# Music download lawsuits

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-download-lawsuits/224103>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 12, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-download-lawsuits/224103 "2004-01-12T02:33:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-download-lawsuits/224103/1 "2004-01-12T02:33:58Z")

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So, what’s happening with the lawsuites on file sharers? All of a sudden I hear nothing on the news. Are they still naming new people or have they backed off?

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**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-download-lawsuits/224103/2 "2004-01-12T02:37:30Z")

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They are at least slowed down because now the RIAA must go through more legal wrangling to get a name from the ISP that matches the IP address they find illegally sharing.

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**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-download-lawsuits/224103/3 "2004-01-12T03:57:53Z")

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What about the oringal slew of suits?

Have any of those gone to trial? If so, has the RIAA won any of them?

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**Author:** ![thumbupmybum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@thumbupmybum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thumbupmybum)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-download-lawsuits/224103/4 "2004-01-12T08:53:41Z")

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I think I read somewhere that most of them had been settled out of court for damages around 2-4 thousand dollars-ish.

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**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-download-lawsuits/224103/5 "2004-01-12T09:03:59Z")

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Yeah, that’s to be expected, but I’m wondering if anybody has taken them to task and gone to trial (yet).

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**Author:** ![netscape\_6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8c91f0/32.png) [@netscape\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/netscape_6)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-download-lawsuits/224103/6 "2004-01-12T13:53:33Z")

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what about that 12 year old girl they sued how did that turn out?

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**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-download-lawsuits/224103/7 "2004-01-12T13:56:46Z")

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The [EFF](http://www.eff.org/) is very active in opposing RIAA. They have filed a number of briefs to oppose RIAA’s various actions (spurious lawsuits and subpoenas) as well as provided defense attorneys for some of the people wrongly sued by RIAA. See the list of recent actions on their homepage for all their RIAA-related activity. If you care about this issue or online civil liberties in general, put your money where your mouth is and support the EFF.