File-sharing coalition offers to pay 12 year old girl's settlement

Honor-roll student Brianna LaHara was one of 261 defendants targeted Monday by the major record labels and their industry trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America, in a broad legal assault on people who swap songs for free over the Internet.

The precocious youngster, who downloaded Mariah Carey tracks, television theme songs and hundreds of other tunes on her computer, has become a symbol for critics of the music industry's aggressive legal tactics.

"These people give Joe Stalin a good name," said Wayne Rosso, president of Grokster Ltd., an Internet peer-to-peer file-sharing system that allows users to download and trade music for free. "It's cynical and hypocritical. I read the statement from [RIAA President] Cary Sherman: "Nobody wants to play the heavy." Then why the [expletive] are they playing the heavy?"

Rossos' Grokster is a smaller player in the peer-to-peer world, averaging 50,000 to 60,000 music downloads per week, while Kazaa, the largest, averages 2.5 million per week. Grokster is a member of P2P United, the lobbying group formed in July representing six file-sharing services that offered to pay Briannas' $ 2,000 settlement.

"We don't condone copyright infringement, but it's time for the RIAA's winged monkeys to fly back to the castle and leave the Munchkins alone," said the group"s executive director, Adam Eisgrau, a copyright lawyer and lobbyist.

P2P United includes Morpheus, Grokster, LimeWire, BearShare, Blubster and eDonkey but does not include Kazaa; in an interview, Eisgrau said the service may be invited to join.

P2Ps' offer to pay Briannas' settlement is just one of the several gifts she was extended yesterday.

Musicrebellion.com, an Internet site that sells music for 99 cents per song, said it has set up an account in Briannas' name that will allow her to download $ 2,000 worth of songs for free.

"We applaud Briannas' forthrightness in stepping forward and admitting a mistake had been made and then being a responsible citizen in settling the issue immediately," said Jan Eglen, chief executive of the Terre Haute, Ind., music service. "This is exemplary behavior, and MusicRebellion, on this one-time basis, wants to show our support for the music industry, for the legal system, and for Briannas' mature behavior."Neither Brianna nor her mother, Sylvia Torres, could be reached for comment.Yesterday, the RIAA released a survey showing that 52 percent of music consumers over age 10 support the industry's crackdown on file sharers, "[b]elying speculation that the recording industry's aggressive legal strategy might result in a consumer backlash," the RIAA said in a statement. The survey, however, was conducted Sept. 4-6, the week before the RIAA unleashed the lawsuits.