Computerless Woman Accused of Piracy

[paularoid]

http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/50159.html

Computerless Woman Accused of Piracy

A Rockmart, Ga., woman is being sued for illegally sharing music files on the Internet, but she doesn't own a computer.

A federal lawsuit was filed in Rome, Ga., by the Recording Industry Association of America Latest News about Recording Industry Association of America, charging Carma Walls with copyright infringement for illegally sharing music files on a computer she does not have, the Rockmart (Ga.) News reported.

James Walls, speaking on behalf of his wife and family, said he was puzzled by the legal action.

"I don't understand this," he told the News. "How can they sue us when we don't even have a computer?"

The RIAA has filed approximately 3,500 similar suits since June 2003.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v25/paularoid/Misc/RIAA.gif
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[Agnes]

Oh, man! *sigh*

[Eva]

I mean... who needs a computer to be a Pirate? Sure, you need a ship, some riff-raff to sail it, some weapons... Computers are optional.

Pirate Queen

[RedjackRyan]

Didn't the RIAA sue a couple of dead people as well?


Who you callin Riff Raff??

[Green Monkey]

I'd bet that, like Jimmy Carter, the woman was cheating in her heart. Thus a computer was never necessary for her to be infringing on the rights of the RIAA members.

I once heard a song on the radio and had it running thru my head all day long, so I'm guilty too I bet. I just hope the RIAA does not find me out. :p

GM :D

[paularoid]

Didn't the RIAA sue a couple of dead people as well?
Yep! They did indeed. And -if- I remember correctly they went after the survivors of the deceased saying that it didn't matter that the "culprit" was deceased because the survivor was responsible for the actions of the deceased. That's akin to survivors being financially responsible for the debts of the deceased. I can imagine that taking place in a very twisted way but in that case it turned out that the deceased had been so for years before the issue of file-trading/sharing had even been an issue.

Just dropped in to leave more details:

http://p2pnet.net/story/8645

And this is only a part of what's at the link:


In its latest phk-up, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), owned by Warner Music, Sony BMG, Vivendi Universal and EMI, subpoenaed a Georgia family which A) doesn't own a computer and B) isn't even online.

This shouldn't come as any kind of surprise, however. The RIAA has also tried to sue Gertrude Walton, an 83-year-old deceased grandmother, not to mention children as young as 12, and their parents.
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[RedjackRyan]

why not just issue a supeona<sp> right along with the birth certificate.. It would save them time.

[AceOn6]

They seem to be very careful to avoid suing folks who have access to good/cheap/free legal council. A friend's son was being "investigated", but it was dropped quickly. Friend suspects it was because her husband is a lawyer. He (the father) works for a big firm and has great connections, so the RIAA lawyers would have to spend $$$ to go after his kid.