The RIAA’s campaign against alleged music pirates has been well-criticized for being overly ruthless. In their plight to eradicate file-sharing, the RIAA has pursued children, grandmothers and the destitute. In a move that many consider to only add insult to injury, the RIAA has sued 83 year old Gertrude Walton. The only problem is, Gertrude has been dead since December of 2004.
According the Chareston Gazzet, 83 year old Gertrude Walton was sharing over 700 songs (we can only presume on the FastTrack network, although the article does not specify.) These tracks included Rap, Rock and Top-40; sharing under the pseudonym “smittenedkitten.”
Not only has the RIAA’s legal tactics been criticized for its ruthlessness, but also the obvious inaccuracies that inevitably surface. While sharing information over a P2P network, there is no direct way for the RIAA to obtain your personal information. Under the guidelines of a “John Doe” lawsuit, the RIAA sues your IP address. The RIAA then goes to your ISP and matches the IP address with the date and time in question.
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