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p2pnet interviews RIAA lawsuit victim

5 September 2005 14:40 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 12 comments

Some of you may remember that recently we wrote a story about a divorced mom of five, Patricia Santangelo who decided she didn't want to settle with the RIAA and was prepared to fight against the lawsuit in court. Well, the good people over at p2pnet have had a Q&A session with Patricia that will show the P2P community that this woman has absolutely no intent to stand down and settle now.

Here's an extract...

p2pnet: Have you personally heard from the RIAA again since this all began?

Santangelo: I've heard from them once since I went to court in May. It wasn't really the RIAA but the settlement center representing them and I explained to them what Judge McMahon had said in court about me finding an attorney and that I would not be settling with them.

p2pnet: You've already had Pay Us Or Else threats leveled at you. If you lose this case, you could end up facing a lot more than $7,500. What's your reaction to that?

Santangelo: Right now I'm surviving on pure faith that these cases against random IP addresses are wrong and that's all I can think about right now.

p2pnet: If you triumph, and we're sure you will, the Big Four record labels will be in an extremely dangerous position. Their entire terror campaign will collapse around their ears. They've already abandoned several cases for various reasons. Suppose they decide it's not worth risking that you'll win and they decide to drop their charges against you? What then?

Santangelo: Honestly, that would be a relief. But it solves nothing if they can continue doing the same thing to other people like me. I didn't know I was the first person to take it this far. Since hiring Mr Beckerman I've learned a lot, and realize that this isn't just about my case: it's about the legal rights of all the people who are being unfairly sued.

p2pnet: Assuming your case ends up in court, how far are you willing to go?

Santangelo: I'm willing to take it as far as I have to to prevent other innocent people being dragged into frivolous lawsuits. It's wrong.

p2pnet: The record companies say file sharers are devastating them? Does that seem to be a reasonable proposition?

Santangelo: I have three teenage children who love music and I think that's a great thing. I can't count the amount of concert tickets and cds that I've purchased over the past few years, and I still have two younger ones who are showing the same love for music. I find it hard to believe that file sharing could impact record companies to the point of devastation. There are some people, apparently, who copy and sell CDs, and that is piracy and they are the ones that need to be stopped. That's just wrong.

Go check out the rest of the Interview at p2pnet.

Thanks Jon ;-)

Permalink to this article

P2PNet.net goes up for sale (19 January 2007)

Jon Newton's p2pnet sued for libel (15 May 2006)

Patricia Santangelo requests trial by jury in RIAA suit (3 December 2005)

Lawsuit victim sues RIAA under RICO Act (2 October 2005)

754 more RIAA lawsuits (30 September 2005)

The 'We're Not Taking Any More' club (19 September 2005)

RIAA sends letters to P2P services (15 September 2005)

More P2P lawsuits from RIAA (1 September 2005)

Students continue illegal file sharing (20 August 2005)

Divorced mom of five may challenge RIAA (15 August 2005)

RIAA believes recordable media is bigger threat than P2P (15 August 2005)

Freenet's anonymous P2P by years end? (4 August 2005)

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Discuss this article!
Lethal_B (Moderator) 5 September 2005 15:01
i take my hat off to this woman. she is representin all of us and if she provails, she will put a whole new outlook on the future of p2p! kill the damn RIAA darlin!! [ + quote]
malcdogg (Senior Member) 5 September 2005 18:41
Ms. Santangelo is my hero. [ + quote]
nonoitall (Member) 5 September 2005 23:45
No matter what, the RIAA is in deep sh*t. If she wins, they can't keep up their bullying. If she loses it will be even worse for them though. I'm a relatively cold and passive person and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel the urge to buy a gun and pop off an RIAA exec. There are a lot of people out there who are much more sympathetic and proactive than I and I doubt all of them are going to sit idly by and let a huge monopoly rip apart a defenseless woman's (and her children's) life. The RIAA is making a lot of enemies and no friends. If they keep getting more aggressive, someone is going to retaliate and if it's not by legal methods, it might not be pretty. [ + quote]
Letukka (Member) 6 September 2005 1:01
Hope she sets up a defense fund quickly. I would donate. [ + quote]
Lethal_B (Moderator) 6 September 2005 3:01
lol shed prolly be backed with like a billion pounds! [ + quote]
max777 (Junior Member) 8 September 2005 9:35
The key to this is what the defense is, very important in all future cases: If it's yes we DOWNLOADED music, but we have that right. Or yes we UPLOADED music, but we have that right. Or, NO we didn't do anything, and we never used that IP address that the ISP says we did. [ + quote]
dufas (Member) 8 September 2005 10:11
Where is Bin Laden when one needs him....Watch out RIAA [ + quote]
vudoo (Member) 8 September 2005 23:25
I wish someone would get wise and do something to end this crap. Ad suportive p2p where the artists get paid or the levy where isp's pay a small fee to allow legal Downloading and or sharing of copyrighted meterial. this is way out of hand and the RIAA is makeing a mountain out of a mole hill. [ + quote]
max777 (Junior Member) 8 September 2005 23:43
Ya, if downloading music is like shoplifting, then how come one crime you end up with years of legal battles and you lose your life savings, while the other other gives you a slap on the wrist? Ha! [ + quote]
cdd1234 (Inactive) 9 September 2005 0:09
Even if she manages to win the case (and I truly hope she does as well as gets her legal expenses re-imbursed by RIAA ... maybe the judge even asking the RIAA TO PAY HER for causing her unnecessary grief and anxiety), it's never ever, in my opinion, going to end. Considering how may millions or billions the entertainment industry spends in lobbying representatives to pass copyright theft/piracy/et all laws, they're still gonna go after the next person. Expect many more cases like this to crop up. [ + quote]
vudoo (Member) 13 September 2005 20:25
Don't forget Slander charges and false accusations. If this woman wins she could sue the life blood out of the RIAA. I'd go for the full bluntal assult against the RIAA and force the legal shut down of the entire organization and force them to give me everything they have. Than I'd make a new law that says Ad Supportive p2p where artists get paid for the downloads via Ads is legal. Hell I'd buy out Kazaa and make a new legal and FREE system where you get all you want for FREE and I'd own it and every artist would be happy getting $$ from the ads. No more DRM crap. [ + quote]
nonoitall (Member) 13 September 2005 22:25
It would be so cool if the RIAA were sued out of business. [ + quote]