James Delahunty
5 Feb 2006 18:13
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