RIAA Faces First Class Action Lawsuit
Fri Aug 17, 2007 3:13PM EDT
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After years of suing grandmothers, children, and the deceased, the RIAA is finally facing some payback for its inane approach to increasing its revenues: Disabled mother Tanya Andersen is launching the first class action lawsuit against the RIAA and the Big 4 record labels for a variety of causes, ranging from negligence and fraud to intentional infliction of emotional distress and RICO racketeering violations.
Given that the RIAA has sued roughly 30,000 people to date, it's hard not to imagine she'll find some takers who want to hop aboard the bandwagon and put an end to the group's often malicious and always tragically misguided lawsuits.
Andersen is one of the few people who have gotten into a courtroom with the RIAA (most of those sued have settled). After a two-year battle, the case against her and her eight-year-old daughter (at the time of the filing) was recently dismissed. Her counterclaims have been ongoing, but her class action suit is a new addition to the mix.
In an unrelated case, another RIAA lawsuit defendant, Michelle Santangelo, is suing AOL and a family friend: She was targeted by the RIAA, she says, for KaZaA software that the friend installed without her knowledge. But she's also holding AOL accountable, saying it should have filtered any potentially illegal traffic from going over its network. Interesting case, though probably not one she'll win; I'm sure AOL's terms of service note that it does not filter traffic, no matter what you're doing.
Regardless, it's nice to see some of the victims of these lawsuits striking back. The RIAA has had free rein in the legal system for far too long, and it's time it started defending its actions instead of just being left alone to make accusations through its freewheeling, strong-arm tactics. Go Tanya!
Comments on RIAA Faces First Class Action Lawsuit
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2 Posted by agustin2489 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:47PM EDT Report Abuse
Make music cheaper; that's a realistic solution to the pirating that the RIAA seeks to stop, even if it's trivial.
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3 Posted by hairlessdickandballs on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:15PM EDT Report Abuse
Good luck to Tanya. It's great to see someone standing up to the bullyboys of the organised crime syndicate syndicate known as RIAA.
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4 Posted by mystguy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:32PM EDT Report Abuse
Instead of finding viable technological alternatives to illegal downloading, the RIAA makes a farce of the American legal system and overloads it with these frivolous cases against too often innocent people who don't have control over what people do on their wired and wireless networks and computers. It's also mainly anti-American because other countries are left free to download illegally and pirate all kinds of media in open marketplaces. The RIAA also practiced many kinds of unfair business practices against American music consumers for decades -- like not allowing returns and not allowing buyers to review sample albums before buying them, and probably price fixing. I think this class action lawsuit has a lot of merit and is potentially winable.
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5 Posted by shaocon711 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:16PM EDT Report Abuse
no love for the RIAA.
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6 Posted by nathan961152 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:34PM EDT Report Abuse
NOW LET ALL THOSE WHO HAD SUFFERED UNITE AND REALLY STOP THE ABUSE. I don't buy music online because it won't be mine, why buy it if it's yours. It's the same thing with a home in america, it will never be yours.
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7 Posted by elliotteldrich on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:53PM EDT Report Abuse
Thanks to the RIAA, I refuse to spend one thin dime on what I call "corporate music" any longer. But I have a large library of great tunes I got for free, legally. How? By going to one of many websites that offer free music from unsigned and unknown artists, many of whom produce music far superior to what is being pushed by the corporate music industry. Look around for yourself, see what's out there. You would be amazed at how much great music is being offered for free by unknown artists. Literally hundreds of thousands of songs, all for the taking, all free, all unowned by greedy robber corporations and their minions at the RIAA.
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8 Posted by opaulo30 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:46PM EDT Report Abuse
no one likes the riaa mp3s actually promote trade if you ask me I got into 3 or four of my favorite bands that way and eventually bought their entire dicogs
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9 Posted by scholarsixheavens on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:08PM EDT Report Abuse
Way to go. Get revenge on the RIAA for the horrible crime of trying to stop thieves.
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10 Posted by exiiszero on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:57PM EDT Report Abuse
The RIAA are scum bags. People still get free music off of the internet without having to use file-sharing programs. They just want to bleed kids dry of money. Scum bags....
1 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse
Ah well, the RIAA will never come after me since I have never even once downloaded anything they protect illegally, but if they do its good to know there is a class action suit I can join. They are out of control and need to be reigned in.