http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/12/riaa_to_grieving_fam.html RIAA to grieving family: We depose your children in 60 days The RIAA brought a file-sharing lawsuit against a guy who died; they offered the departed's family a 60-day grieving period before they began to depose his children for the suit against his estate. 3. Plaintiffs do not believe it appropriate to discuss a resolution of the case with the family so close to Mr. Scantlebury’s passing. Plaintiffs therefore request a stay of 60 days to allow the family additional time to grieve. 4. In the event the parties do not reach a resolution with Mr. Scantlebury’s estate or the other family members involved, Plaintiffs anticipate amending the complaint following depositions of members of Mr. Scantlebury’s family.
Just out of curiosity, how do these people get caught? Are they working on a larger scale than most people or are they just unlucky?
The link neglects to include "1" and "2" in their list. Here they are: 1. Plaintiffs have recently learned that Defendant, Larry Scantlebury, passed away on June 20, 2006. Please see the attached Death Certificate. 2. Prior to Mr. Scantlebury’s passing, Plaintiffs believed that there was potential to resolve the case. While at the time of Mr. Scantlebury’s death, he had not responded to Plaintiffs’ discovery (he had asked for and received extensions), he had indicated that others, in addition to Mr. Scantlebury, were involved in the infringement of Plaintiffs’ copyrights. -------------- What exactly is the RIAA doing wrong in this case? They are acting as most any other entity would when there is pending legal issues involved with someone who passes away. They are attempting to reach a resolution with his heirs and if they can't they'll go after his estate. It appears the lawsuit was filed before the man died since the dead man knew there was an action in progress, so it appears the following sentence from the provided link is misleading: "The RIAA brought a file-sharing lawsuit against a guy who died."
What are they doing wrong?? The guy is dead! Its a case about downloading music ... guilty or not!! Its not like he killed someone. Let it die. Drop the case. Leave this family alone.
There has to be an adress somewhere that we can write and tell them just how alienating their practices are. Of course, it's not like it would matter... the people that stop buying CDs are the ones that don't buy today's ****ty music anyway.
that dude must've made some serious change reselling the stolen goods. if the ill gotten gains are part of his estate i see nothing wrong with the digital avengers going after it posthumously. and i hate the RIAA.
Well, he probably certainly saved money that he wasn't spending on buying the records instead of downloading them for free.
I'm guessing this is an older man and his children are out of their 20's? Is no wife mentioned in all of this? P.S. they're letting Ken Lay's wife off the hook for all of his misdeeds and she's pretty much set for life.
By the size of the library you share and their people catch or from the IP records companies sometimes give when they get supoenaed. Usually the first option because the smaller fish might not settle and it wouldn't be worth it for them to goto court. Torrents and p2p programs are not anonymous....
. . . and word on the street is people should not be responsible for the debt of their dead ancestors Rocket River
Ready for the defense that is getting the RIAA to drop the suit? An IP address does not equal a particular person. Just because an IP address is traced as the destination for downloads does not implicate a specific person as the culprit, especially if they had a wireless router attached to their network, since LOTS of people could be piggy backing. Prove it was ACTUALLY ME and not just the IP address that happens to be on my network.
I thought there was a law stating that debt cannot be passed down to one's children or heirs? Shouldn't it apply in this situation?
I thought this also. I also remember hearing that its not a law but more standard practice out of respect for the family.
