumba.
RIAA, time to wake up. P2P isn't going to die off, it's not a "fad", and you surely do not have the power required to issue a mandate to Congress to being Martial Law so that we are all held captive by your...brilliance. The luster is wearing off RIAA, and the curtains are starting to fall. Another 'organization' tried to force a population to accept their rules and pay their fines, but the people cried out "Taxation without representation." And because of those people, today there is a United States of America. This nation is what it is because people stood up for their freedom and rebelled against a monopolizing government. Now our government is "For the People, By the People" and cannot be restricted. Illegal filesharing is not supporting the artists who need to be compensated, but the vast majority of artists receive most of their money from tours, apparel, and other revenues...not their records. You can't kill P2P, you can't buy it out, and you do NOT have a choice. In the end...you WILL be assimilated!
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|This is exactly the reason I will not buy any new recordings. I buy from pawn shops and garage sales,etc.
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|I'm just waiting for the day they sue ME! That will be the worst freaking mistake they ever made. I have so much evidence, proof and just straight up information to shut them up for good. The RIAA can lick my biskuit, and if any of you from the RIAA (you hear that google? RIAA, RIAA) are reading this. I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING AGAIN that gives you money in any way....... BECAUSE OF THIS KIND OF CRAP.
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|The RIAA should be laughed out of court. They are doing a great job of proving that they are absolute and total morons.
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|I totally agree. In Lawrence Lessig's book "Free Culture," he said that the fine for ONE song downloaded ($1.5M) is more than the amount of which malpractice lawsuits are capped at ($.25M). This in itself is fundamentally flawed.
The RIAA is simply too trigger-happy. Instead of suing people for amounts they cannot even afford, why not ask nicely to either keep the songs for 99 cents each or delete them? If the user is simply defiant, then fine... go ahead and stick 'em out.
The music industry's greed has led me to not even bother looking at the charts or download any song (most of the songs are trash to begin with). They are the most ungrateful brats I have ever seen. They have their mansions and expensive junk while others are sleeping on the streets... what more do they want?
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|its very simple realy dont buy any music, software, tapes, films, dvds, videoes, of any kind then they will go bankrupt, is it not the best way to deal with these people then they wont have amasion and all the the trimmings ,come on people the powers in the purchaser not the seller hit the entainment industry were it hurts its bank balance
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|This is a golden opportunity for people being sued to point to the credibility of the RIAA's evidence. They are blindly suing people!
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|It's one thing to sue companies or individuals who illegally make music files available to download, but sueing a deceased Grandmother? That's ridiculous!
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|They are suing there own customers. Thats why I will never spend a cent for a cd.
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|the courts need to step in and stop the riaa from filing john doe lawsuits. lord knows i don't get away with filing a lawsuit without properly serving an individual ... neither should they.
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|I have stopped buying cds too, because of their unethical practices of giving artists small cuts of the profit, and cause of them suing consumers. I hope they consider that factor in when they do these counts of how many sales they lost "due to filesharing"
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|Same here. RIAA - Really Idiotic Anal A****
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|i also dont buy cds anymore. the money doesnt go to the artists, it goes to the executives so they can force more pop crap down our throats and pay radio stations not to play independent bands. no thanks. i'd be more than happy to pay artists directly for their music, but im not paying some record company to keep good music down and promote crap.
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|Me three. Thats why I got involved with http://www.indieradiolive.com its 24-7 independent radio.
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|Surely thier products are the ones that are the most pirated in the modern era! Yes, they go after the pirates, but no, they do not seem to mess their hands dealing with lil individuals. They make their buck and only seem to make a hue and cry if the ones with bigger pockets refuse to put their hand in.
MS with all that piracy makes the money they want and are quite content. Bet the various artists have that kind of attitude too... just that the RIAA seems to be more concerned about the artists than they care for themselves!
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|I welcome a lawsuit, I would immediately file a countersuit
these guys are as bad as THE MAFIA in a sense.
the tacics they are using fall under the RICOlaw, it was introduced in the early 70s to do something about mob bosses
look into the law, they maintain thier business using threats and fear tactics which is exactly what the rico law is all about.
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|Napster was the biggest threat to the recording industry ... all all they did is to close it down and the artists should go it alone
with out them Sony,emi are nothing
but 99p per track it redilcous
drop your prices .stop ripping us off
fair price for every one insted of the fat cats just creaming everything off and just leaving sour milk for the artists
I will susport where susport is due I have not Bought any music since tapes went from £5 to 7.49
in 1986
most of the compulations that are brought out
its allways a toss up weather or not i happen to like the tracks on it
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