My name is Lorraine Sullivan.  On September 9, 2003 I was named in a lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America.  This is the written testimony of my account.

In August 2001 my fiancé signed up for the Kazaa under the account name Kissiffer4.  It was a couple of months later that I began using Kazaa myself for downloading music.    

In the first week of August 2003 I was sent a letter by my cable provider Time Warner alerting me to the fact that they had been subpoenaed by the Recording Industry Association of America for my personal information. The letter stated that I was being accused of copyright infringement and Time Warner was being forced to release my information to the RIAA.  I immediately called the phone numbers listed for the RIAA and lawyer’s representing the RIAA on the copy of the subpoena and was unable to reach anyone at the RIAA.  Next I phoned Time Warner customer service and was essentially told that by customer service not to worry about the matter. 

I got rid of Kazaa and all the songs on my hard drive as soon as I got off the phone.  I thought by doing so I had nothing left to worry about.  However, that turned out not to be the case. 

On September 9, 2003 I came home to four messages from reporters asking me for statements in response to being sued by the RIAA. 

I immediately contacted the RIAA once again.  This time I actually reached a person who forwarded my call to Stan Pierre-Louis.  After giving him my information he said he would look up my information and get back to me.  When Stan called back he explained the case against me.  He told me I was being sued for copy right infringement.  He advised me to look at a website called “www.musicunited.org” and further advised that if I were still downloading and sharing files I stop immediately.  I willingly told him I had gotten rid of Kazaa and all my files as soon as I contacted Time Warner about the letter of subpoena.  I asked him why I was being targeted when Kazaa did not have any disclaimer on their website informing me of the logistics of copy right infringement and not only defaulted to sharing files automatically but also was booted up any time my computer was on because I had a cable modem hooked up.  He said he could not discuss that with me since the RIAA were considering or already had entered into litigation with Kazaa.  I said that I had read reports that I would be held accountable for $150,000 per song in my “shared folder”.  He said the charges could range between $750 per song and $150,000.  I was pretty emotional by this point and he told me that the goal of the RIAA was “Not to ruin your life and make you bankrupt”.  I replied that actually it felt like that.  I told him it was pretty stressful to hear the news from reporters on my answering machine.  He then explained reporters had gotten my personal information from waiting around at the courthouse and looking up the names on file.  Next he told me that I would be “served” by hand.  When I asked what exactly I was being “served” he explained that it was the summons which I took to mean the documents to be used as the case against me.  He detailed that there would be a letter with the summons that would explain how I could settle the case out of court if I wished to do so.  I asked what that meant and what it involved.  He told me that it would include a settlement in the “low thousands” and that it would probably be worth it to “put it all behind” me and get on with my life.  I agreed that dealing with the pressure and stress was scary because a probable million plus debt hanging over my head was pretty horrific.  He referred me to Pat Benson and said she was handling the settlements.  He mentioned that she was not my attorney and that I should not ask her for advice since she was not working for me.

Next I phoned Pat Benson.  I left a message that evening and received a call back from her the next afternoon.  She too said that if I were still downloading music I should put a stop to it.  I explained to her that I had stopped as soon as I received the Time Warner letter.  She further explained that I was being sued for copy right infringement.  I asked what a settlement consisted of.  She asked if I was interested in settling and I said I was interested in knowing how it worked.  She told me that would get papers to sign basically admitting to guilt.  Then there would be a mutually agreed upon monetary settlement.  I asked what the exact number would be.  She told me between three and four thousand.  She then said I had probably heard about the 12-year-old who had settled for $2,000 and informed me that that particular case had been a “special case” since Brianna’s mother was on public assistance.  This particularly upset me because I thought, “Since I worked hard for so many years and waited until my mid-twenties to go to school and am not on public assistance my case is different?”  I couldn’t understand that implication that our cases were so different and was even more emotionally upset at this point.  I then asked if the settlement had to be paid in one lump sum.  Pat said yes, it did and that they had considered accepting it incrementally but with so many cases it wouldn’t be feasible.  I cried at this point and told her that all I had was $1500 in my savings account.  I explained that I was a full-time student with a part time job that usually paid less that $150 per week.  I also explained that I had taken out student loans but that they had almost all gone to my tuition and school expenses.  She asked me if I could ask my parents for money to which I replied no.  I said my mother struggles herself financially and I never speak to my father.  She asked if there was any one else I could get to help me and I said no.  She asked if I had any credit cards and I told her that although I did they were pretty close to their limits but I could inquire about a cash advances.  I was crying and saying that this was all pretty stressful and she sympathetically said “Nobody likes having to be the heavy”.  She said she would go to her clients and see if they would be willing to accept less than $3,500 from me. 

