RIAA sued for malicious prosecution

An Oregon mother has filed suit against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after the organisation withdrew a two-year legal case against her for alleged file sharing.

Tanya Andersen and her eight year-old daughter were charged with downloading gangster rap and other music.

Andersen, who is disabled and a single mother, denied the claims and the RIAA decided to drop the case earlier this month.

The woman has now filed papers to sue not only the RIAA but MediaSentry, a firm which collects evidence of alleged file sharing activity.

Andersen claimed that she asked the RIAA investigators to check out her computer for illegally obtained material, but that they preferred to take legal action, claiming that they knew the time of the file sharing and the user name she was using.

"Instead of dismissing their false claims the defendant record companies persisted in their malicious prosecution and publicly libelled her with demeaning and repulsive accusations," the court papers read.

"She has no interest in the violent, profane, misogynistic and racist music that the RIAA and its controlling member companies monopolise."

The RIAA then agreed to inspect Andersen's computer and found no trace of any shared music nor the software to do so.

Nevertheless, the RIAA still asked for payment and demanded that Andersen's daughter stand trial with her.

The RIAA was also accused of telephoning the child's school and asking to speak to her by pretending to be her grandmother.

If the RIAA loses this case, and others, it could open the floodgates to similar cases and force the organisation to rethink its policy.