12-year-old New York City girl sued for music downloading
Posted on 09/09/03 20:34 by Dan Bell                             
12-year-old New York City girl sued for music downloading
Feslmogh, compu44, Lith, and StrongBad all used our news submit to alert us to the fact that the music industry has turned its big legal guns on Internet music-swappers '” including a 12-year-old New York City girl who thought downloading songs was fun.

Brianna LaHara said she was frightened to learn she was among the hundreds of people sued yesterday by giant music companies in federal courts around the country.

"I got really scared. My stomach is all turning," Brianna said last night at the city Housing Authority apartment where she lives with her mom and her 9-year-old brother.

"I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for it. Out of all people, why did they pick me?"

The Recording Industry Association of America a music-industry lobbying group behind the lawsuits '” couldn't answer that question.

"We are taking each individual on a case-by-case basis," said RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss.

Asked if the association knew Brianna was 12 when it decided to sue her, Weiss answered, "We don't have any personal information on any of the individuals."

Brianna's mom, Sylvia Torres, said the lawsuit was "a total shock."

"My daughter was on the verge of tears when she found out about this," Torres said.

The family signed up for the Kazaa music-swapping service three months ago, and paid a $ 29.99 service charge.

Usually, they listen to songs without recording them. "There's a lot of music there, but we just listen to it and let it go," Torres said.

When reporters visited the apartment last night, Brianna '” who her mom says is an honors student '” was helping her brother with his homework.

Brianna was among 261 people sued for copying thousands of songs via popular Internet file-sharing software '” and thousands more suits could be on the way.

"Nobody likes playing the heavy and having to resort to litigation," said Cary Sherman, the RIAA's president. "But when your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take appropriate action."

At the same time, the RIAA offered amnesty to file-swappers who come forward and agree to stop illegally downloading music over the Internet.

People who already have been sued are not eligible for amnesty.

Brianna and the others sued yesterday under federal copyright law could face penalties of up to $ 150,000 per song, but the RIAA has already settled some cases for as little as $ 3,000.

"It's not like we were doing anything illegal," said Torres. "This is a 12-year-old girl, for crying out loud."

Let's hope that reasonable minds at the RIAA will look at this as an embarrassing mistake and make a more appropriate public announcement. Sometimes it's not so much what is legal or illegal that matters, it's what is right or wrong.