Two days later we spoke again and Pat said her clients had agreed to accept $2,500 from me.  I thanked her for pleading my financial case to them.  I told her that I had come up with $2,100 so far and had some ideas about coming up with the rest.  She told me that the paperwork would be sent out and I would have a couple of days to look it over and send it back with a certified check.  I asked how many more days I would have to get the rest of the settlement money together.  She said I should sign the papers and return them within the week.  I asked if there was any way I could be sued again after I signed the papers.  She told me that she couldn’t advise me as I was not her client.  Then she answered that theoretically I could be sued but from a practical standpoint I probably would not be.  She said she understood that I had a lot of school work that I wasn’t doing because of the worry this case had inflicted.  She told me not to worry and just to concentrate on school.  She also said not to freak out if I got served with the summons in the interim because she would file an injunction and even if I did receive them I had 15 days to reply to them in court.  I agreed that when I got the papers I would sign them and send them back as soon as I gathered the full $2500.  Pat said to call her if I had any further questions.   

I then created a website and ask for help from others who might have found themselves in my situation.  I got the idea from doing research about four college students who had run search engines and been sued by the RIAA.  On my site I explained that I had no idea I was sharing files and that I was not personally responsible for all the songs downloaded.  My sister, her boyfriend and my husband among others have used it also.  This website helped me raise a $600 in donations for my settlement.                 
 
I did not actually receive the summons until September 18th when they were hand delivered to me at my home address.    

I feel that I have been misled as a consumer of music.  I do not burn CDs and yet when I go to the store I see Sony sells “writable” discs.  I wondered what I was supposed to put on these discs since downloading is supposedly akin to shoplifting music.  Also as equaling misleading is the advertising that Sony has on television for their mini-discs.  In the commercial you see a blue-headed alien encouraging a couple hundred friends to copy the play list he has created.  Is it any wonder why other consumers such as me found, and still continue to find, it all so confusing?  

I mistakenly imagined that since Kazaa was still up and running while Napster had been forced to close down that the downloading I was personally responsible for was okay.  I certainly never saw any sort of disclaimer on the original Kazaa website.  I compared it to recording songs from the radio.  I never willingly shared files with other users.  I was not even fully aware of all the songs in “my” Kazaa file until I looked at it after receiving the Time Warner subpoena letter.  As far as I was concerned the music I downloaded was for home, personal use.  I made a play list of favorites and listened to it when I cleaned house or did homework.  Part of the reason I downloaded songs I already owned on CD was because I didn’t want to mix them manually and found it more convenient to have on my computer.  I don’t know how to “upload” songs on the computer either.  I in no way financially benefited from nor intended to make a profit from the music I listened to.  As far as I was concerned copyright infringement was what he people in Chinatown hawking bootlegged and fake CDs on the street corner were doing.  Since being named in the lawsuit I have educated myself pretty quickly.  I have taken responsibility for my part in all of this.  I realize “I didn’t know what I was doing” is not a valid defense. 

Still, I am angry with the RIAA for their unfairness in handling these lawsuits.  I resent being unfairly targeted and having to choose between paying a settlement I can barely afford or to deal with the worry and stress of litigation with the possible outcome of being held personally responsible for a couple of hundred thousand or millions of dollars in damages.  The RIAA’s manner of investigating is severely lacking.  They do not seem to care how responsible the person listed for the ISP address actually is for the “crime” they’re accused of.  I find that the most upsetting, that they go through all the trouble make statements to the press about going after the most “egregious” users and then do not follow up on actually researching how egregious each specific user that they are suing is! 

I have heard, though I never actually read one that the RIAA sent out instant messages of warnings to people, such as me, who were on Kazaa.  That makes no sense, if I’m not the one who is using Kazaa at the time they how can they be sure it got to me at all?  With all the people who have come and stayed in my apartment, sub-letters or roommates I’ve had it would be nearly impossible to monitor everything they have done or seen when they borrowed my computer for use.  I wonder why the RIAA didn’t send a letter in my name to my address to make me, personally, aware of their intentions.  I would have ceased and desisted on the spot and I would have made sure other members of my household did the same.  The RIAA never gave me that chance.      

Unfortunately I was the person whose name was put on the cable bill when the household bills were divvied up amongst roommates and so I get to be held responsible for the several hundred songs listed on the summons while I am only personally responsible for one hundred and eight songs.  Sixty-three songs of those one hundred and eight I already owned on CD and out of those sixty-three there were six which I downloaded and then went to the store and bought the artist’s CD.  I have been a music fan all my life and until recently had still bought CDs of the artists I love because I want to support them.  I won’t be buying any more and I know many other consumers feel the same.  

 The financial punishment and personal stress I’ve suffered seem a heavy price to pay to far what I’ve been accused of.  I’ve settled my lawsuit, gained a whole education of what is really at stake here and my main concern now is that this stop happening to other people.  It’s not fair to others like me who weren’t duly warned nor had any idea what others were doing on their computers.  We need to change this system without creating any new victims.  I hope that change starts here.