Music industry sued for spying

2008-03-18 10:00

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San Francisco - A single mother charged with copyright violations for allegedly downloading songs from the internet has countersued record companies with charges of racketeering, fraud and illegal spying.

Tanya Andersen's lawsuit claims that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) hired a company called MediaSentry to illegally monitor the download activities of thousands of people.

The complaint, filed in the US District Court in Portland seeks national class-action status for other people allegedly victimised by the industry's anti-piracy campaign.

The lawsuit accuses the RIAA of launching a spying campaign "by unlicensed, unregistered and uncertified private investigators" who "have illegally entered the hard drives of tens of thousands of private American citizens" in violation of laws "in virtually every state in the country".

The information was used to file "sham" lawsuits intended only as intimidation to further the anti-piracy campaign, the lawsuit said.

"We're very pleased that we'll finally be able to force the RIAA and MediaSentry to give up secret records they have steadfastly refused to disclose in tens of thousands of cases that they've filed," said Lory Lybeck, Andersen's attorney in a statement announcing the lawsuit. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA

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It's so refreshing to see someone is prepared to take a stand. I hope Tanya Andersen manages to give the RIAA a bloody nose. This has been said many times before: The only weapon pirates have is their price, so if RIAA could match the music prices, piracy would slow down.

Heksie, at about R150 a CD, these people sell millions of copies making crazy amounts of money. Admittedly, they have talent but is it really fair that they should live such high lifestyles. Compare the talent of a singer to that of a doctor for example. I'd say the doctor's services are more essential but yet he doesn't earn nearly as much. Artists should be cut down to size in my opinion. At R10 a CD they'd still make 10 million if they sell only a million copies.