Source: foxnews.com

Reactions
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By Quakester2000, Tuesday 09 September 2003 21:14
Quakester2000These RIAA people should be in jail themselves for trying to sue even 12 year old it makes me sick. If this was in any other country the case would be dismissed or wouldnt even think of trying to sue children but of course since the RIAA have bought polticians to fight their cause in the USA because you are allowed. This is a disgrace and shows the real face of what american capatilism is all about.
By Fr4nz, Tuesday 09 September 2003 21:27
Go China go devil
By ckin2001, Tuesday 09 September 2003 21:39
ckin2001because american capitalism looked high and low for a 12 yr old girl downloading from kazaa - since suing a 12 yr old would really rally support for the cause. plz make a sensible argument - this isnt /.
By Quakester2000, Tuesday 09 September 2003 23:32
Quakester2000RIAA say they dont care who it is as long as their a person responsible for it, they will go after them whatever their age.
By ccb056, Tuesday 09 September 2003 23:53
geez i hate when they say its stealing, its not stealing you idiots, its copyright infringement, and is it even possible to sue a minor?????
By k9cop, Tuesday 09 September 2003 23:58
k9copand yes it is possible to sue a 12 year old, the parents or legal guardian are responsible,The bottem line Money. puke
By cirriahae, Wednesday 10 September 2003 01:12
This is pretty gross! Although, as already stated, it's all about the money. Shouldn't the RIAA be suing Sharman Networks for offering a paid version of Kazaa where people swapped copyrighted material? Napster was sued, and it was free! Kazaa has a subscription service that you'd think legally couldn't hold any water - they're selling a subscription to something they don't own. I'd much rather see that happen than a little 12 year old girl get sued. Awful. puke
By yoshix, Wednesday 10 September 2003 01:16
First is the Catholics molesting little boys and now the RIAA is raping little girls out of their money Frown Harsh comparison for a harsh organization Stick Out Tongue
By clawso1, Wednesday 10 September 2003 02:38
How is the RIAA finding out who these people are??!
By intercept, Wednesday 10 September 2003 02:49
I cannot believe how low the RIAA have gone by bringing a 12year old innocent girl and trying to set an example.Frown There is no justification in what they have done?Frown Why can\'t they pick on the people who burn to cd and sell to make a profitFrown or indeed the big game where millions of pirated software is flooded in to the UK.Frown They are so wrong attacking a 12year old girl, next it will be a man of 99 or a girl age 6 FFS the RIAA want shooting.biggrin (So F**K you RIAA, get your prioitys right, ure a bunch of morons Wink ) Intercept.....loveit
[edited by intercept on 10.09.2003 02:53] No Offence to any admin/mod/or other members
[edited by intercept on 10.09.2003 02:54]
[edited by intercept on 10.09.2003 02:55]
By Crabbyappleton, Wednesday 10 September 2003 04:10
Crabbyappletonclaws01 By their IP address. Then the RIAA used the courts and forced the ISP to release the names.
By Sherrif, Wednesday 10 September 2003 04:46
When we think the RIAA has reached the bottom rung on the ladder down, they find another one.....another nail in their coffin. ....and lets hope Mr testosterone Gary Shameonu in inside it...........cool
By The Reverend, Wednesday 10 September 2003 07:26
Pick up the paper and read about the REAL crimes going on around us. Think about sueing a little girl. This country is going down the $hitter really fast. It starts here. Everybody, and everybody you know, not buy any music in the month of December 2003. Unless its used that will be alright. Tell everybody you know and spread it on every network of every kind. December will hit em hard, like a train hitting a bus. Smilie
By trueice, Wednesday 10 September 2003 17:47
Here is what bothers me, ...Weiss answered, "We don't have any personal information on any of the individuals. What do they deem personal information? Once you receive the information you subpoena from the ISPs, you have the name, more than likely the phone number, definitely the address of the individual. Any decent lawyer worth his or her salt will find out SOMETHING about whom they are suing (at least the parents if they are minors), if only for the sake of covering all the bases. Im not really paranoid but I consider my name, address and phone number personal information. Do you know how much informantion can be gathered from that. I would like to know what information the ISPs are actually handing over. Name and address only or ALL of the information they have at their possession, that, my friends, would be scary. We then have to trust and organization that cant keep its web page up ever, to keep all of this "non-personal" information safe, hmmm. They seem like a prime target for identity theft....
By taddzilla, Wednesday 10 September 2003 20:58
Here is a quote from Matt Oppenheim from the RIAA. RIAA Vice President Matt Oppenheim said he was not surprised to see young and old alike caught in the industry's snare. "We know that there are a lot of young people who are using these services and we totally expected that we would end up targeting them," Oppenheim said. "As we have said from the beginning ... there is no free pass to engage in music piracy just because you haven't come of age. We're not surprised and we're not deterred." Just boycott any label that is part of the RIAA, send e-mail to your favorite artisits and let them know how you feel, buy used cd's so that the RIAA doesn't get your money, start buying indie music. I'll enjoy spending my $300-400 dollars I normally spend on music on other things. For more information visit www.boycott-riaa.com
By Hypnosis4U2NV, Thursday 11 September 2003 04:26
Hypnosis4U2NVIm calling my service provider and changing the name on the account to Joe Schmoe (or something else).. If I get sued, its going to be under another name.. LOL..
By severach, Thursday 11 September 2003 05:15
This little girl is too young to see the RIAA in its death throes. It reminds me of the scene in Terminator 2 where the T-1000 falls into the molten metal. The machine howls in desperation while switching between every shape it has ever taken and finally fades away overcome by the power. I await the day the RIAA fades away.
By warforpeace, Thursday 11 September 2003 08:53
warforpeaceThis is sick, makes me sick. And BTW, RIAA doesn't want to erase copyright infringements, only wants to control'em. Think about it, if they manage to drop the P2P networks to nuffin, they remain with no jobs. All they want is money. "Come and get me, coppers!" (George "Babyface" Nelson, in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?")
By elayne, Friday 26 September 2003 04:54
THIS IS CRAZY! MONEY! MONEY! AND MORE MONEY! I REFUSE TO SPEND ANOTHER DIME ON A CD, NOT ONLY IN DECEMBER, BUT FOR ALONG TIME. I'LL GO TO THE LIBRARY AND SEE WHAT THEY HAVE. BETWEEN CRAP LIKE THIS AND THIS STUPID WAR, AMERICANS ARE WORTH A BOWL MOVEMENT ANYMORE, JUST ARE MONEY!!!Frown
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