The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has found yet another strange case amongst the thousands of copyright infringement suits it has launched against file sharers in the United States. In this case, the accused woman, Marie Lindor actually has never bought or used a PC. Attorneys for the Brooklyn, New York-based health aide sent a letter on Thursday to Judge David G. Trager of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York asking for a summary judgment dismissing the RIAA's complaint, along with attorney fees.
So how could it be possible that a woman without a computer could be accused of sharing music illegally? It turns out that while she had no computer, and claims to never have owned one, there was an insecure wireless router operating in her apartment. Additionally, there once was a computer in her apartment, but the dates provided in the RIAA suit are after that computer was gone.
"She personally has never used a computer in her life," Ray Beckerman, an attorney with Beldock Levine & Hoffman said. "She paid for the Internet access in her apartment, which the last I heard, is not a copyright infringement." Of course it is possible that someone outside the apartment used her Internet connection via the wireless router to download and share music files.
Her son, Woody Raymond, said that he had taken the computer away to his apartment before the alleged infringement took place. "At the time my mother didn’t want people in the house," he said. "The computer wasn’t working. I left the wireless router because everything was connected, but there was no computer attached and no laptop at the house." He tried explaining this to the RIAA's lawyers but they insisted that a $4,500 settlement must be paid.
Another mystery is alleged nickname used for sharing. "JR Lindor" was the nickname used, but her son's last name is not Lindor as he took his fathers last name. "Everything we told them, they don’t care," he said. "They are harassing me. I answered their questions, and they’re asking me the same questions over and over and over. It doesn’t seem like they’re interested in getting this resolved, only in dragging their feet."
The dangers of running an insecure, unencrypted wireless network in an apartment building should be obvious. However, now along with file snooping fears and the use of your Internet connection to download child porn and other illicit material, avoiding a lawsuit by the recording industry for music sharing by someone stealing your Internet connection bandwidth is yet another reason to secure your network.
Source:
Red Herring
"She personally has never used a computer in her life," Ray Beckerman, an attorney with Beldock Levine & Hoffman said. "She paid for the Internet access in her apartment, which the last I heard, is not a copyright infringement." Of course it is possible that someone outside the apartment used her Internet connection via the wireless router to download and share music files.
Her son, Woody Raymond, said that he had taken the computer away to his apartment before the alleged infringement took place. "At the time my mother didn’t want people in the house," he said. "The computer wasn’t working. I left the wireless router because everything was connected, but there was no computer attached and no laptop at the house." He tried explaining this to the RIAA's lawyers but they insisted that a $4,500 settlement must be paid.
Another mystery is alleged nickname used for sharing. "JR Lindor" was the nickname used, but her son's last name is not Lindor as he took his fathers last name. "Everything we told them, they don’t care," he said. "They are harassing me. I answered their questions, and they’re asking me the same questions over and over and over. It doesn’t seem like they’re interested in getting this resolved, only in dragging their feet."
The dangers of running an insecure, unencrypted wireless network in an apartment building should be obvious. However, now along with file snooping fears and the use of your Internet connection to download child porn and other illicit material, avoiding a lawsuit by the recording industry for music sharing by someone stealing your Internet connection bandwidth is yet another reason to secure your network.
Source:
Red Herring
Patti Santangelo's new lawyer
p2p news / p2pnet: Patti Santangelo now has a team. Its members are Patti herself, her new lawyer, Jordan Glass and you.
And you guys are taking on Warner Music, Vivendi Universal, EMI and Sony BMG, the desperate Big Four Organized Music Goliaths.
They don't stand a chance.
Glass who, bottom line, quite literally wouldn't be beside Patti without help from p2pnet readers, was officially accepted into the New York court system last week and, he told me, he guarantees he'll stay on the case to the end.
"I have to thank all of the p2pnet readers who've contributed to the Fight Goliath Campaign," Patti said today. "Their donations so far have enabled me to hire a new attorney, Jordan D. Glass.
"I wanted very much to continue this fight on my own but when I sat down with the pile of paperwork, I realized that without an attorney who understood the discovery process, I'd surely lose."
Glass is a one-man band in a private practice firm. We'll tell you more about him shortly and we'll also give you details of how the money you're donating is being spent, together with estimates of up-coming outlays.
In two other important developments, we now have a private New York PO Box address for snail-mail contributions, and all donations are going into an escrow account administered by Patti herself.
And while the 
