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RIAA Ends Harassment of Grieving Family

denebian devil writes "According to Cory Doctorow at Boingboing, the RIAA has dropped its case against the family of a dead man. 'Today, an RIAA spokesperson, Jonathan Lamy, contacted me today with this statement: Our hearts go out to the Scantleberry family for their loss. We had decided to temporarily suspend the productive settlement discussions we were having with the family. Mr. Scantleberry had admitted that the infringer was his stepson, and we were in the process settling with him shortly before his passing. Out of an abundance of sensitivity, we have elected to drop this particular case.'"

22 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. If this is an abundance of sensitivity... by DragonPup · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...then I imagine a lack of sensitivity from the RIAA resembling a prison in Uzbekistan.

    --
    "Useless organic meatbag" -HK-47
  2. Let me try to understand this by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 3, Funny
    It's OK to steal music if one of your relatives is about to die.

    Did I understand that correctly?

    Muahahah...!

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    1. Re:Let me try to understand this by Reverend528 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Only if their name is on the ISP's bill.

    2. Re:Let me try to understand this by Reverend528 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or you can just download the stuff under your name and then die. Whatever's easier for you.

    3. Re:Let me try to understand this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Must be great for the emo kids

  3. Surprise (or not)! by cplusplus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey, the RIAA's cold black heart has a drop of warm kind blood in it afterall :-). Or not. I'm sure they were only considering the bad PR and not the family.

    --
    "False hope is why we'll never run out of natural resources!" - Lewis Black
    1. Re:Surprise (or not)! by geekoid · · Score: 4, Funny

      the lawyer that couldn't make this work has since been flayed and served in the corporate cafeteria.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  4. RIAA SUX! by DoctorPepper · · Score: 2, Funny

    While I don't condone copyright infringement, and I AM one of those folks that was crying out for the RIAA to go after the actual perpetrators, I don't agree with their tactics. In fact, I find they have gone way overboard in their overzealous prosecution (persecution?) of anyone they even think has been illegally downloading music from the Internet.

    If you were to look down from space, and see the headquarters of the RIAA, it would be shaped like a giant anus.

    --

    No matter where you go... there you are.
  5. Fun fact by scenestar · · Score: 2, Funny

    At first they gave the relatives of the diseased a 60 day period to grieve before they sued.
    I guess the public outcry made them change their minds.

    Seriously, what the fuck is next with the RIAA.

    --
    perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
    1. Re:Fun fact by eosp · · Score: 2, Funny

      You do mean deceased, right?

  6. That's not quite right.... by LordPhantom · · Score: 4, Funny

    Due to the abundance of negative PR this has generated , we have elected to drop this particular case.'

    There I fixed that for you.

  7. Im touched... by D-Cypell · · Score: 5, Funny

    Such an "abundance of sensitivity" shown in not trying to finacially ruin a grieving family. I do hope the pope has been informed, beautification must begin immediately!

    Well at least all those people who have been asking, "Where will RIAA draw the line?" have had their questions answered. Clearly the answer is, "Somewhere between 12 year old girls and dead people".

    1. Re:Im touched... by RsG · · Score: 3, Funny
      "Where will RIAA draw the line?" have had their questions answered. Clearly the answer is, "Somewhere between 12 year old girls and dead people".
      I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere, but I'm afraid to try and find it.... :-P
      --
      Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
  8. Hmm... Lawyer? Sensitivity? by RyoShin · · Score: 5, Funny
    Out of an abundance of sensitivity [CC], we have elected to drop this particular case
    Something doesn't seem right...

    [opens his Lawyer Dictionary]

    Selective Casing... Settlements, Large Payouts from... Whoops, went to far... Okay, here we go, "Sensitivity":

    sensitivity Pronunciation Key (sns-tv-t) n., scapegoat
    A term used when dealing with a large public backlash against previous actions, usually involving death, abuse, sexual harrassment, or being caught in the Ritualistic Lawyer Act of eating a kitten
    We are regarding our lawsuit against the 90-year-old grandmother with sensitivity.
  9. Same here. by xactuary · · Score: 2, Funny

    Out of an abundance of sensitivity, I have elected to stop bying DRM protected music. Thank you for your understanding.

    --
    Say hello to my little sig.
  10. Yeah, because.. by AWhiteFlame · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, because the RIAA is soo known for all their good publicity and PR-control.

    --
    "Everything worth innovating today will go to court tomorrow."
  11. +10 karma points for them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Too bad they're still at -78431486143872354038164.3.

  12. A shred of decen... oh never mind by helmutvs · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's good to see that the RIAA is, in fact, composed of decent human beings after all.

    Aw, hell... who am I kidding?

    --
    There are no uninteresting things. There are only uninterested people.
  13. In breaking news... by Eric+Damron · · Score: 3, Funny

    In a statement today the RIAA said that it was dropping its law suit against the Scantleberry family but added "We will, however, expect to be compensated for any music that is played at the funeral."

    --
    The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
  14. I'm pretty sure you meant "beatification" by IANAAC · · Score: 2, Funny

    On the other hand, the whole thing is pretty ugly, so...

  15. Different meaning? by lullabud · · Score: 4, Funny

    They may have said "abundance of sensitivity", which we would all take as them having a large quantity of pity to pour forth onto people who are mourning, but what I think they meant was "we have the balls to sue dead men, 12 year old girls, people who don't own computers, but like all balls, ours too are easy to hurt and they make for easy targets since they're so big". Clearly this was forfeit due to the PR nightmares that perpetually haunt them and their big balls before their abundant sensitive parts get kicked.

  16. Re:Just a question, and some thoughts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Punk, leave the trolling to the experts.

    Besides, we're not pussies, we're the most successful result of the banks and governments conspiring to make us slaves, and give us enough "gifts" as slaves that we don't realize it, and simply spend hours working or lusting after what we don't have and shouldn't need, dependent on drugs for diseases brought about by dangerous food packaging practices, subsidies, big business, and malnutrition, such as the reason that all our processed foods cost more to produce than natural foods, but the non-processed foods cost more and are usually farthest away from the store than are the processed foods - it's why the corn syrupy foods and sugar-filled foods and processed crap are closer to the store. And yet every idiot and his mother in this country wonder why there's a "sudden" obesity problem in our USA. Sheesh. I'm 27 years old born and raised in our crappy country and I never once got fat.(Bin Laden, you dick, why did you bother asking slaves of American Banks for their cooperation? If you really believed half of the shit you spouted, you'd have blown up most of America's big business a long time ago, and if you had, you'd still have been hailed as a terrorist by the richest top 5%, but to everyone else you would've been a fuckin' ecoterrorist hero and you would've been done a long time ago... a long time ago, you dumb shit. Fuckin' newbie-ass wanabe ji-had-raising violent extremist - Allah, God, Gaia ... all of 'em have a big-ass fly-swatter with your name on it, you murdering low-life.)

    Note the sudden change of topics and the introduction of completely unrelated, unverified, but ultimately true information in an infuriating way, most especially regarding the fact that this topic deals with how the shitty-ass RIAA is trying to save face much like the evil Walmart does.

    THAT, you silly fop (Yes, I'm still trolling-I've got my groove on now), is how you troll.

    "I just think things should work properly." - Dyson.