Suhit Gupta
03-24-2004, 07:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5177933.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5177933.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news</a><br /><br /></div>"The Recording Industry Association of America stepped up the pace of its lawsuits against music swappers again, with a renewed focus on university students. The trade association said Tuesday that it sued an additional 532 anonymous individuals, including 89 people at 21 separate universities. This is the third round of suits since the RIAA was forced by the courts to file suits without first using subpoenas to learn the alleged file swappers' true identities."<br /><br />1,977 individuals have been sued so far by the RIAA with more than three-quarters of those suits having come since January. From what I can tell, more than 400 individuals have chosen to pay fines averaging nearly $3,000 by settling their cases out of court. None of the suits has come to a full trial yet. Therefore, standard warning from us - unless you want to pay fines, don't swap music illegally.