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The 83-Year-Old Dead File Swapper
93,000 writes "Gertrude Walton, a deceased eighty-three-year-old woman, was named as the only defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by a group of record companies. They claimed Walton made more than 700 pop, rock and rap songs available for free on the Internet under the screen name 'smittenedkitten.' Needless to say, the suit has since been dropped."
From the article: Chianumba said she faxed a copy of her mother's death certificate to record company officials several days before the lawsuit was filed. She said she did that in response to a letter from the company regarding the upcoming legal filing.
She should have let the whole thing go to court. It would make the RIAA look far sillier when a computer illiterate dead woman's name is cleared in front of a judge rather than before hand.
Trolling is a art,
if there is now a way that this can be used to stop these kinds of lawsuits althogether, in that it shows that the whole concept of going after file swappers in this way is bogus.
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I personally lament Gertrude's passing away. What a great memorial. Just prior to death, put a file server away in a hidden closet in a house with many years of ISP paid for in advance. Serve up those files with no possible recourse from RIAA and other leeches. Maybe a foundation could be started such that the file repository is transferred from near-death person to near-death person. As the slow wheels of the RIAA start legal proceedings, the person becomes beyond even their reach. Not so much the "make a wish" foundation as the "make a statement" foundation.
What's the point indeed.
Despite what the ravenous morons on this site will now scream, the RIAA was collecting information and planning BEFORE she died. They just happened to file the lawsuit AFTER she died. They got the wrong person, yes, but it's only coincidence that she happened to be dead by the time they actually filed the suit.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
They got the wrong person, yes, but it's only coincidence that she happened to be dead by the time they actually filed the suit.
But it was not a coincidence that she was the wrong person (actually they knew she was dead because the death certificate was sent to record officials before the suit was filed, they are even more ridiculous).
You are a fucking moron.
Do they teach *anybody* history anymore?
One of our inalienable rights is to be able to petition the government for a redress of grievances. "Tort reform" is just another right-wing doublespeak for "take away the little guy's right to sue". Just another bolt removed from the framework of democracy by the reich wing. And you, KDM, just can't wait to have some powerful person/corporation's dick in your ass, you can't wait to have no means of defending yourself legally.
So you know what? FUCK tort reform! Fuck it right in the ear!
If you have a problem with being able to sue somebody who injures you, there's the door. I hear East Timor and Lebanon are lovely this time of year. Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya. Bye. See ya. Have fun. Hasta la vista, baby.
Fucking cretin.
The article seems to indicate that this woman had no knowledge of how her computer was used. HOWEVER, I support the idea of posthumously trading files as a statement.
First, what's the statement?
* file traders don't profit from their trading
* the agencies pursuing traders do so with no concern for their customers
* that even 'respectable' old people object to the current IP system
Perhaps there are other statements, but those were the first that came to mind.
Yes, I could see devoting my last few days on earth to that cause. I like it a lot better than giving my money to starving people who are just going to die anyway, for example.
Is it okay to violate music copyrights?
Yes. Just like it's okay to smoke weed. Copyright and prohibition are both wrong. They put the manufacture and distribution into the hands of criminals. I'd rather not deal with criminals. Real businesses have better quality control.
If so, does that mean nobody should bitch in the next "GPL source code theft" article?
Yes. "GPL source code theft" is impossible. There's nothing to stop anyone from using, sharing, giving, selling it. With that in mind, how is any megacorp that "stole" the code going to make their millions from it? How are they going to keep me from getting the source?
Obviously the wrong people will occassionally get named in these things due to the nature of IPs and the Internet.
And you consider THAT okay?? I find copyright violations a little less offensive(a lot actually) than the legal system being used to harass innocent people.
(notice the artists getting ripped off are never mentioned in those equations).
You are quite the redundant one aren't you? They are mentioned all the time. I've pointed that out before, and you chose to misinterpret that back then also.(How soon they forget...)
What?
The two guys would stand in line with the public, and tell lawyer jokes at the lawyers as they exercised their special privilege.
It was a form of protest: it is unfair that "some people are more special than others".
Which, frankly, I can agree with.
How would you deal this: some idiot decides to self-represent ("In propria persona"). Do you grant him an ID badge to bypass screening? Do you declare him a first-class citizen or a second-class citizen?
"The most sensible request of government we make is not, "Do something!" But "Quit it!"