[kriss]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96797,00.html

NEW YORK — 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 (search) — 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 (search) 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 teh 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."

My god! Who sues a 12-yearold? I thought RIAA existed because some artists needed some protection, and someone who could stand up for them, but this is outrageous! This is a act by someone, so blindly inlove with money, that they obviously can't think straight! I don't know how stuff works in the US, but I seriously hope that this law-suit don't get approved.

[big_k105]

i personally think that there should be a boycott against the music industry and no one buy music and show that RIAA that if it wasnt for use they would be screwed and be in a huge whole. but if a boycott ever gets set up will be a different story

[CopperTop]

With close friends in (and trying to break in to) the music industry, I can understand artists complaints about lost revenues. It's like software developers that don't get proper compensation because of pirated releases being available (if you know where to look).

On the other hand, file sharing can also benefit artists as well. Personally, I like to sample music before buying a whole disc only to find out that there really is only one hit on the whole thing. And I appreciate music to the point where I'd much rather have the quality from a properly recorded and/or mastered disc, than a burnt disc of crappy mp3-quality tracks. So, ultimately, I choose to support the artists.

As for the lawsuits, I think the US has gone overboard with turning to suing as a solution to almost everything. But that's another story. For the 12 year old girl, does her age really matter? What about all these 10-14 yr old cyber kiddies writing malicious viruses? If you do the crime, you do the time. That is, if "stealing" music even is a "crime"...


The above opinions are that of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this site and/or it's affiliates.

[sarumont]

We can start it right here.

The problem with the music industry is that they publish one popular song on a CD and publish it and sell it for USD16+. There are very few genres of music where there are actually musicians that make music because they love music. I feel that Jazz, Blues and Rock (well...at least a good chunk of Rock) are the main genres to do this.

If the music "industry" would stop trying to make money by suckering people into buying a CD for USD16+ with one track on it that's good and start letting the musicians do their thing...create music...then we'd be a lot better off.

/rantover
/boycott starting

[QuickDraw]

quick question ... didn't they say they paid a $29.95 service charge? so i don't see how this particular girl was in any way "pirating" anything. I agree with Kriss on this one, this situation kind of shows that the RIAA is just on some witch hunt looking for people to sue the hell out of to get their money's worth. Stuff like this is what ticks me off. I too like to download files via le internet, but if i know a good cd is out by a band i like, i still go out and buy it. i just hate being jipped and paying 17.99 or so for a cd only to find only one decent song on the whole thing. but thats just my opinion anyways.

[big_k105]

well some cd are starting to go down in price i cant remember the recording company that is droping there prices. but i know its the one that eminem and dr.dre have there labels under. but still 12 bucks it could be alittle cheaper i mean they dont make there money off of cd sales anyway. the big money comes in from the concerts and the merchantise they sell like t-shirts at concerts that cost 35 bucks and concert tickets that are 50-200 depending on the artist and the town there are visiting. so the cd's should be able to go for like 7 or so i think.

i will stop buying cd's for now as i havent bought one since that last eminem cd came out.

all money amounts mentioned in the preceding rant are in USD.

[CopperTop]

I believe it is the Universal label that is putting a cap on new releases.

I've noticed that music CDs tend to be relatively expensive in the states for some reason. Here in Canada, it's not uncommon to grab a new release for $12-14 CAD (~$8.50-10 USD). Not sure the reasons behind that...

What are music prices like in the UK?

[kriss]

With close friends in (and trying to break in to) the music industry, I can understand artists complaints about lost revenues. It's like software developers that don't get proper compensation because of pirated releases being available (if you know where to look).

Well, you really can't say that a buisness that earns several billions each year is loosing money to some people who are downloading music. Its really like Microsoft complaining about how people copy their products, and they loose money even though everyone knows how filty rich they are

On the other hand, file sharing can also benefit artists as well. Personally, I like to sample music before buying a whole disc only to find out that there really is only one hit on the whole thing.

Absolutely, I think like 40% of my CD's are bought because I downloaded the mp3's and thought that the music was good. The recordindustry in norway also complain about how p2p people ruin their buisness even though some cd stores claim to have a 11% more sales last year..

For the 12 year old girl, does her age really matter? What about all these 10-14 yr old cyber kiddies writing malicious viruses? If you do the crime, you do the time. That is, if "stealing" music even is a "crime"...

Shure her age really matters! This girl downloaded music in good faith, because she (or her mother that is) actually paid to be able to download music, and now the RIAA is going to sue her! Do you think that they can afford it? A single mom with a 9 and 12 yearold. Hopefully RIAA will make some deal with them that they will drop the charges if they promise not to download a single file ever..

Scriptkiddies to things on intention, they know what they are getting themselves into. This poor girl didnt.

I wounder what the outcome of this case will be, hopefully something I mentioned earlier in this post.

[kriss]

Originally Posted by CopperTop

I believe it is the Universal label that is putting a cap on new releases.

I've noticed that music CDs tend to be relatively expensive in the states for some reason. Here in Canada, it's not uncommon to grab a new release for $12-14 CAD (~$8.50-10 USD). Not sure the reasons behind that...

What are music prices like in the UK?

About the same prices here. I think the prices dropped a little when they the record industry were playing around with those cd copy protections, and a lot of people couldnt play the cd's in their cars, walkman, dvd players.

Also, is it a special genere of music? Because in Norway, country and music like that is allways a bit cheaper because I think its a smaller market for that. But I'm just guessing

[mad_red_hatter]

it just tells you don't pay for anything
don't give your name
don't give your address
and don't tell them who you are