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RIAA Once Again Suing File-Sharers

by Chad Mumm on May 8, 2009 at 08:27 AM


Despite the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) promise to Congress in August 2008 that it would not start any new file-sharing lawsuits, the music industry lobby filed at least three new cases in April.

It's not really a good idea to lie to Congress, so the RIAA is claiming that these new cases are actually settlements of existing cases. Basically, the RIAA has a number of extant John Doe lawsuits that are awaiting identification information subpoenaed from Internet Service Providers. When the info comes in, the RIAA then files a new named lawsuit against the offender. What's so baffling is why the RIAA is choosing to pursue these cases, especially after its public announcement that it is ditching individual suits and moving towards a "three strikes and you're off the Internet" policy.

To us, this is a bonehead move, since the RIAA needs Congress on its side to force Internet providers to cut off paying customers... the RIAA should be making nice with America, not enraging us with more frivolous and hypocritical lawsuits. [From: Ars Technica]

Tags: business, copyright, file-sharing, filesharing, lawsuit, lawsuits, music, music industry, MusicIndustry, riaa, top

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