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Deceased Grandmother sued by RIAA

4 February 2005 7:31 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 22 comments

In January the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed it's latest set of lawsuits against 717 P2P users. However, one of these alleged copyright infringers was a little different from the rest. The RIAA claimed that 83-year old Gertrude Walton shared over 700 pop, rap and rock songs on a P2P network, using smittenedkitten as her nickname. What the RIAA didn't know, is that this woman died in December 2004. Her daughter, Robin Chianumba lived with her for 17 years and said that her mother wouldn't even allow a computer in the house.

The RIAA now admit that it is very unlikely that Ms. Walton was actually smittenedkitten and have blamed the lawsuit on the time it takes gather information on illicit file swappers. "Our evidence gathering and our subsequent legal actions all were initiated weeks and even months ago," said RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy. "We will now, of course, obviously dismiss this case." Well if they decided not to dismiss the case, I wonder they would plan on winning it.

This case is an example how flawed the RIAA's campaign is. It is claimed that the RIAA most of the time don't exactly have solid evidence against people they sue but the people still prefer to settle than to face the Recording Industry lawyers. "I believe that if music companies are going to set examples they need to do it to appropriate people and not dead people," Chianumba said. "I am pretty sure she is not going to leave Greenwood Memorial Park to attend the hearing."

Source:
Betanews

Permalink to this article

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RIAA sues another 717 P2P users (28 January 2005)

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Discuss this article!
SGSeries2 (Junior Member) 4 February 2005 7:39
Omg. That's all I have to say. [ + quote]
blackimp (Newbie) 4 February 2005 8:15
Why is anyone surprised? [ + quote]
mattF099 (Junior Member) 4 February 2005 8:27
I just dont know how low the RIAA can go. Everytime i think they hit the bottem they do something even more retarted. [ + quote]
DVDeviant (Junior Member) 4 February 2005 9:38
idiots. [ + quote]
BirdeX (Junior Member) 4 February 2005 10:15
Sueing an old lady thats dead(RIP)is incredibly stupid. Man, who ever works in this RIAA group must be retarded and stupid. Maybe they all failed school or something. Just a bunch of monkey who think they have the power to stop the P2P world. Give me a break. [ + quote]
GrayArea (Member) 4 February 2005 11:16
I think it's pretty funny in a sad little way. "We will now, of course, obviously dismiss this case." No $hit Sherlock. As to the RIAA legal campaign being seriously flawed, I agree. However, I bet this story gets very little play with the major media outlets, so IMHO this is not a particularly good example of why. [ + quote]
Pop_Smith (Senior Member) 4 February 2005 11:54
maybe that will temp slow down the madness :) I don't really think so but, you never know. [ + quote]
scott2453 (Junior Member) 4 February 2005 12:58
it's true. they really will stop at nothing. [ + quote]
Toiletman (Senior Member) 4 February 2005 14:15
Stupid idiots. They just tainted their trodden-on reputation. [ + quote]
opie001 (Newbie) 4 February 2005 15:37
I say good for her. It's hard to earn a living on a dead persons salary, so its not like you can blame her for wanting to share a few Britney songs. [ + quote]
djscoop (AfterDawn Addict) 4 February 2005 15:41
lol. Sounds like you enjoyed writing this one, Dela. [ + quote]
Ludikhris (Inactive) 4 February 2005 16:37
This has happened more than just this one time. There have been more old people sued and at one time a mac user was sued when there what no mac version of the software the RIAA said they were using. If I was ever sued I would not even hesitate to say I didn't do it. Obviously if I get a letter I just say I didnt do... look at those people that got accused and didnt do it. There is obviously a reasonable doubt that I did anything wrong. Not Guilty. Ludikhris [ + quote]
nonoitall (Member) 4 February 2005 19:20
Anyone with half a retarded brain can see that the RIAA are the real criminals in this whole mess. (Not that it really requires THAT much intelligence to know.) Next I bet they'll be filing lawsuits against homeless orphans that don't even know what computers are. [ + quote]
Ghostdog (Senior Member) 5 February 2005 0:40
Quote: 83-year old Gertrude Walton shared over 700 pop, rap and rock songs on a P2P network That would be excellent if that actually happened. [ + quote]
domie (Member) 5 February 2005 2:58
I�d like to see the family sue the RIAA for maliciously causing severe emotional distress by threatening legal action against a recently deceased person...i bet they could get thousands out of them. [ + quote]
SGSeries2 (Junior Member) 7 February 2005 10:15
I second that, domie. Lol! [ + quote]
rondack (Junior Member) 7 February 2005 13:04
Way to go RIAA! IDIOTS!!!! [ + quote]
Toiletman (Senior Member) 8 February 2005 11:42
I hope RIAA employees get haunted by her ghost. Everyone is entitled to their own true opinion. Either respect that or don't. [ + quote]
Samantha1 (Newbie) 12 February 2005 8:16
lol an 83 year old listen too pop, rap , rock songs ummmm that should convince you alright... lol whath appen too respect your elders jezzz haha loserz [ + quote]
Mik3h (AfterDawn Addict) 2 September 2005 4:13
This goes to show, that an IP is a very weak source of evidence. -Mike [ + quote]
mystic (Member) 2 September 2005 11:28
what this shows is that programs like black ice that hide your ip address and fake what it shows really work and that the ip scare is over for those who can change a card or for those who are smart enough to use a public library machine to down load ... its all good and the RIAA are the evil scub for chacing everyone .... most people remmber the Greatful Dead and the allowed people to bring recording equipment to conserts just to get the music out and you know I have a collection of all the alubums and cassettes and now dvds and cds that I bought because they trusted us to make a choice and they were right.....and they still are selling music everywhere and they arent complaining about any peety downloading... [ + quote]
Mestari81 (Newbie) 22 March 2007 2:58
Do this this black ice program really work that good? [ + quote]