ACLU, EFF, & Others Fight RIAA for Debbie Foster

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In a landmark legal document, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Citizen, the ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, and the American Association of Law Libraries have submitted an amicus curiae brief in support of the motion for attorneys fees that has been made by Deborah Foster in Capitol Records v. Debbie Foster, in federal court in Oklahoma. This brief is mandatory reading for every person who is interested in the RIAA litigation campaign against consumers."

Comments

you'd think that they could write better

[prgrmr]

From the Brief:

the RIAA has wrought havoc on the lives of many innocent Americans who, like Deborah Foster, have been wrongfully prosecuted for illegal acts they did not commit for over a year

It's basic sentence construction, yet they couln't manage it. And we wonder why they argument against the RIAA's tactics isn't being clearly heard.

Re:ACLU and attorney's fees

[Kenrod]

I'm not much of a supporter of the ACLU, but there are many people who would not receive any justice at all if it weren't for pro bono work. You don't get a court appointed lawyer in civil cases.

Besides, the ACLU doesn't need court fees, they are supported by some extremely wealthy people. They're LAWYERS, after all.

My main complaint about the ACLU's tactics are that they often bring litigation against the govt entities knowing the govt would rather give in than pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in court costs (fees that are never recoverable). Remember, the ACLU will get fees if they win, but won't have to pay anything if they lose.

Also, I think the ACLU is using the courts to impose a socialist political agenda rather than one based on the idea of long established American civil liberties. For instance, instead of truly supporting a separation of church and state, they have actually brought about a situation where the state is actively censoring religious expression on the (I think irrelevent) pretext of some state property being involved in the expression. The concept of a state "endorsement" of religion has been changed from the passage of legislation establishing a church to a student simply thanking God in a commencement speech.