The Recording Industry Association of America Inc. (RIAA) is expanding this week its legal efforts to curb online music piracy,
the industry watchdog group announced Wednesday.
The RIAA is firing off a new wave of lawsuits and lawsuit-notification letters to users whom the RIAA alleges have illegally
distributed significant amounts of copyright-protected music files online.
The group is filing 41 new lawsuits and sending 90 lawsuit-notification letters this week, adding to the 341 lawsuits filed
and 308 notification letters sent since September.
The RIAA has settled with 220 file-sharers as a result of lawsuits, lawsuit-notification letters and subpoenas. In addition,
1,054 users have submitted affidavits as part of the RIAA's amnesty program.
Recent surveys have shown that the RIAA's campaign to seek legal punishment against music pirates is increasing awareness
about the issue and prompting users to stop downloading music files illegally.
However, the RIAA's campaign has also drawn criticism, particularly its attempts to force Internet service providers (ISPs)
to disclose personal information about subscribers suspected of being illegal downloaders. For example, SBC Communications
Inc. and the American Civil Liberties Union are separately challenging the RIAA in court over this issue. The RIAA tussled
over this issue with Verizon Internet Services Inc. earlier this year and got a favorable court decision that forced the ISP
to turn over the personal information of subscribers.
E-mail
Printer Friendly
Reprints
(InfoWorld) - In the litigious world we live in, deploying a unified communications platform in your enterprise could...
