RIAA slimy as ever… extends on their protection racket

It came as a surprise a couple of days back when suddenly the RIAA just dropped one of their oldest cases against an “infringer” without giving anybody a clue as to why.

Knowing the RIAA people quickly ruled out pity, fairness and a change of heart… because these heartless creeps have already ruined lives of children, collage students, single parents and even grandparents, you would think that covered the entire spectrum but in actuality they have also served suits on the homeless, people with serious illnesses like multiple sclerosis and even dead people.

Once the RIAA have you in their sights and have brought a “john doe” case against you, other than paying up via the “pre-litigation settlement centers” (also known as the modern day gangster protection collection points) it’s extremely hard to break their vice like grip, the fact that you are or might be innocent is of absolutely no consequence (kind of like the “shoot them all and let the devil sort ‘em” bumper stickers) so it was ever more puzzling to Ray Beckerman the defending lawyer to know that his case was dropped by the RIAA over a month back!

Looking at past cases of the RIAA the only time that they try to back out of a case is if they see that the accused is trying to fight back and they have a snowflake in hell’s chance of winning if the case goes to trial. The RIAA have manipulated the law for years now and one bad precedent could put a stop to their legal protection racket once and for all… not a good thing for them and the hordes of slimy lawyers under their employment.

In this case the RIAA had gone more than half the way as they had already gotten past the John Doe stage and had gotten the name of the person they were suing: Joan Cassin, meaning that they had spent considerable time and money to come to this stage, but suddenly they were dropping the case without prejudice (which meant they could sue the person again in future)!
While Ray Beckerman pondered over the RIAAs motives, the RIAA were busy filing a new case against four more people.
Regular procedure for the RIAA right?
BZZZZT! Wrong! Here’s what happened, seeing that the Joan Cassin case would most probably be going to trial and finally coming to the conclusion that they had the wrong person and seeing that the judge was not “favorable” to/for their case, they filed a new case against the four other people who could have possibly used Join Cassin’s computer but this time pretended like it’s a brand new case thus the case would get a different judge and since they “failed to mention” that they knew whose internet connection they were targeting , if treated as a brand new case they would walk away without paying attorneys fees and other damages in the original case plus would get past the stay order the original judge put on case… gives a whole new meaning to "slime" doesnt it?

Ray Beckerman is rightly arguing that this is the same case brought by the RIAA for the third time and hence should be thrown out plus the RIAA should pay damages while the RIAA are crying that it’s a brand new case and the first two were “no harm done… so let’s forget it”.

On a side but related note, seeing that resistance to their gangster tactics is gaining ground everywhere because for some reason, innocent people like fighting for their innocence (strange isn’t it?) the RIAA have dug deep into the history of extortion and found another useful tried and true strategy, here’s their implementation of it: Pay up what we ask you up front (3k-4k) or if you should “trouble” them to actually try to get your actual name… you got to pay double (8k), no matter if you did anything wrong.
Seems like America’s “innocent until proven guilty” no longer holds water… it’s more like if the RIAA point their slimy finger at you, you are “guilty unless you can afford to fight for your innocence”, not that that’s a guarantee of innocent people not being labeled guilty and having to pay an absurd penalty anyway.

Tags: Joan Cassin, Ray Beckerman, RIAA, Slimy bastards