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I live in the DC area. There are a number of traffic traps around, where camera try to catch people doing bad things (like blowing through a stop light or going 52 in a 25). If Jane happens to be a bad person and gets caught by the traffic camera going a few miles over the speed limit, she doesn't receive the traffic ticket personally. Rather, the owner of the car gets the ticket and has to pay the fine (with no points on the license). The owner may or may not be Jane.
What in God's name might this have to do with downloading, you might ask?
The RIAA is suing personally the owner of the computer (or, I think to be a bit more accurate, the leasee of the broadband connection) for copyright infringment -- regardless of the actions of the actual legal leasee. In other words, Jane could download the entire sonic collection of Barenaked Ladies using her next door neighbors connection (and just think for a second about people "hijacking" WiFi from home users who haven't locked down their access point).
So would Jane get sued or Ted, her neighbor? Judging from the RIAA's suit against the NC grandmother, it would be Ted. And that's just a little bit disturbing.
Posted by Casper at May 7, 2004 12:58 PM