Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

RIAA Threatens 15-Year-Old

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the kids-share-the-darnedest-things dept.

MunchMunch writes "It looks like the RIAA is still going after teenagers--this time, 15-year old Megan Dickinson was caught sharing 1,100 files. At the maximum statutory damages for copyright infringement, this makes Megan's liability at least $825,000, at most a mere $165,000,000. Naturally, the RIAA benevolently offered a $3,500 settlement to avoid these moderate, legally sanctioned damages. As we can hardly forget, the RIAA has already used this technique to settle with a 12 year old. Megan's unsurprising take: 'Yeah, it seems ridiculous.'"

4 of 1,016 comments (clear)

  1. End of an era...? by danielrm26 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Between this type of scare tactic and the saturation of the P2P networks with garbage files, I think they days of the current generation apps and networks could be numbered. The average file-sharing home user scares fairly easily. I'm not saying these networks will dissapear, but they will cease to be the giant beasts that they are today. I think IRC and new networks like Waste will continue to reign/rise up in the place of the Napster paradigm.

    --
    dmiessler.com -- grep understanding knowledge
  2. Extortion countersuit? by PDG · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Has anyone considered a class action countersuit on behalf of p2p users for harrassment and extortion by the RIAA. This sort of thing was being done by SmartCard readers recently harrassed by DirecTV.

    --
    "Where is my mind?"
  3. Re:Why don't these people fight? by Geek+of+Tech · · Score: 4, Interesting
    But (as much as it seems) the jury is not made of solely 12 RIAA member. As long as the courts believe you, that is the important part.

    Oh, and just on a side note... If peer-to-peer networks started encrypting their searches, whether or not it is strong encryption, wouldn't the RIAA have to stop. I believe breaking encryption, or bypassing the encryption could be considered quite illegal via the DMCA. Start using the DMCA against the people who lobbied it into place. The RIAA wouldn't be able to search the network for music. If they did, I believe that that would be bypassing a copy prevention scheme. Especially if it used something like the MD5sum of the executable for the encryption key.

    --
    Stop the Slashdot effect! Don't read the articles!
  4. Re:You know what? by antiMStroll · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Conversely, if the intent of the legal system is to prevent and redress harm done, those laws have no right to exist until that harm is proven. Laws don't exist in a vacuum, they serve a purpose and must be justified beyond expressing the wish of lobbyists.