RIAA drops suit against 66 year old
Spinner
Birmingham, UK
Only a couple of weeks since the RIAA sued a young girl for the illegal downloading of music, the RIAA has been at it again, this time filing a lawsuit against a 66 year old woman, who was originally accused of downloading more than 2,000 songs online, including the rap song "I'm a thug".
This time though, the RIAA quickly withdrew its lawsuit, when they realised they may have made a mistake.
This time though, the RIAA quickly withdrew its lawsuit, when they realised they may have made a mistake.
Source - SfgateSarah Seabury Ward and her husband use their computer and Internet connection to send e-mail to their children and grandchildren, said Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Cindy Cohn, who has worked with the family.
And the Wards use a Macintosh, which cannot run the software needed for the Kazaa file-sharing service they are accused of using illegally.
The Newbury woman was one of 261 defendants sued by the Recording Industry Association of America this month for alleged illegal file-sharing of copyright material. The industry threatened to hold her liable for up to $150,000 for each song.
The RIAA withdrew the case Friday, calling the move a "gesture of good faith" but telling Ward's attorney the organization will continue to investigate and reserves the right to refile the lawsuit.
RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss said Wednesday the group still believes it traced the alleged illegal actions to the right Internet Protocol, or IP, address and account.
Cohn said she expects more cases like the Wards because Internet service providers like Comcast, used by the Wards, do not assign IP addresses to any one user but shuffle them around.
Comcast spokeswoman Sarah Eder declined to comment on Ward's case, but said the company has helped the recording industry to match IP addresses with users' names in cases where Comcast is legally required to do so.
Weiss said this was the only case the RIAA had withdrawn.
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Comments
RIAA2 person - "But that could target anyone sir, its too risky surely?"
RIAA1 - "Pah, which these modern computer machines the chances are huge that they have downloaded an illegal mp3! If not we will just blame whatever ISP the accused happens to be using, it cant go wrong, now start the IP generator!"
RIAA2 - "Ok then that is a flawless plan, lawsuit filed sir!"
RIAA1 - "Good lad, now have a cookie."
Or something to that effect sprang to my mind, but then i might not be perfectly sane.