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RIAA Victim Wins Attorney's Fees

Posted by samzenpus on from the fight-the-power dept.

VE3OGG writes "Debbie Foster, one of the many caught-up in the RIAA's drift-net attacks who was sued back in 2004 has recently seen yet another victory. After having the suit dropped against her "with prejudice" several months back, Foster filed a counter-claim, and has just been awarded "reasonable" attorney's fees. Could this, in conjunction with cases such as Santangelo, show a turning of the tide against the RIAA?"

6 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Open up your networks! by Space+cowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Sadly, from the article, it looks as though this will not set a precedent that will discourage the RIAA from doing this sort of thing - the judge indicated that the fact the RIAA kept her on as a co-defendent (after they went after her daughter instead) was important in the decision to award costs to Debbie. The strong-arm tactics backfired badly for this particular case - good for her, but not something to discourage the RIAA in general, they'll just have to be a bit less aggressive to defendants.

    However...

    The bit that caught my eye, though, was the quote

     

    Judge Lee could find no case "holding the mere owner of an Internet account contributorily or vicariously liable for the infringing activities of third persons."


    Me like. If that can be said to be a precedent, it means anyone with an unsecured WiFi network has a strong argument for not being held liable for anything done on that network - it's open, after all. Anyone could drive by, park, download [insert bad stuff here], and drive off. Unless the prosecution has video surveillance of your house/apartment, it'll be very hard to *prove* who did what.

    It seems the best protection may be none at all. How very Zen.

    Simon
    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
    1. Re:Open up your networks! by Rodyland · · Score: 4, Interesting
      It seems the best protection may be none at all. How very Zen.

      War is peace

      Freedom is slavery

      Ignorance is strength

      And now

      Insecurity is protection

      A few years late, but not unexpected..

    2. Re:Open up your networks! by iwan-nl · · Score: 4, Interesting

      While it may be true that the computer illiterate probably won't be held liable for their unsecured network, if the **AA can prove you DO know what you are doing, you won't be able to get away with it. Particularly, if you found out how to secure your system and didn't act on it within a reasonable amount of time.

      Why is that? Is it illegal to have an open access point?

      I definitely know how to secure my wireless network, but I choose not to. I want people visiting my place to be able to easily connect to my network and the internet. Exchanging lengthy WPA keys every time is too much of a hassle.

      --
      I'm trying to improve my English. Please correct me on any spelling/grammar errors in this post.
  2. unsecured WiFi by nurb432 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Even if its secure, its not that hard to break into it anyway.. or just directly compromise your pc with a trojan.. So really in ANY situation you can claim it wasnt you, quite reasonably.

    Now, that said, if they get a search warrant and strip your house bare and find that 'backup' cd hidden away with one of the files in question, your quite logical defense melts away like an ice cube in hell.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:unsecured WiFi by Sj0 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If Bill Gates and Steve Balmer can lie in court without getting charged, why not the rest of us?

      --
      It's been a long time.
  3. Re:RIAA already won by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You are exactly right, Todd. This is a major precedent. In fact, I cited it in court papers today -- the day after the ruling came down.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful