WASHINGTON - A 12-year-old girl in New York who was among the first to be sued by the record industry for sharing music over the Internet is off the hook after her mother agreed Tuesday to pay $2,000 to settle the lawsuit, apologizing and admitting that her daughter's actions violated U.S. copyright laws.

Never again will I buy another record nor go to another concert. You RIAA mongrels just crossed the line. 12 year olds? What next are they gonna go trolling the play ground for suspects?

Well I guess I should stop this download of 13 wedding songs im downloading at the moment ( Snicker..Snicker)
Come and get me RIAA. Ill be at my meaningless job listening to the Millionares music I "Supposedly" stole. See how much you can get out of me.

Well I think that 99.9% of all high school/college kids with internet acess download music, so how would you stop all of those people from file sharing. Besides, why does the RIAA think that by sueing people for file sharing, that that is going make more people buy their records! It's just alienating the people from the music industry.

I love stealing music from filthy rich celebrities. I love how ridiculous it makes the RIAA look by sueing a 12 year old!

Now I guess parents have to talk to their kids about sex,drugs and downloading.

Good point, Dragonlady!

Well, what if I decided that milk was too expensive and the grocery store chains were making too much money?

Would that make it OK for me to steal it and share it with my friends? NO!, Of course not.

I can't see why this issue is so hard to understand. It is a violation of copyright law. C'mon people, it is not that difficult. It is stealing, no matter HOW you try to justify it.

My children know that downloading music (or software) that is not freely offered by the owner of the material is stealing, plain and simple.

I also strongly disagree with Heather's point of view that just because her perception is that someone (some group) of people is rich, that makes it OK to steal from them.

There are many wealthly religions, let's use the Catholic church as an example....I would not let my kids think it is ok to go into a church and steal money from the offering plate.

If you want something for free, listen to the damn radio. They usually play the same crap over and over anyway.

Amen Pet! Thou shalt not steal! Not a hard one to understand. I think it all stems back to Thou shalt not covet. I have noticed that the 'five finger discount' kind of mentality all stems back to this. I have heard it all over the place..even in the subdivision I live in...One neighbor told me--how can they(referring to another of my neighbors) afford to do that? I looked at her and thought--it is their finances, not mine...I just told her that we all use our resources as we see fit...and backed away...

I've said this on other forums and I'll say it here. If you want to hurt the RIAA stop buying their stinking rot albums. If everyone all got together and stopped buying music for a week, think what kind of message that would send the RIAA and other producer representatives.

Stealing is wrong, no matter what. If you want to send a message send it with your wallet or pocket book.

Petrouchka, we all realize it is stealing. No, it is not that difficult to understand - we just don't care. I encourage everyone I know to download free music. I help them learn the file sharing programs and recommend the one I use. I think it's one of the greatest toys ever made. Steal music using your computer. What a great concept. I don't care how it affects the rich musicians that make the music. I don't care how it affects the RIAA. My conscience is clear.

Heather--remember that when you are sued, and you want to scream..by the way, being sued ends up costing the defendant a lot of cash($$) even if they get off...so as you 'steal and don't care' remember that..

While I think that anyone who earns more than a police officer, fire fighter, emergency medical technician or teacher is grossly overpaid, I certainly don't believe in playing "Robin Hood"; i.e. stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

If you are sued, just remember one thing, copyright laws are laws, intellectual property is owned and financial judgements last forever, even beyond bankruptcy. Wages are easily garnisheed.

I'm not innocent, and I'm certainly not critizing those that download music, just advising to be careful.

Ok, Heres the deal. Did you know it cost only 54 cents per CD to manufacture ?? Did you know that all record labels manufacture their own cds which in turn costs less for them to make? Did you know that after a retail store gets their share of the sale off 1 CD, the Record industry pockets a 10-15 dollar profit? I've said this before and I will say it again, I BUY CDS! Not every download is a lost sale, either. In many cases, it is promotion, or "try before you buy" .My P2P program allows me to filter out the crap before making a purchase. SOOOO many times I have been burnt by going out buying the latest and Greatest CD only to find 1 out of 14 songs on the album was any good. Until the price gouging stops P2P will survive. Have any of you ever taped a show on TV for a friend? Taped a song off the radio? Well you've just joined the rank of a Pirate matey! ARRRRRR!

Lets take the Dave Matthews Band for example. The DMB urges its concert goers to tape their live concerts and share them with friends, Why you ask? Many artists think that P2P is a good promotional tool. Prince, BB King, The Rosenbergs, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Danielle Howle, Smashing Pumpkins, and others have come out in favor of P2P sharing of music. Many artists now have taping sections at their concerts. The tapes help promote the artist, and when they get traded, more people become fans. Believe me that is so true, I would have never known about the band Disturbed if it wasnt for concert tapes.

Before I go remember this, if records aren't selling how come artists are going gold and platnium within 3 weeks? To achive this they have to sell millions and millions of cds,tapes,etc... Like ole bush said in the 2000 debates "its fuzzy math'

that'll teach the script kiddies a lesson.....big brother is watching......do everything anonymously!!

Romulus--we all have realized CD's are cheapo. .after all every week I get an AOL CD in the mail. If they were expensive they would not send them..and I just trash them...
And yes, if you stop buying the product they will reduce the price--look at the VCR tapes in the 80's esp. the ones from Disney--they were $70 to $100...they did not sell well...then they dropped the price to $25.00 and they sold millions of The Little Mermaid...now you can buy VCR tapes for next to nothing. And DVDs...
I do not buy much music which is new--I shop the bargain basement bin when I buy them...mainly I have always found they were a rip-off.
I am rather appalled they chose a 12 year old to target--but where were the parents???? I have caught my kids at times downloading things and had to go back & put them in the trash file & then re-delete them..because I like my hard drive w/o garbage...it crashes my system...I use it for work..and I have had to explain to the kids that it is a sucker thing--the 'free' downloads..

Parents can't be everywhere all the time, as you obviously know firsthand. Think how you would feel if your kids were targeted.

Or how I would feel if it were one of my kids. Children simply should not be subject to the same kind of heavy-handed action as adults. It's inappropriate to hold them to the same standards of accountability. That's we we have juvenile courts.