Dec 3 2008

RIAA Sues Transplant Teen for Illegal File-Sharing

  • Written by soulxtc
  • 11 Comments


Ignores the fact that mother makes a mere $8 bucks/hr, and both are already overwhelmed with medical debts.

The RIAA has managed to outdo itself once again and target an even more economically disadvantaged individual than ever before. This time it’s 19yo teen transplant candidate Ciara Sauro who’s been diagnosed with pancreatitis and awaiting a islet cell transplant. Hospitalized weekly, and in the care of here mother who makes only $8.25p/hr, the family is unable to pay the nearly $8,000 in fines the RIAA is demanding.

Both have vehemently denied the RIAA’s file-sharing allegations, but received a default judgment against them by a federal judge in Pittsburgh after being unable to afford an attorney to represent them. They say the Internet account belongs to Ciara’s father who, for whatever reason, recently decided to leave the family.

“Look and see where it (the downloads) came from, and look and see that it’s not me. It’s not fair to do to me,” said Sauro. “I already have severe depression. I mean, it’s so hard to sit there and think that I have to get in trouble for something that I didn’t do. It’s not fair.”

The real crime here is that it again illustrates what’s wrong with the RIAA’s efforts in that the defendant cannot afford legal representation.

“I just want them to know that I have to go through enough stress in my life with my sickness and my family, and I don’t think that they should go after people just because they want money for something that’s not even fair to us,” Ciara Sauro said.

If the mother works 40hrs p/wk she grosses $15,840 for the year, so an $8,000 fine is more than half of her annual salary! With food, clothing, gas, car, and a roof to put over the family’s heads there’s barely enough money to survive let alone pay attorney’s fees.

“You want to know the truth? I make $8.25 an hour. She can’t work. This child is very sick. I mean, what am I supposed to do?” said the mother, Lisa Sauro.

But, there is now a silver lining in all of this for attorney James Brink, whom has defended other accused file-sharers, has now offered to defend the family free of charge. Brink understands their predicament.

“A lay person getting this — first of all, it’s 60 pages thick,” he said. “It’s full of legalese and jargon from the company. They see the record company suing them for thousands of dollars. They get scared.”

WATCH AN INTERVIEW WITH THE SAURO FAMILY

jared@zeropaid.com

Related Posts

  1. With Songlifter as new term for illegal downloaders, 3 Guilty of File Sharing, RIAA sues another 750
  2. EFF Takes on the RIAA in File-sharing Case
  3. Irish Record Industry Sues ISP for Illegal File-Sharing on its Network
  4. Duke Now Requires RIAA to Have Proof of Illegal File-Sharing
  5. STUDY: Teen File-Sharing Up 46%!
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Comments

  1. notbob

    aaaaawwww. poor fucking baby. get a fricking job and pay your fine

  2. mountain_rage

    That’s what 30 000 pussies have done I support her in her effort to quash the litigation. No way in hell are these companies loosing 8000$ from this one individual that is ludicrous and everyone knows these lawsuits have been nothing more than extortion. Hopefully with the growing number of people defending themselves these lawsuits slowly get quashed.

  3. soulxtc

    Bottom line – why cant we let the courts decide the matter once and for all? Nobodys saying that file-sharing is illegal only that the RIAA is EXTORTING PEOPLE buy scaring them out of the courtroom.

  4. Signa

    whah whah quit crying. You do the crime you do the time.

    …ugh I can’t even PRETEND to be that heartless.

  5. soulxtc

    @signs
    Right? Imagine if it was coupled with the fact you make $8.25 an hour! How the F can u pay it off?

  6. Nuke Baby

    If the Internet account belongs to Ciara’s father why is SHE getting sued?

    She can’t work she’s sick. The mom only makes $8.25/hr. because that is where the progressives want her…illiterate uneducated and willing to believe any of the leftist propaganda they sling at her via the biased U.S. media. Just do your part to keep your state “blue” and the dems will protect you. Poor fool.

    Stealing from an “artist” is not stealing at all…especially the ones who live in a mansion with 2 jags in the garage.

  7. clunk1234567

    A woman who couldn’t get a lawyer because she spends much of her time in hospital. A woman too poor to hire a lawyer. A woman stuck in front of a court to fight off the RIAA’s multimillion dollar legal team she must have been terrified. This has to be about as close to a lynching as one can get.

  8. mountain_rage

    How the hell can you drag this into a political debate Nuke_baby??? Your consciousness is like a republican spokes model. Both parties in the U.S. are equally entrenched in the corporate mantra don’t kid yourself. Just so you know you are heavily influencing yourself with a conformation bias.

  9. riaasuckz

    @ mountain_rage–

    nuke_baby has just been watching too much fox news so he is still a believer in the false right-vs-left paradigm.

    I’d like to see this go to court no jury in the world would convict her.

  10. Nuke Baby

    It’s not left vs. right. It’s the EXTREME left (pseudo-intellectuals) vs. everyone else who does not march in lock-step with them. Those who claim to be the protectors of individual rights are actually the ones doing the most to take those rights away. You’re just too stupid to open your eyes and realize it. I do not need “artists” and “activists” to think on my behalf. Neither do you. Wake up!

  11. mountain_rage

    To be totally honest here Nuke baby you need to learn to organize your thoughts your all over the board. First of all your first comment has nothing to do with the topic and whether or not the democrats are causing poverty is irrelevant to the discussion. Media companies have for the most part supported the copyright industry but they are not controlled or driven by political parties so again the argument in mute. Both the republicans and democrats have consistently supported the media cartel and its sadly one of the few non partisan issues. This has nothing to do with politics so stop kidding yourself.

    Furthermore no one ever said “artists” and “activists” were thinking for you or me so get over yourself. Everything wrong with copyright is the result of the belief that ideas can be controlled and that money is the end goal for all societies. Its a result of capitalism brought to the extreme. Most people here have agreed that copyright should be about more than just money and reflect society and culture. Just about everyone agrees file sharing should not be considered theft including many artists and there are many active organizations trying to achieve that goal. So I don’t see what your are blabbering about.

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