Friday, December 12, 2008

The Latest Record Company Evil

I still maintain it's wrong to not "steal" from the recording industry (RIAA).

According to today's article they're suing a 19 year old woman, Ciara Sauro, who has pancreatitis, and is a transplant patient. She has to go to the hospital every week. She also suffers from depression. Life is expensive for this young woman, and her mother, with whom she lives (who makes $8.25/hour). Not only is it expensive, it's likely very busy.

The recording industry wants thousands of dollars from her for sharing 10 songs on the internet. I think that's excessive.

They sent her a 60 page document explaining they want thousands of dollars, and that she has to respond within a certain amount of time or the judgement is ruled, by default, against her.

Ciara didn't respond on time. So the judgement has been made against her. Now a lawyer has offered to help pro bono. He'll try to get the courts to reopen the case.

I can't blame her for not responding on time. First of all, she would probably need a lawyer just to understand the document she received. Her life situation makes her poor and busy. This is just one more thing she does not need to deal with.

She and her mother allege the internet account in the lawsuit belongs to her father. He opened the account after he moved away from them.

I'm not sure if this is worse than the time they tried to sue a homeless guy, or the time they sued a stroke patient, but it's still repugnant.

The RIAA is a bunch of recording companies, including, but not limited to, Sony BMG, EMI, Universal, Integrity, Maranatha, and many others.

Here is a list of RIAA labels. At the top of that page you can search for an artist or album to see if they're associated with the RIAA.

1 comment:

Greg Rumble said...

Here is a real-life example of Can v.s. U.S. healthcare.

I recently cut myself at work requiring a hospital visit, 4 stitches, a tetanus shot and I was attended to by a nurse and a doctor.

While the nature of the cut was different, a coworker of mine recently required identical treatment although it occurred in the U.S.

My visit cost nothing. Zero dollars and took only 45 minutes.

When she got her copy of the bill (Insurance paid for hers) it came to $990.

It was a relatively simple procedure but was very costly in the U.S. I can only imagine how much treatment for a chronic condition would cost!