AfterDawn: News

RIAA sued by consumer citing illegal tactics

Being no stranger to the court room, the RIAA has found themselves on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit filed by Tanya Anderson of Oregon who claims the recording organization impersonated her daughter's grandmother over the telephone in order to gain evidence towards an illegal file-sharing lawsuit. The charges filed against the RIAA are many and amount to such things as counts of negligence, fraud and misrepresentation, racketeering and corruption, abuse of the legal process, malicious prosecution, outrage and intention to inflict emotional distress, computer fraud and abuse, tresspassing, invasion of privacy, libel and slander, deceptive business practices, misuse of copyright laws and finally civil conspiracy.

The lawsuit names the RIAA as well as several companies held underneath its umbrella of business as well as MediaSentry, a firm the RIAA knows well and uses to gather information about suspected illegal music pirates. Anderson states that the non-profit organization engages in acts of intimidation through litigation to maintain a monopoly on the music industry. The lawsuit itself is said to call out MediaSentry for conducting "illegal, flawed and negligent investigations for the RIAA and its controlled member companies."



A piece of the lawsuit filed reads, "MediaSentry and the RIAA know that their investigations are illegal and flawed. MediaSentry is not licensed or registered to conduct private investigation of private US citizens. Moreover, in a March 2004 sworn deposition MediaSentry's then president admitted to various serious flaws in the investigative scheme which all Defendants know result in misidentification of individuals."

The lawsuit claims that not only are the RIAA's information gathering practices illegal and flawed, but the intimidating letters sent to the alleged provide a less than adequate 10 days in which to respond, giving the defendant not enough time to research the allegations or defend themselves. It has been cited that the RIAA uses its investigations as a campaign of threat and extortion, according to the suit.

Source:
Register

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 17 Aug 2007 14:18

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• 24 comments

• Unfocused

  Good for her. I bet the RIAA thought they were done with her when they dismissed her case.
  
  I hope this sets a precedent and they have to refund all monies collected due to these illegal practices.

  17.8.2007 14:26 #1

• Attin

  haha... Go and show them, make them pay!

  17.8.2007 14:38 #2

• vtowner

  I really hope that girl wins. It'll give the media mafiaa what they deserve.

  17.8.2007 15:34 #3

• handsom

  It'd be nice if she wins, but she'd have to win a LOT.
  
  The RIAA makes billions yearly in courtrooms(That doesn't mean they actually *GET* that money in hand yearly, but they are 'awarded' it), if she wins, she'll be lucky to get 2-20million. It's still nothing in comparison to the amount of money they bring in, and they will continue.
  
  I hope that someone can figure out a REAL way to actually get them disbarred, or otherwise removed from the courts. They're found on several counts to be acting unlawfully; so it's a question of whether someone can build a real case in order to take them down.
  
  And then finding an attorney daring and qualified enough to take them on.

  17.8.2007 15:42 #4

• mikeh0303

  Originally posted by handsom: It'd be nice if she wins, but she'd have to win a LOT.
  
  The RIAA makes billions yearly in courtrooms(That doesn't mean they actually *GET* that money in hand yearly, but they are 'awarded' it), if she wins, she'll be lucky to get 2-20million. It's still nothing in comparison to the amount of money they bring in, and they will continue.
  
  I hope that someone can figure out a REAL way to actually get them disbarred, or otherwise removed from the courts. They're found on several counts to be acting unlawfully; so it's a question of whether someone can build a real case in order to take them down.
  
  And then finding an attorney daring and qualified enough to take them on.man i hope the RIAA gets their ass kicked

  17.8.2007 15:45 #5

• spydah

  This should be a good way to get better lawyers involved. The more cases hit news like this were victims can prove the situations like this then they will have to find new ways to bring fake cases to court and be able to hold people to that because you know they will. Our Gov is extremely foolish for letting something as petty as cases like this to stand.

  17.8.2007 17:18 #6

• webe123

  Originally posted by handsom: It'd be nice if she wins, but she'd have to win a LOT.
  
  The RIAA makes billions yearly in courtrooms(That doesn't mean they actually *GET* that money in hand yearly, but they are 'awarded' it), if she wins, she'll be lucky to get 2-20million. It's still nothing in comparison to the amount of money they bring in, and they will continue.
  
