RIAA Pays Tanya Andersen $107,951 312
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Well, Phase I of the RIAA's misguided pursuit of an innocent, disabled Oregon woman, Atlantic v. Andersen, has finally drawn to a close, as the RIAA was forced to pay Ms. Andersen $107,951, representing the amount of her attorneys fee judgment plus interest. But as some have pointed out, reimbursement for legal fees doesn't compensate Ms. Andersen for the other damages she's sustained. And that's where Phase II comes in, Andersen v. Atlantic. There the shoe is on the other foot, and Tanya is one doing the hunting, as she pursues the record companies and their running dogs for malicious prosecution. Should be interesting."
*HAPPYDANCE* (Score:5, Interesting)
Reported Elsewhere (Score:5, Interesting)
Interesting bits to note:
class action (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:*HAPPYDANCE* (Score:3, Interesting)
Probably because I didn't actually add anything substantive to the discussion. It's cool--I have the karma to burn, and my sig says it all.
And hey, it was a first post that didn't say "First Post." That ought to count for something! :)
Re:What does her disability have to do with this? (Score:5, Interesting)
I haven't RTFAs (or not all of them anyway - have you?). But I'm struggling to see why she is described as "innocent, disabled". Does the validity of the case or the settlement depend on her being disabled?
Personally, I think it makes it a bit more disgusting that the completely innocent person you are torturing over a frivolous, nonexistent, totally unnecessary, case, happens to be a disabled single mother of a small child whose sole income is Social Security Disability. Here [blogspot.com]'s some background.
There seem to be a few people who don't think it should matter at all. Those aren't my kind of people. I think people should have a heart.
Re:class action (Score:1, Interesting)
*looks into crystal ball*..... I envision millions of dollars in legal fees for the lawyers representing the class and free iTunes download credits for the class members
Sounds about right, and how many of those free download credits will be expended on music by independent artists who aren't even affiliated with RIAA?
Despite the word "free", someone still has to pay for the download. All that's happening is that the record company is paying the $.99 fee but they're getting x% of it back, since that's their profit margin. So, in sense, it's a cheaper solution for them because the judgement see's the $.99 cost but the RIAA members aren't actually paying that.
The artists will still get their cut of "x% * number of downloads". Don't worry. Those costs are paid out by iTunes based on the purchases.
The legal industry is extortion (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:What does her disability have to do with this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Because it evokes the mental image of a "big bad corporation" picking on a "helpless disabled woman". It is called "spin". Here is the same summary with a different "spin".
The RIAA, a copyright defense group representing thousands of musicians and artists was shocked today by a judges decision to award over $100,000 to a person accused of pirating and distributing music illegally. In related news, the accused has filed a countersuit requesting huge additional damages from the artists' organization. An unnamed RIAA spokesperson was quoted as saying. "This was all a big misunderstanding. We represent the musicians that are losing millions to stolen music, and this settlement will come out of their pockets. In the end, that robs the paying music customer."
Sounds a lot different. Says the same thing.
-ellie
Don't flame me bro, this is not defending the RIAA, just answering the question.
Re:*HAPPYDANCE* (Score:3, Interesting)
Since it's now modded "+5 informative" the system worked... kind of.
"Probably because I didn't actually add anything substantive to the discussion. It's cool--I have the karma to burn, and my sig says it all." Indeed.
The way to get karma at slashdot is to comment honestly, rationally, candidly, without rancor, and most of all don't worry about the karma. I get modded "troll" and "flamebait" quite often (despite the fact that I don't, in fact, troll, and try to be calm) but my karma is excellent and I usually metamoderate daily.
Speaking of not worrying about karma, since this post is offtopic already I might as well add that today's mcgrew journal is uncharacteristically SFW (although it's not a very good one)
"No karma bonus" checked, please mod me down farther, thx
Re:We need corporate prison (Score:3, Interesting)
Perhaps the question you should ask is, why would you want to extend the liability shield of a corporation-as-fictional-person to include excusing the real persons who make up the corporation from any punishment for their criminal wrongdoings?
What about MediaSentry (Score:1, Interesting)
Media Sentry is a program that piggy backs on fake files that you download. It then looks at your file index looking for key word file names and types. then sends the info to a server for review. That is illegal.
Re:*HAPPYDANCE* (Score:5, Interesting)
Somehow I imagine the amount of work her lawyer(s) put into this was anything but trivial. As far as I'm concerned, this is a very well deserved compensation.
Not all lawyers are evil bastards ..... Some are definitively not evil. If he is not a bastard, well, I'm not hiring him, so that part is fine.
