RIAA bust a 12 year old girl

The RIAA sees the face of evil, and it's a 12-year-old girl
By Ashlee Vance in Chicago
Posted: 09/09/2003 at 13:54 GMT


The RIAA has nailed one of the most prolific file-traders in the U.S., filing a lawsuit against 12-year-old Brianna LaHara.

When not at the playground with her friends, "Biggie Brianna" is trading music files from her home in New York. The little girl received one of the 261 lawsuits filed by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) on Monday, according to the New York Post. She may look like a sweet and innocent child, but the RIAA says it's only going after major copyright violators at the moment. So you make the call.

"I got really scared. My stomach is all turning," Brianna told the Post. "I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for it. Out of all people, why did they pick me?"

It turns out that Brianna's mum paid a $29.99 service charge to kazaa for the company's music service. Brianna, however, thought this meant she could download songs at will. How naive!

When reporters charged into Brianna's home, she was helping her brother with some homework. She is an honors student at St. Gregory the Great school.

Brianna could face charges of up to $150,000 per infringed song, but we have a feeling this might be a tad unrealistic. We suggest the RIAA take all of her toys instead.

"Nobody likes playing the heavy and having to resort to litigation," RIAA president Cary Sherman said in a statement. "But when your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take appropriate action."

Go get her, Cary. ®


http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/32731.html
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18,887 views 72 replies
Reply #1 Top
Well, hopefully the RIAA won't punish this girl. It seems that she genuinely meant no harm to anybody.



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Reply #2 Top
She is an honor student, so I would guess she definitely knew better.

She's playing dumb.
Reply #3 Top

Age is no excuse. If she was a 12 year old boy who stole a car, would that be innocent and sweet too? "Oh, my dad is paying a fee to the AAA, so I thought that meant I could take any car I wanted!"

Anyway, parents are responsible for their children, if mom or dad couldn't tell her that stealing music was bad, then they deserve a fine indeed.

Reply #4 Top
That is disgusting. It seems to me that those Anti-P2P associations are just picking on people now. Innocent People. That is really horrible to choose a 12 year old girl, who didn't even know it was a crime. RIAA suck... >
Reply #5 Top
That is disgusting. It seems to me that those Anti-P2P associations are just picking on people now. Innocent People. That is really horrible to choose a 12 year old girl, who didn't even know it was a crime. RIAA suck...


Just because she was 12 doesn't automatically mean she didn't know it was a crime. And if she knew her age is no excuse.



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Reply #6 Top
interesting Kazaa mix up... her Mom pays for some Kazaa service

soooo her daughter thinks its ok.

It would seem to me she is the used by Kazaa along with other children and their parents fooling them to believe that its ok to do what they are doing.

Then there is the RIAA...
Reply #7 Top
let this one go I would suggest, (261 is a weird number, 260 would be better )

anyway, they cant do anything to the kid..., the parents are a diffrend story
Reply #8 Top
Apparently kazaa lite won't get you in trouble for d/l songs
'cause kazaa uses spyware
but kazaa lite doesnt.
Reply #9 Top
Apparently kazaa lite won't get you in trouble for d/l songs'cause kazaa uses spywarebut kazaa lite doesnt.


I wouldn't trust that. I believe they are mostly looking at everything in your share folder at this time to see who to get. I don't think kazaa lite will keep them from looking at that.



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Reply #10 Top
Could they not easily log your IP address and log everything your download?

Anyway, she knew what she was doing and is playing dumb.
Reply #11 Top
How rediculous (me wonders why the mother paid $29.99) hehe

also a 12 year old kid is suppose to know better? or even care when most adults don't (What a rediculous target or example for them to use)

They'll be sueing till hell freezes over and never stop this just like they can't stop murder or thieft which they should use their energies on but won't cuz money is not involved there so their kickback is not enough... *sigh* typical
Reply #12 Top

#10 by The DJ - 9/9/2003 12:48:37 PM
Could they not easily log your IP address and log everything your download?

Anyway, she knew what she was doing and is playing dumb.

Ip addresses are not necessarily static, and you can't prove who was using the computer (what if you have a family of 5?)

She's 12 years old!  Playing dumb?  When I was 12 I had no concept of piracy.  I didn't think anything was wrong with recording a song off the radio (which was illegal). 

