AfterDawn: News

RIAA withdraws charges against 65-year-old

RIAA has dismissed a lawsuit it had filed against Sarah Ward, a 65-year-old grandmother. Mrs. Ward was charged with downloading and sharing rock and hip-hop music using Kazaa.

The problem was that she listens to classical music and uses a Macintosh, for which there is no official Kazaa client available. There are, of course, several alternative clients available, such as giFT.



"The Sarah Ward case demonstrates the reckless, frightening nature of the recording industry's campaign against ordinary Americans," said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) legal director Cindy Cohn.

"These record labels violated her privacy, sued her for potentially millions of dollars, and forced her to hire a defense lawyer before finally recognizing that they had no case against her."

RIAA stated that the lawsuit was withdrawn as a gesture of good faith.

Source:
Internet Magazine


Written by: Jari Ketola @ 26 Sep 2003 13:35

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• 18 comments

• Motomatt

  Geez.. Thats a 12 year old and a 65 year old grandma..

  26.9.2003 14:57 #1

• Praetor

  Yes this indeed is getting ridiculous.
  

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  26.9.2003 16:37 #2

• bird1234

  Look at it this way, they are successfully scaring people out of downloading music in kazaa. Several of my colleagues have deleted their collections and uninstalled kazaa, for fear of lawsuit. Since they stop downloading, more people are downloading more than they did before making up for those who stopped. It is illegal to have something you didn't pay for, I agree with that, but to sue ANYONE that has kazaa with music with it, says that the RIAA needs a life. They are afraid of change, they fear that they are losing control of the industry. They are actually trying to keep themselves in existence.
  
  Which they WILL fail. Life will go on without the RIAA.

  26.9.2003 20:17 #3

• mafiaman

  The RIAA better stay away from me or there all gettin AK'd :)
  

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  27.9.2003 05:07 #4

• Nephilim

  If it is illegal to have something you didn't pay for why is it alright to record songs from the radio or tape a movie from cable TV? RIAA acts like these people who download have never bought a CD in their life. This 'sue 'em all' campaign is pointless. Even if they somehow magically stop everyone from offering music in the U.S., you still have Canada (where filesharing is legal), the whole of Europe, Australia etc, etc. Everyone in the U.S. may become 'leeches' but filesharing will continue.
  
  RIAA is using lawsuits, threats and intimidation to try to force consumers to conform to their dying business model. At some point, every major p2p service has approached RIAA to hammer out a deal only to be turned away. This is known. Read up on it!
  
  RIAA doesn't like p2p because they don't have a 100% stranglehold on it. They are trying to sue every other p2p out of existence while they set up their own RIAA-controlled system. It's all about control. If RIAA (MPAA as well) can't have total control over it they will do anything and everything in their power to destroy it. Look at their track record. It speaks for itself.

  27.9.2003 09:04 #5

• Mykool

  The recording industry has been ripping off artist from the begging, I call it karma! They say the are trying to protect the artist, thats a load of crap. They are only trying to protect ther own wallet.

  28.9.2003 05:28 #6

• bossins

  IM ANOTHER BELIVER CUT OFF THE HEAD OFF THE SNAKE...WE ALL NEED TO NOT BUY ANY PRODUCTS OF THE RIAA FOR (2) months.
  that are squillin like a pig now, what will they do later.remembr the vhs? well they want get away with thier double standards
  if we all stick together..they seem tobe breakin thier own laws and how long will the courts wear blinders??????what state are
  they, if they win,going to put all americans in jail at>>>

  28.9.2003 16:22 #7

• Madd081

  i guess u could say im a stool pigeon....but if the RIAA catches me im takin the rest of u 50 million ppl to jail with me
  

  Raw Hatred

  28.9.2003 16:29 #8

• bossins

  well like clint eastwood said..we want be
  swapping spit in the shower lol but we think
  things will get better, doyou believe in
  better????

  28.9.2003 16:46 #9

• Doc409

  If you want to be able to share files without allowing the RIAA to snoop, use Kazaa Lite. You can disable a user's ability to view your files. Additionally, Kazaa Lite doesn't have any adware to mess up your Registry. I've used Grokster, Morpheus, and Kazaa, and IMO Kazaa Lite is the best yet! It's shareware in that they ask for a donation. Go to http://www.kazaalite.tk/ .

  29.9.2003 11:32 #10

• bossins

  we on the other hand know a good deal.
  we do what we do anddo it well .
  afrer all it is a GOOD share ware, dont ya think? lol

  29.9.2003 16:02 #11

• Madd081

  Unless the RIAA wants to go back to putting music on vinyl records there gonna have to deal with this....theres to many of us and to little of you...and as long as they use new technology there are gonna be people who will crack it....sorry RIAA starting a few lawsuits wont fix your problems
  

  Raw Hatred

  29.9.2003 19:05 #12

• mystic

  the Riaa And the MPAA are gunning to make examples of anyone the can to instill fear... there 65 year old should counter sue if they have nothing to lose... but the RIAA is betting on the fact that anyone in the us may have down loaded something ... thats why they hyjacked Kazza lite and added their software to feed them ip addresses and share amounts ...... look the damage is done but we as consumers will have to contact everyone to make it work ...and that isn't going to work... just wait some judge somewhere will take alook at how they are tracking the downloads and dismiss a case and once that happens there will be a presadence set that any 1st year lawyer can argue.......

  30.9.2003 04:29 #13

• bossins

  NOW WE ARE ONE) ON THE RIGHT TRACK.MONEY
  TALKS AND PEOPLE WALK..STAND UP FOR WHAT IS
  RIGHT , AND YOU ARE.kEEP THE FAITH ....RIAA
  KNOW THEY ARE WRONG BUT DONT CARE!!

  30.9.2003 04:39 #14

• Rodgers

  Withdrawn becase of good faith! What a laughable comment.
  
  Best to All,
  Rodgers

  30.9.2003 05:35 #15

• bossins

  he who laughs loudest dont usualy laugh last. im withdarwing not because of your lack,but there are the rest of us that stand up but the thread has gotten tanted and needs new blood god bless ya any way.
  Im out of here...good always prevails.

  30.9.2003 08:52 #16

• Motomatt

  Could someone explain the last few comment's to me ? please?
  
  Matt

  30.9.2003 12:43 #17

• vudoo

  The reason that the RIAA dismissed the charges was because the ISP uses GROUP IP ADDRESSING. This means that YOU are NOT the only person using that IP address and hence you ARE anonymous over the Internet. IP's are not exclusive to one user unless you have a STATIC IP and the ISP's can't possibly log everyone accurately unless they BILL you per mega byte. This is a reasonable DOUBT and can be used in court against the RIAA but what I am surprised at is that no one has the brains to shove that down the RIAA's neck and shit down their throat. compuslery licensing is the answer to all of the crap that the RIAA is feeding the public. I just cannot believe that so many people can be fooled.
  
  Voodoohippie

  30.9.2003 19:39 #18