In February, someone from the recording industry began calling Stephen and Patricia Hereth’s house in Pawtucket, accusing them of violating copyright laws by downloading music and sharing it with other people.
The caller offered to settle the matter for $4,600. “I thought it was a scam, to be honest with you,” Patricia Hereth said yesterday. “I didn’t know what they were talking about.”
But on July 18 the Recording Industry Association of America filed a federal lawsuit against Stephen Hereth on behalf of big labels such as Warner Bros. Records and Capitol Records, accusing him of copyright infringement for downloading and/or distributing songs ranging from Poison’s “Unskinny Bop” to Madonna’s “Into the Groove.”
It was one of three lawsuits that the industry group filed in U.S. District Court in Providence last week, accusing Rhode Islanders of online piracy — a common practice that often involves the unauthorized downloading or posting of songs at free Web sites such as KaZaA, LimeWire and the now-defunct WinMX.
