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.
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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.
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