Reply #13 Top
Good point Dor, They're emphasising on the wrong group, not just the wrong age. And don't IP address' change everytime you log on the Internet? Even on my broadband connection, the first 2 digits stay the same, but the last 2 change.
Reply #14 Top
12 by Admin KarmaGirl - 9/9/2003 1:31:07 PM #10 by The DJ - 9/9/2003 12:48:37 PM She's 12 years old! Playing dumb? When I was 12 I had no concept of piracy. I didn't think anything was wrong with recording a song off the radio (which was illegal).



She's in 7th grade and an honor student. She's either old enough to know better or mentally handicapped.

Reply #15 Top
Sorry, but I don't agree.  I think that you are thinking of a 12 year old as more logical than they are.  I was an honor roll student and even in an after school "think" group, and I never thought about piracy (gee, I hate to think of how many songs I recorded on tape, or how many pictures or book pages I copied without concent...all of which is illegal )  12 year olds are kids. Now, her parents are a different story.  But, thinking that a 12 year old thinks about copyright might be too much.
Reply #16 Top
I agree with that KG, and even if she knew SOMETHING about copyright, she toughts it was legal cause her mom payed for it...
Reply #17 Top
I can really go both ways, but I think its BS here.

You can pretty much guarantee all her friends are using Kazaa too. Where did she hear about it from? Who installed it? And whats up with this service charge her mom payed?

Her mother payed and knew nothing about it??
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Reply #18 Top

Come on now people. At 12 I was stealing candy bars at the corner store (yes I was), and I knew perfectly well that it was bad, it it's precisely why I was doing it.

A few precisions need to be made here.

1) They will not prosecute the 12 year old. The RIAA will prosecute the person who pays ISP bill.

2) IP addresses are indeed logged, and the RIAA got a court order for the ISP's to submit the identitity of the account that had a given IP at a given time. ISP's have that information, they are required by law to have it and to keep it.  Anonymity doesn't exist on the Net, anybody can be tracked down.

Reply #19 Top

I say the mum is the guilty party....she paid for the 'service' and is the 'responsible adult'....definitely over 12....and since the girl is a minor then I'm sure the parents will be 'looked at' as culpable.

My guess is that when she found herself in 'trouble' it was not entirely a surprise....friends or classmates would have been aware of the current issues with P2P...Napster....Metallica....etc. None of this is new, just the actioning is...

Reply #20 Top
RIAA are getting desperate anything to scare others, i wouldnt be surprised if this thing backfires, even seen on Sky News one of the guys from the music industry totally against RIAA thing as really he said they are sueing their own customers.

RIAA could have solved this years ago but no, they are to greedy and charge everyone rediculous prices for music. Its Napster all over again.

Look at Apple $0.99 for a mp3... with iTunes

Yeah lets sue everyone and their granny that will work
Reply #21 Top
There are "some" innocent 12 yo's out there I say "Specially" if she was an honor student all the more innocent...

Paxx stealing a candy bar is much more different then typing in a tune's name and then clicking on the name for d/l most kids do not feel quite the same sensation as hiding a candy bar in their pocket and walking out the front door of a store then the described action, they are in their homes behind a machine just clicking on things, does not feel like stealing at allll...
Reply #22 Top
specially when she apparently knew her mom coughed up 29.99 for the thing she was clicking on...
Reply #23 Top
Look at Apple $0.99 for a mp3... with iTunes


On an off-topic note, there is a Windows-alternative that offers pretty much the same service. BuyMusic.com - http://www.buymusic.com/
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Reply #24 Top
It's true that she might be playing dumb, but it's also possible that she and her parents aren't as technically savvy as us.
I think that the fact that they paid for something they could have downloaded freely gives some credit to the possibility that they might have honestly thought what they were doing was legal, and if their only crime is ignorance, the RIAA should simply give them a warning not to do it again.



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Reply #25 Top

#23 by Sir Hus - 9/9/2003 4:02:56 PM
On an off-topic note, there is a Windows-alternative that offers pretty much the same service. BuyMusic.com

Complete with really annoying ads on TV   I heard that a lot of the "big" names won't sign on, though (to any of the services) which I think is just plain dumb.  I wish the recording industry would harness the technology instead of trying to stifle it.