Recording Industry vs. the People

What do you call a lawyer that . . .
There’s nothing funnier than a lawyer joke. When you mention the word lawyer, you envision a blood sucking TV-advertising ambulance-chasing underhanded slimeball.
However, even though a disturbing number of lawyers do engage in such shenanigans, the fact is that there are also some real heroes among their cadre.
For example, there are Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman. These two have donated numerous hours and dollars towards defending people against the despicable RIAA lawsuits which began in earnest in 2003.

Like a dying, vicious animal, the RIAA and the big record companies are slashing out at anyone who might be within reach. They have filed suit on over 17,500 individuals.
They serve papers on the defendants, then immediately offer to settle for a couple thousand bucks. Many of these people are non-computer users whose kids may have installed file sharing software. Or, in many other cases, are being charged with copyright infringement that could not possibly have taken place.
What would you do if you received a registered letter informing you that you were being sued under such circumstances?
Many, especially among the first sued, opted to settle. But since then, two good Samaritan attorneys have taken up the fight of the litigants. Here’s their mission:
We are lawyers in New York City. We practice law at Vandenberg & Feliu, LLP. Through the Electronic Frontier Foundation we have undertaken to represent people in our area who have been sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for having computers whose internet accounts were believed to have been used to access peer-to-peer file sharing. In these cases, a cartel of multinational corporations collude to abuse our judicial system, distort copyright law, and frighten ordinary working people and their children. We established this site to collect and share information about this campaign.
The RIAA sued a disabled single mother, Tanya Andersen, for her daughter’s alleged file sharing. Among the strong-arm tactics of the RIAA lawyers was to have someone telephone the school of Tanya’s daughter and ask to speak to her WHILE POSING AS A GRANDPARENT!
They also insisted upon deposing her daughter, then TEN YEARS OLD, in court. By the way, the alleged infraction took place WHEN SHE WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD!
Well, exonerated by the courts, Tanya is now filing a class-action lawsuit against these poor, pathetic blood sucking dinosaurs. Enjoy reading the details at the website. And if you’re one of the unfortunate thousands to be sued, by all means consider joining her lawsuit.
http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/