The RIAA continues to fire flaming subpoenas against suspected file-swappers across the country, many of whom lack the resources with which to defend themselves. Those without cash find themselves hard-pressed to even begin defending against a federal lawsuit of the kind that the RIAA usually files, and few legal firms are willing to help.

Ray Beckerman is one of the few lawyers who has taken a stand against the RIAA, and he recently took part in a conference call organized by Defective by Design, an anti-DRM coalition. Beckerman gave a broad overview of the RIAA’s tactics; not surprisingly, he was opposed to them on the grounds that the group’s investigations turn out very little actual evidence.

“They say the defendant downloaded, distributed and/or made available for distribution certain song files. But they have no evidence of any downloading, they have no evidence of any distributing, and at most they can say that someone who might somehow be associated with the IP address might have made some files available. But they certainly don’t know what the defendant did. All they know that the defendant did was to write out a check for internet access.”

Despite these key weaknesses, the RIAA uses its resources to file suit against individuals and then presses them to settle out of court for cash—usually $3750 or $4250.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060721-7322.html