RIAA Drops Suit Against Santangelo

VE3OGG writes "The RIAA, in an expected motion, has recently dismissed the case against Patti Santangelo, one of the most famous targets of the RIAA lawsuits. The mother of five was described by the judge presiding as an 'internet-illiterate parent, who does not know Kazaa from kazoo.' While this is good news, the RIAA is still pursuing its case against two of Mrs. Santangelo's children. To make matters worse, the RIAA has also dismissed the case 'without prejudice', meaning that they could, in theory, take action against her again later on. The RIAA alleges that Santangelo's children downloaded and subsequently distributed more than 1,000 songs. The damages they seek are presently unknown"

Now that she's off, the kids are a cinch

[Vengeance_au]

Now that she's off, the kida are a cinch - she just has to sit them down and have a stern talking-to [slashdot.org].

I mean, thats the new industry standard, isn't it?

I'll ask it...

[SoundGuyNoise]

Won't somebody think about the children?!?!?

Seriously, who will think of them? If they are the parent's responsibility, and the charges against the parent are dismissed, what will protect them against the blood-thirsty lawyers?

kazoo?

[bananaendian]

well I did't know what kazoo [wikipedia.org] was either.

Re:Article Text

[arniebuteft]

...and that the son had been implicated in statements from his best friend

f*cking snitches... "I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!"

Re:Appearance before Judge McMahon

[Anonymous Coward]

This part makes me giggle:

THE COURT:...So let's set another conference date for July 8th at,
  say, 10 a.m. And hopefully you will have an attorney by then.
  And if you get an attorney, you need to put the attorney in
  touch with Mr. Maschio, and maybe you will get this thing
  resolved.
  MS. SANTANGELO: Mr. Maschio's --
  THE COURT: He will give you his business card.
  MS. SANTANGELO: There is more than one group here.
  MR. MASCHIO: I'll give her my card, but our
  instructions are for these people to deal with the conference
  settlement center. They had discussions.
  THE COURT: I'm sorry. Your instructions from me, the
  Judge --
  MR. MASCHIO: Okay.
  THE COURT: -- are that, if she appears with a lawyer,
  her lawyer will deal with you.
  MR. MASCHIO: Oh, absolutely, your Honor.
  THE COURT: Otherwise, you take your action and you
  file it in front of an arbitrator.
  MR. MASCHIO: No, all I was suggesting, your Honor, is
  that, if she doesn't come with an attorney, that the more
  direct way of doing this -- and this is just to facilitate
  things -- is to deal directly with the conference center.
  THE COURT: Not once you've filed an action in my
  court.
  MR. MASCHIO: Okay.
  THE COURT: You file an action in my court, your
  conference center is out of it. They have nothing to do with
  anything.
  MR. MASCHIO: Okay. I'll give her my card.
  THE COURT: If you are here, you are here as an
  officer of the court. You're taking up my time and cluttering
  up my calendar, so you will do it in the context of the Court.
  Maybe it will be with a magistrate judge, but you will be
  representing your client, not some conference center. And if
  your people want things to be done through the conference
  center, tell them not to bring lawsuits.

I am the very model of a modern lameness filter. I block out information that I deem too far off kilter. I know of all the memes and I block the posts historical. From trolls to all that perl code I just find abhorical...

Poor analogy

[Anonymous Coward]

Downloading those music files with her computer and paid for net access was like going into a store and robbing the place with your parents' car and gun.

This is a poor analogy. It is much more analogous with they being a band of thieves, laying siege to the land. To amass such amounts of music so quickly, it is analogous with an unpresedented crime-spree in many different music shops. Not just classical music, but Beatles, and Madonna and Britney Spears. Whole cities and libraries full of music on their harddrive. To do this in the real world, they wouldve needed a dusin tommy-guns and alot of death in proceeding with their crimes.

Death penalty is really to mild to such bad people. They should be forced to life-long slavery, with 7 generations born into slavery cleaning the RIAA moguls` pools and country cabbins. After that, nobody remembers the original crime and they believe this is how life should be. Serves em right. You cannot be too mild on such behaviour, or itll spread like wildfire.

Must be fun to make up crimes..

Re:Not that different.

[jrobinson5]

Steve Ballmer fucking kills hundreds every day, and nobody seems to want to fucking bury that guy, they've done it before but they won't do it again.

Re:Despicable Tactic

[Lord_Dweomer]

Anyone have a truckload of coal to spare? I know someone who needs it wrapped, individually, and dumped on their front door.

Why not just throw it through their window...aiming for their tree of course. If any glass happens to get in the way, well, nobody is perfect. And if you happen to be throwing red hot coals well, tis the Season!

Re:Generation Blues

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

Doc Ruby said: "....my own parents raised me right...."

My parents raised me not to sing my own praises.