  I hope that someone can figure out a REAL way to actually get them disbarred, or otherwise removed from the courts. They're found on several counts to be acting unlawfully; so it's a question of whether someone can build a real case in order to take them down.
  
  And then finding an attorney daring and qualified enough to take them on.
  Well if a legal precedant is set by this case....then that COULD effectively help in shutting the RIAA down. Why? Because if they are found guilty of racketering and extortion....it could open the floodgates for others that have been sued to follow suit and start their own lawsuits against the RIAA.
  
  If enough people start to win, that would be a nail in their coffin for sure.
  
  Also those that they are now suing will be affected by this outcome. So this is an important case!

  17.8.2007 17:19 #7

• Burnasty

  I live in Oregon and watch/read the news and this is the first I have heard of this. That would lead me to believe the media doesn;t care or isn't allowed to air this.

  17.8.2007 19:33 #8

• WierdName

  Wow, hope they win. Although, they need to get as many people on board as possible because theres that double monopoly thing that would mean they can't be charged with this again until they commit the same crimes (which should be long). But still, for another huge lawsuit, the available charges will need to build up again.

  17.8.2007 21:27 #9

• duckNrun

  What needs to be done is an application for Class Action.
  
  That would allow everyone who has received a letter, been harrassed, settled or otherwise been infringed upon to join the class which would then increase the risk and damage to the RIAA and these groups.
  
  Then if they lost a potential look at a federal RICO lawsuit could be initiaited by some ambitious State Attorney General which would really be a hit against these groups.

  17.8.2007 22:32 #10

• webe123

  Originally posted by WierdName: Wow, hope they win. Although, they need to get as many people on board as possible because theres that double monopoly thing that would mean they can't be charged with this again until they commit the same crimes (which should be long). But still, for another huge lawsuit, the available charges will need to build up again.
  I think that only applies to very serious charges like murder and it is called "double jeopardy"....which means basically that if you are on trial for a persons murder (for example) and found innocent, they cannot try you again. Because in some cases some states have the death penalty and it would put that persons life in danger twice.
  
  But looking through wikipedia....it does not say how serious a legal case must be before double jeopardy comes into play. So I do not know if it applies or not, as I am not a lawyer.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_jeopardy
  
  
  Originally posted by duckNrun: What needs to be done is an application for Class Action.
  
  That would allow everyone who has received a letter, been harrassed, settled or otherwise been infringed upon to join the class which would then increase the risk and damage to the RIAA and these groups.
  
  Then if they lost a potential look at a federal RICO lawsuit could be initiaited by some ambitious State Attorney General which would really be a hit against these groups.
  Well the RIAA already have a class action lawsuit against them!
  
  http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13077
  
  It was started by Tanya Andersen.

  17.8.2007 23:03 #11

• pichriso

  if people were smart enough to [color=blue]NOT USE P2P[/color][/img][/img] programs they wouldn't be in this mess to begin with. I do not remember a single person being sued by riaa, mpaa, or any other aa that wasn't using some p2p program.

  18.8.2007 06:19 #12

• mspurloc

  Excellent. This is what it's going to take.
  
  Short of putting bullets through the heads of Mitch Bainwol, Roger Ames, Victoria Bassetti,Jason Flom, Bill Hearn, Charles Goldstuck, Deidre McDonald, Joe Galante, Tim Bowen, Rob Stringer, Jeff Harleston, Steve Bartels, Lawrence Kenswil, Mel Lewinter, Zach Horowitz, Craig Kallman, Tom Whalley, Michael Fleischer, Kevin Liles, Bob Cavallo, Glen Barros, Mike Curb, Tom Silverman, Jose Behar and Alan Meltzer, that is.
  
  Much more peaceful solution, if she wins.

  18.8.2007 08:16 #13

• redux79

  "Tanya Anderson of Oregon who claims the recording organization impersonated her daughter's grandmother over the telephone in order to gain evidence towards an illegal file-sharing lawsuit".
  
  If this is true in any way then I can only hope the RIAA gets slammed. If this story hits any kind of main stream news there's no way their PR department can spin it around. Then again this is the RIAA so it depends on how much money their willing to throw at the problem.