Re:No we don't (Score:4, Interesting)
When I was in elementary school oh so long ago, one teacher found a way to stop the bullies from doing disruptive behavior.
They punished the whole class and let the bully go free. It was done in class, and very publicly, so that EVERYBODY was suffering from the act of one person. Peer pressure from everybody works wonders.
Apply this idea to a company: Your assets are froze for 10 days, stocks cannot be traded in their name, and the workers MUST be paid. The ones responsible for this would be outed rather quickly.
Re:What does her disability have to do with this? (Score:3, Interesting)
True to /. form I shall impart wisdom with a quote from a fictional source(yes I know).
"Has Picard no respect for justice? Tasha asks, "What of justice for Wesley? Does he really deserve to die?" Riker commends the Edo's system of justice is probably better than any they once had, a testimony to their beautiful way of life, but adds that the Captain is also bound by the laws of the Prime Directive, which states he must protect his people from harm. The group is ready to beam out, but the alien force prevents it. A Mediator laughs at this, explaining that God has prevented their escape. Beverly shouts "Then your god is unfair!"
Picard steps forward announcing that "life itself is an exercise in exceptions", and to every living creature within the sound of his voice, "there can be no justice so long as laws are absolute!" Riker adds, "When has justice ever been as simple as a rulebook?" The transport beam suddenly activates, and Picard comments that it seems the gods agree with Riker.
"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_(TNG_episode) [wikipedia.org]
The law is made by flawed and imperfect humans with a limited ability to make predictions about the future and how their laws will be interpreted. To that end, the law is meted out by people who do have a sense of judgement and the associated responsibility.
The law is a means to an end, not the end in and of itself. While it is important that judgement isn't rendered willy nilly with no respect for the law, some flexibility is necessary for the system to adapt appropriately to the complex issues presented before it.
Re:class action (Score:2, Interesting)
While I appreciate the humor of your reply, I am reminded that replies like this belittle the beneficial results of class action lawsuits.
Often in the verdict are requirements for the company being sued to change their practices. For example, changing their contract terms, or changing advertising content to be more accurate, or labeling products more clearly for safety, and so on. These are the actual intended results of the lawsuit, and they are often achieved. The goal of a class action lawsuit is NOT to give the class members money! If you want money for your grievance, excuse yourself from the class and sue the company directly yourself.
Sometimes the company also has to pay a fine and/or legal fees. These fines and fees can add up to a significant penalty for the company, even though the money does not result in a jackpot payoff for the class members. Again, the goal is not to enrich the class members, but rather to force the company to change its practices (and sometimes to punish bad behavior with a fine/fee as well).
The lawyers in this case are the mechanism by which class action lawsuits are enacted. Sometimes these cases can run for years, and involve actual large amounts of hours from employees at the law firm. It's true that being a lawyer can be lucrative, but it takes a lot of hours and since I learned more about it, I'd rather not do it myself. Given that, I don't begrudge them their money earned. (For reference, I'm a software engineer, not a lawyer.)
Thanks for reading.
Worst part of her case... (Score:4, Interesting)
Her child was being researched by the RIAA. They would call about Ms. Anderson's daughter at work and at child's school, looking for her. Now, I am no parent, but, that would really scare me and fear for my child. As such, her mental state was suffering from these court cases, and she took leave from work and skipped court days sometimes.
Pigs, the lot of the MAFIAA.
Anderson has a lot of guts to stand up to them even after that. Cheers to her and her courage. Hope this helps put an end to the music and movie court cases.
Re:Biblical proportions! (Score:3, Interesting)
Spoken like a true /.'er!
Thanks for keeping us up to date and this breath of fresh, sweet air. *inhales deeply* Ahhh...fresh flowers and.. OMG!! Ponies!
Now let us hope that phase two works in Ms. Anderson's favor also, then we may be able to start seeing the RIAA monopoly crumble, or at least a better business model from them. Both for our sakes, and especially for the artist's sakes.
One of my best friends is a professional musician in a band, and they checked out signing with RIAA affiliated labels.(about four years ago) It would actually have cost them money to sign instead of make them money.(unless by some miracle they became popular overnight) Being smart guys,the band finally started their own distribution in addition to signing with an independent label that allows them to continue to do so. They are making a decent living with their music now instead of paying some label to be musicians.
Re:What does her disability have to do with this? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:*HAPPYDANCE* (Score:3, Interesting)
Perhaps that if what you're saying doesn't offend anyone, you're not saying anything very controversial and thus perhaps not of much weight.