RIAA settles with 12-year-old pirate’s mother

The settlement was reached with the mother of 12-year-old Brianna Lahara, a user of the Kazaa file-sharing service. Lahara was featured on the cover of Tuesday’s New York Post newspaper, which described the girl as being scared and on the verge of tears when she discovered she was being sued.

Schoolgirl Settles With RIAA

How to use the legal system for extortion rather than fact finding and determination of damages. It used to be people were presumed innocent until proven guilty. How many other defendants will not be able to afford high priced lawyers to go up against the well-funded legal talent of the RIAA? Right now, the RIAA is effectively judge, jury, and hangman. Wonder if CD sales will improve?

RIAA Lands a Big One – in the Face

And she’s an honors student, too. Yeah, that’s exactly the kind of big fish the RIAA needs to fry in order to save their business model. Brianna and her family have already settled the suit for $2,000, which means Brianna probably won’t be buying any CDs either. Good job, RIAA!

Yes, what Brianna did was illegal, but she sure didn’t make any money from it. If the RIAA will go after 12-year olds, do you doubt that they’ll go after libraries in order to save their precious business model? Maybe not lawsuits, but they’ll do whatever they need to in order to close digital loopholes that let us circulate digital files.