Two WVians Sued for FileSharing

[LadyTevar]

The RIAA strikes again!

February 01, 2005
Two state residents sued for Internet music sharing

By Toby Coleman
Staff writer

Some of America’s biggest music companies are suing two people from Southern West Virginia for sharing music on the Internet.

The recording industry says it targeted Steve Patton of Princeton and Gertrude Walton of Mount Hope as part of a massive effort to shut down people who make hundreds, even thousands, of songs available for free on the Web.

Someone using Patton’s computer, for instance, shared more than 3,000 songs on the file-sharing network KaZaA under the screen name “ashleypatton,” according to one lawsuit.

The user offered a wide array of hits, including Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me,” Dru Hill’s “How Deep Is Your Love,” and Alabama’s “Born Country,” according to documents the Recording Industry Association of America provided with the lawsuit.

Neither Patton nor Walton, who is accused of sharing more than 700 songs under the user name “smittenedkitten,” could be reached for comment Monday. The recording industry filed lawsuits against them last week in U.S. District Courts in Beckley and Bluefield.

The RIAA began suing file-swapping Internet users in 2003, soon after a federal judge refused to shut down the peer-to-peer networks that make digital-file sharing possible.

“The whole objective of what we’re doing is to discourage people from getting music illegally and encourage them to download their music from legal sites where artists and companies get compensated for their work,” said Jonathan Lamy, an RIAA spokesman.

Since most file-swappers hide behind relatively anonymous screen names, the recording industry went to court to get the names and addresses of thousands of people who it believes are connected to the biggest file-sharers.

More than 1,700 people identified as file-swappers in this effort have agreed in out-of-court settlements to stop engaging in the unauthorized trade of music, Lamy said.

Those who refused to settle have been sued, he said.

Of course, not everyone who gets dragged to court by the recording industry has been swapping files.

The reason: the industry tracks down file-swappers using the numeric codes that identify computers on the Internet. The codes are also known as Internet Provider addresses.

These addresses can help investigators find the names of people using Internet service, but cannot tell investigators which person in a household actually owns the file-swapping account they are targeting. At times, parents have been sued for their children’s online behavior.

And in at least one case, a person has been wrongly sued for illegal file-sharing.

In that case, the recording industry had to withdraw a lawsuit against a Massachusetts woman after it realized she was not the file-swapper it originally thought. The industry said it wrongly identified her after either its investigators or an Internet service provider mangled the Internet provider address it was looking for.

[Wicked Pilot]

I'm not sure what's more shocking; the RIAA lawsuits or the fact that someone from West Virginia could learn to use a computer. Where did they get the electricity from?

[LadyTevar]

I'm not sure what's more shocking; the RIAA lawsuits or the fact that someone from West Virginia could learn to use a computer. Where did they get the electricity from?

*stalks up behind Pilor with the hammer**
**WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM!!**
*dusts off hands, wipes gore off hammer*

Now, is there any INTELLIGENT discussion about the situation?

[Admiral Valdemar]

*stalks up behind Pilor with the hammer**
**WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM!!**
*dusts off hands, wipes gore off hammer*

Now, is there any INTELLIGENT discussion about the situation?

I apologise for my friend's comment. What he meant to say is your state is as thick as many planks tied together.

The RIAA has a funny war going on here. This is the first prosecution in, what? At least a couple of months? They seem to think that setting an example by attacking a couple of people, a meagre percentage of the whole of the file-sharing population, will somehow deter people from doing such a practice and instead reverting to paying extortionate prices for media when they don't have to.

How long do they expect this to go on? How many must be jailed or fined? How long can the RIAA and MPAA keep this up before someone sues them or firebombs their base of ops.?

I really cannot fathom how this tactic works. They can surely think of better ways to harm their consumer base and with higher efficiency to boot.

[Batman]

*stalks up behind Pilor with the hammer**
**WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM!!**
*dusts off hands, wipes gore off hammer*
Now, is there any INTELLIGENT discussion about the situation?

M'lady, you not only misspelled 'pilot' and thus lent support to his opinion about WVians, but you're asking for intelligent discussion of the RIAA.
Either
-you have intelligent discussers...discussionator...discussineu...people discussing it, in which case there will BE no discussion-everybody will agree that the RIAA are greedy moronic fucktards, or
-you have actuall discussion, which thanks to the stupidity of at least one side can't possibly be intelligent.

[LadyTevar]

*stalks up behind Pilor with the hammer**
**WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM!!**
*dusts off hands, wipes gore off hammer*
Now, is there any INTELLIGENT discussion about the situation?

M'lady, you not only misspelled 'pilot' and thus lent support to his opinion about WVians, but you're asking for intelligent discussion of the RIAA.
Either
-you have intelligent discussers...discussionator...discussineu...people discussing it, in which case there will BE no discussion-everybody will agree that the RIAA are greedy moronic fucktards, or
-you have actuall discussion, which thanks to the stupidity of at least one side can't possibly be intelligent.

I was upset and typing in a hurry, thus the misspelling

[White Haven]

The reason: the industry tracks down file-swappers using the numeric codes that identify computers on the Internet. The codes are also known as Internet Provider addresses.

Internet...Provider...addresses. Who IS this idiot, that he publishes without doing the slightest bit of research into basic terminology?

Back on topic, eh, par for the course, RIAA couldn't pour piss out of a boot without instructions printed on the heel.

[Executor32]

When I saw the thread title, I thought it'd be Tevar and Nitram. I didn't know anyone else in WV had even heard of computers.

[fgalkin]

When I saw the thread title, I thought it'd be Tevar and Nitram. I didn't know anyone else in WV had even heard of computers.

Same here.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[LadyTevar]

When I saw the thread title, I thought it'd be Tevar and Nitram. I didn't know anyone else in WV had even heard of computers.

Same here.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

*gets the hammer out again.... **

[White Haven]

*begins searching for ways to peacebond a hammer*

[Pint0 Xtreme]

I'm not sure what's more shocking; the RIAA lawsuits or the fact that someone from West Virginia could learn to use a computer. Where did they get the electricity from?