A 12-year-old girl in New York, a professor at Yale University and an elderly man in Texas who rarely uses his computer have been included in the first wave of civil actions against people accused of illegally sharing songs on the Internet.
The Recording Industry Association of America, which is bringing the cases, said this week the 261 people it was suing were ”major offenders” who had illegally distributed an average of more than 1 000 copyrighted music files.
But some insisted they had been wrongly accused. Durwood Pickle (71) said his grandchildren had downloaded the music on to his computer during visits to his home. ”I didn’t do it, and I don’t feel like I’m responsible. I’m not a computer-type person,” he said.
Twelve-year-old Brianna LaHara discovered she was being sued on Monday. Her mother paid a $29,99 monthly service charge three months ago for a music-swapping service called Kazaa. ”I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for it,” said Brianna.
It is believed that the music industry is bringing the cases to show music sharers that it is prepared to get tough.
”Nobody likes playing the heavy and having to resort to litigation,” said Cary Sherman, the association’s president. ”But when your product is being regularly stolen there comes a time when you have to take appropriate action.”
The association picked the most prolific sharers rather than those who download the music, in an attempt to strike at the core of the network.
United States copyright laws allow for damages of between $750 and $150 000 for each song offered illegally on a person’s computer. About 60-million Americans take part in file-sharing networks using software that makes it simple for computer users to locate and retrieve almost any song for free.
Norm Coleman, the Republican Senator for Minnesota, has promised congressional hearings on the issue.
He suggested the industry was being heavy-handed. ”They have a legitimate interest that needs to be protected, but are they protecting it in a way that’s too broad and overreaching?
”I don’t want to make criminals out of 60-million kids, even though kids and grandkids are doing things they shouldn’t be doing.” — Â