  18.8.2007 10:59 #14

• mspurloc

  Originally posted by redux79: "Tanya Anderson of Oregon who claims the recording organization impersonated her daughter's grandmother over the telephone in order to gain evidence towards an illegal file-sharing lawsuit".
  
  If this is true in any way then I can only hope the RIAA gets slammed. If this story hits any kind of main stream news there's no way their PR department can spin it around. Then again this is the RIAA so it depends on how much money their willing to throw at the problem.Excellent point in there. Why ISN'T this getting mainstream coverage?
  Oh, that's right. Because even the reporters and mindless faces who AREN'T employed by the media giants who hire these goniff lawyers are at least in bed with them financially. George Stephanopoulos and Brokaw-wannabes are prime examples.

  18.8.2007 11:12 #15

• BurningAs

  since this is class action how do people join in? or is it only in that area????

  18.8.2007 14:06 #16

• WierdName

  Originally posted by webe123: ...and it is called "double jeopardy"...Wow, can't believe I said double "monopoly." See kids? Theres a reason your parents tell you to go to bed. Anyways, I think double jeopardy applies to any legal action against someone. That is why you need a good hard case if you try to sue someone or whatever.

  18.8.2007 16:35 #17

• pcanisius

  Its true that if she loses this case she would not be able to sue them for the same case. If she were to lose, she can appeal to take the case to a higher court. Then again there has to be at least one more person out of the 30,000 attacks that the RIAA has used illegal tactics to get info, and they are always welcome to sue them.
  
  I'm personally supprised to hear that the EFF isnt involved in this one.

  19.8.2007 15:31 #18

• borhan9

  Originally posted by Unfocused: Good for her. I bet the RIAA thought they were done with her when they dismissed her case.
  
  I hope this sets a precedent and they have to refund all monies collected due to these illegal practices.ditto.

  21.8.2007 21:31 #19

• Smitty367

  If the RIAA fired all it lawyers and stopped bringing lawsuits it would recoupe more money then they claim to have lost to piracy!

  24.8.2007 07:14 #20

• jacksmate

  [img][/img]
  proabition did not work because at that time the politicians answered to the people who voted them in.. a large enough upheval took place.
  
  the record industry has bought and paid for those senators like hatch of utah... its a shame they do not represent us the tax paying public... 187 year copyrights are sinfull..
  
  life of author plus 100 years..

  24.8.2007 17:44 #21

• jacksmate

  [img][/img]
  proabition did not work because at that time the politicians answered to the people who voted them in.. a large enough upheval took place.
  
  the record industry has bought and paid for those senators like hatch of utah... its a shame they do not represent us the tax paying public... 187 year copyrights are sinfull..
  
  life of author plus 100 years..

  24.8.2007 17:44 #22

• jacksmate

  Originally posted by Smitty367: If the RIAA fired all it lawyers and stopped bringing lawsuits it would recoupe more money then they claim to have lost to piracy!I think they would do better than this... however its all about control..
  money is secondary, otherwise they would not have brought all these suits against grandmothers and kids..

  24.8.2007 17:47 #23

• wetsparks

  Quote:The charges filed against the RIAA are many and amount to such things as counts of negligence, fraud and misrepresentation, racketeering and corruption, abuse of the legal process, malicious prosecution, outrage and intention to inflict emotional distress, computer fraud and abuse, tresspassing, invasion of privacy, libel and slander, deceptive business practices, misuse of copyright laws and finally civil conspiracy....illegal, flawed and negligent investigations for the RIAA and its controlled member companies.....Even though this is a civil suite, that are pretty serious charges she is making. If the judge sides with her on all points she will get awarded a lot of money. Also, since they have done this to thousands of people, they all could sue the MAFIAA and it wouldn't count as double jeopardy because they did those things to lots of different people and that would count as several offenses. Like the mining company having to pay out to all of its workers who were poisoned by Asbestos. Another thing the MAFIAA needs to worry about is that if the judge deems the MAFIAA guilty of this, that could peak the Feds interest in the situation because some of those things are federal offenses and the government could take action against them.

  25.8.2007 09:42 #24