[VRWCmember]

I'll bet she develops a new respect for property rights after this.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Did a Brit write this article?

[Paul C. Jesup]

The RIAA sees the face of evil, and it's a 12-year-old girl

It is just me or does anyone else think that the members of the RIAA saw the movie 'The Omen Part IV' one too many times?

[MindBender26]

Steal music at 12 - Steal ? at 22.

[rwfromkansas]

BTW, Kazaa has a 30 buck fee? Huh?

[tdadams]

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. Send her to the slammer!

[SamAdams76]

You mean there's a $29.99 fee for Kazaa? I've been using them for two years now and haven't paid a cent. Damn. I hope they don't backbill me.

[Stingray51]

To use Al Gore's formulation, is there any "controlling legal authority" that the not-for-profit exchange of music files is theft rather than fair use? If so, could one of you please provide me with the name of the case (and court / date) that says that. Thanks.

[BenLurkin]

12-year-old Brianna LaHara (if she's anything like my kids) is old enough to know right from wrong. My guess (my opiion only of course) is she knowingly chose wrong.

[GunnyHartman]

After she calmed down the little lady responded accordingly!

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I want to see the NY Post article referenced in this story above. Just WHAT are reporters doing charging into someone's home?

[jjm2111]

F*** the RIAA!

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

OK, let's go directly to the source. This British article is terribly written.

MUSIC PIRATE

September 9, 2003 -- The music industry has turned its big legal guns on Internet music-swappers - including a 12-year-old Upper West Side girl who thought downloading songs was fun.

Brianna LaHara said she was frightened to learn she was among the hundreds of people sued yesterday by giant music companies in federal courts around the country.

"I got really scared. My stomach is all turning," Brianna said last night at the city Housing Authority apartment on West 84th Street where she lives with her mom and her 9-year-old brother.

"I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for it. Out of all people, why did they pick me?"

The Recording Industry Association of America - a music-industry lobbying group behind the lawsuits - couldn't answer that question.

"We are taking each individual on a case-by-case basis," said RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss.

Asked if the association knew Brianna was 12 when it decided to sue her, Weiss answered, "We don't have any personal information on any of the individuals."

Brianna's mom, Sylvia Torres, said the lawsuit was "a total shock."

"My daughter was on the verge of tears when she found out about this," Torres said.

The family signed up for the Kazaa music-swapping service three months ago, and paid a $29.99 service charge.

Usually, they listen to songs without recording them. "There's a lot of music there, but we just listen to it and let it go," Torres said.

When reporters visited Brianna's home last night, she was helping her brother with his homework.

Her mom said Brianna's an honors student at St. Gregory the Great, a Catholic school on West 90th Street.

Brianna was among 261 people sued for copying thousands of songs via popular Internet file-sharing software - and thousands more suits could be on the way.

"Nobody likes playing the heavy and having to resort to litigation," said Cary Sherman, the RIAA's president. "But when your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take appropriate action."

At the same time, the RIAA offered amnesty to file-swappers who come forward and agree to stop illegally downloading music over the Internet.

People who already have been sued are not eligible for amnesty.

Brianna and the others sued yesterday under federal copyright law could face penalties of up to $150,000 per song, but the RIAA has already settled some cases for as little as $3,000.

"It's not like we were doing anything illegal," said Torres. "This is a 12-year-old girl, for crying out loud."

Additional reporting by Tim Arango

[mbynack]

According to the RIAA news release, people who were going to be sued were sent "cease and desist" letters in June and continued to download and share despite the warnings. They also said that they were targeting the worst offenders. Apparently this little girl wasn't just downloading a couple of songs. Her computer terminal was set up to allow sharing by other people who were in turn sharing "substantial amounts of copyrighted music".

[Consort]

The Bad Seed lives.

[beckett]

The whole middleman, distribution process that the RIAA represents has become obsolete. A new business model is required the utilizes the net and basically goes directly from the artist to the consumer without a middleman. Once artists get his fact, and the higher income for them that can result from it, through their thick skulls, it's goodbye RIAA.

[Destructor]

That's it- I'm writing the RIAA! I stopped buying CDs two months ago when this first came up. If others would do the same it might send these jerks a strong message.

I don't condone the actions of the people that downloaded the music, but I don't see what the RIAA setting out to ruin their lives will accomplish. The Record industry was asleep at the wheel. Trying to undo the damage now is like closing the barn door after the horse is out!

[John Lenin]

The RIAA is digging it's own grave its time for music and movies to be open source property. You can still make millions with LIVE PERFORMANCES.

[lawgirl]

RIAA president Cary Sherman

This jerk is NOT living up to his namesake. ;)

[judywillow]

Have they considered taking the little girl over to Albania and selling her into slavery?