Girl, 12, Settles Piracy Suit for $2,000

[efc]

Yahoo News
Tue Sep 9, 7:19 PM ET

By TED BRIDIS, AP Technology Writer

WASHINGTON - A 12-year-old girl in New York who was among the first to be sued by the record industry for sharing music over the Internet is off the hook after her mother agreed Tuesday to pay $2,000 to settle the lawsuit, apologizing and admitting that her daughter's actions violated U.S. copyright laws.

The hurried settlement involving Brianna LaHara, an honors student, was the first announced one day after the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) filed 261 such lawsuits across the country. Lawyers for the RIAA said Brianna's mother, Sylvia Torres, contacted them early Tuesday to negotiate.

"We understand now that file-sharing the music was illegal," Torres said in a statement distributed by the recording industry. "You can be sure Brianna won't be doing it anymore."

Brianna added: "I am sorry for what I have done. I love music and don't want to hurt the artists I love."

The case against Brianna was a potential minefield for the music industry from a public relations standpoint. The family lives in a city housing project on New York's Upper West Side, and they said they mistakenly believed they were entitled to download music over the Internet because they had paid $29.99 for software that gives them access to online file-sharing services.

Even in the hours before the settlement was announced, Brianna was emerging as an example of what critics said was overzealous enforcement by the powerful music industry.

The top lawyer for Verizon Communications Inc. charged earlier Tuesday during a Senate hearing that music lawyers had resorted to a "campaign against 12-year-old girls" rather than trying to help consumers turn to legal sources for songs online. Verizon's Internet subsidiary is engaged in a protracted legal fight against the RIAA over copyright subpoenas sent Verizon customers.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also alluded to Brianna's case.

"Are you headed to junior high schools to round up the usual suspects?" Durbin asked RIAA President Cary Sherman during a Senate Judiciary hearing.

Durbin said he appreciated the piracy threat to the recording industry, but added, "I think you have a tough public relations campaign to go after the offenders without appearing heavy-handed in the process."

Sherman responded that most people don't shoplift because they fear they'll be arrested.

"We're trying to let people know they may get caught, therefore they should not engage in this behavior," Sherman said. "Yes, there are going to be some kids caught in this, but you'd be surprised at how many adults are engaged in this activity."

[Conan]

Sickening!:mad:

[cash_site]

Poor girl, only 12 yrs old, I mean c'mon RIAA why aim for little people... for sake, they live in Projects, in NY trying to get over grief of 9/11 and best way is to listen to cheerful music.

"Are you headed to junior high schools to round up the usual suspects?"

I liked this qn, good on him for digging at Sherman @ RIAA

[cityman]

it made great read in two of the local daily newspapers- and it sure made the riaa look awfully bad.

----

by the way- nyc ain't over its grief- according to a recent nytimes article.

the way i see it:

there is too much commotion to forget it- families want to sue airlines or get other kinds of financial renumeration; families/businesses wanting to create World Trade Center replacements/memorials; fireman/policeman/custom security officals suffering from severe respiratory problems and the higher up EPA officials suppress the seriousness of the pollution; and of course the grieving of the families.

and of course the threat of more terrorist activity does not help either.

it is a mess.

[Stripe]

I just finished reading about that girl. It's really pitiful that the RIAA must resort to suing 12 yr olds in order to recoup their loses in the past couple years. Make no mistake. Thie RIAA campaign is not to end file sharing, it's about the RIAA trying to recover years of falling profits because they have not come out with anything new or original to compel people to purchase cd's.

[Big Booger]

Down with the RIAA!!! PURCHASE NO MORE MUSIC. DOWNLOAD IT ALL FROM APPLE's ITUNES :D

[Dehcbad25]

Hey!! Sherman works with me, and I can say he is a great guy.

[Reverend]

A coalition of companies that run Internet song-sharing services offered yesterday to pick up the cost of the $2,000 settlement a Manhattan mother reached with the music industry after it sued her 12-year-old daughter for copyright infringement.

Honor-roll student Brianna LaHara was one of 261 defendants targeted Monday by the major record labels and their industry trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in a broad legal assault on people who swap songs for free over the Internet.

The precocious youngster, who downloaded Mariah Carey tracks, television theme songs and hundreds of other tunes on her computer, has become a symbol for critics of the music industry's aggressive legal tactics.

"These people give Joe Stalin a good name," said Wayne Rosso, president of Grokster Ltd., an Internet peer-to-peer file-sharing system that allows users to download and trade music for free. "It's cynical and hypocritical. I read the statement from [RIAA President] Cary Sherman: 'Nobody wants to play the heavy.' Then why the [expletive] are they playing the heavy?"

Rosso's Grokster is a smaller player in the peer-to-peer world, averaging 50,000 to 60,000 music downloads per week, while Kazaa, the largest, averages 2.5 million per week. Grokster is a member of P2P United, the lobbying group formed in July representing six file-sharing services that offered to pay Brianna's $2,000 settlement.

"We don't condone copyright infringement, but it's time for the RIAA's winged monkeys to fly back to the castle and leave the Munchkins alone," said the group's executive director, Adam Eisgrau, a copyright lawyer and lobbyist.

P2P United includes Morpheus, Grokster, LimeWire, BearShare, Blubster and eDonkey but does not include Kazaa; in an interview, Eisgrau said the service may be invited to join.

P2P's offer to pay Brianna's settlement is just one of the several gifts she was extended yesterday.

Musicrebellion.com, an Internet site that sells music for 99 cents per song, said it has set up an account in Brianna's name that will allow her to download $2,000 worth of songs for free.

"We applaud Brianna's forthrightness in stepping forward and admitting a mistake had been made and then being a responsible citizen in settling the issue immediately," said Jan Eglen, chief executive of the Terre Haute, Ind., music service. "This is exemplary behavior, and MusicRebellion, on this one-time basis, wants to show our support for the music industry, for the legal system, and for Brianna's mature behavior."

[hao2lian]

Originally posted by Big Booger
Down with the RIAA!!! PURCHASE NO MORE MUSIC. DOWNLOAD IT ALL FROM APPLE's ITUNES :D
Even that has problems:
http://www.downhillbattle.org/itunes/

When will people learn to be perfect?