Adelita – Threatened by the RIAA

THE MAJOR LABEL filesharing lawsuits are old news. In the press, the suits quickly became more of a concept than a reality. Since coverage of the filesharing issue is usually spurred by RIAA announcements and then reported in newspapers’ business sections, analysis has focused on whether the suits are having an effect and whether suing customers is a good strategy. Meanwhile, the lawsuits have continued to financially devastate working families, pushing many into bankruptcy. When told that a family being targeted has no money to meet their demands, the RIAA’s lawyers have literally suggested that parents put a $5,000 settlement on a credit card.

In the fall, we created a Defense Fund to help some of the families being sued, and we raised a modest amount of money– a little over $4,000 so far. Spread across a dozen people it’s not very much, but it does help.

Today, we’re adding another person to the fund, Adelita Shule from Austin, Texas. Adelita needs $3,000 to meet the RIAA’s settlement demands, but can’t come close to affording this. And she is in no way unique; we’ve talked with dozens of families being sued and many are in similar situations. Below is an excerpt from a letter that Adelita’s pro-bono lawyer sent to the RIAA, who still refuse to drop the suit. It gives some sense of the human impact of these lawsuits, and a hint of the single-minded mentality of the major label executives that are continuing to target more families.

Read the full letter in html or see an image of the original.