(“…they took it away / away from me…” Thanks, mecredis)
The RIAA’s lawsuits are now facing quite sincere and legitimate challenges from four excellent law schools (Harvard, Franklin Pierce, The University of San Francisco School of Law, and UMaine), and public opinion against the actions grows larger daily. For the RIAA, could it get any worse these days?
Why, yes. They could continue the lawsuits, and add “recovering transplant patients” to the list of grandmothers, infants (not under-18 “legal infants,” but still-in-diapers infants), and single parents they’ve sued for filesharing.
P2PNet, RIAA vs.The People, and Slashdot have the story, originally on ThePittsburghChannel:
A young Pittsburgh woman who needs a transplant has another fight on her hands. She’s being sued by the music industry for illegally downloading music from the Internet. But 19-year-old Ciara Sauro strongly denies the charge and says she and her mother are overwhelmed with medical debts.
“Look and see where it (the downloads) came from, and look and see that it’s not me. It’s not fair to do to me,” said Sauro.
Sauro, who lives in Ross Township, is disabled with pancreatitis. She needs an islet cell transplant and is hospitalized weekly.
Because she didn’t defend herself against a copyright lawsuit, a federal judge in Pittsburgh ruled she’s a music pirate, and that could cost the Sauros almost $8,000 in fines. […] Sauro and her mother, Lisa, are being sued for the fines because they didn’t challenge a music industry lawsuit in Pittsburgh federal court.
Now, I have enough judicial thinking in me these days to immediately raise all sorts of warning flags when we start giving people preferential treatment under the law. True, Ms. Sauro, if guilty, may not be any less blameworthy than any other firesharer. But, as I said before, the lawsuits themselves are on very questionable legal ground, and even if they are in the legal right, this is political suicide. If, in fact, the RIAA is using the (very, very wrong) tactic of twisting the legal system to gain public support, this seems to be the complete and total antithesis of their aims.
Take comfort in knowing PA attorney James Brink has volunteered to represent Ms. Sauro pro bono, in moving to reopen the default judgment. I’ll post updates as they come available.
Hey, George Washington Law kids – why aren’t we participating in this? We were a founding party to Chilling Effects; this is right up our alley. Who’d like to take this on with me? SIPLA? Cyberlaw? Anyone?
