Watch when you download...
This is about a girl in my hometown... she actually used to work for me.
'Free' music could cost teen thousands
By Kelly Caldwell
Everyday millions of songs are downloaded from the Internet. It happens in Alexander City, but one local teenager and her mother are being sued for something they didn't know was wrong.
"Nichole was just getting music from her favorite artists," Vickey Sims said. "She did not know it was wrong."
When Nichole Phillips was 16 years old, she logged onto a Web site named Kazaa, a peer-to-peer, file-sharing network, which she used to download more than 1,200 songs from some of her favorite artists.
"I thought because it was free, I wasn't doing anything wrong,' Phillips said.
According to the Web site, Kazaa is used by millions of people every month to "search for and download music, movies, games, software, images and documents."
What Phillips did not know was she was violating copyright laws when she downloaded and shared her files of music with others. Buried in the Web site, Kazaa states there is a copyright infringement liability if information shared is protected by copyright.
In 2004, Phillips and Sims realized the problems of Kazaa when they received a subpoena stating the Recording Industry Association of America was suing Sims for illegally downloading and sharing copyrighted music.
"When I got that, I just thought 'why me?'" Sims said. "I hear people talk about downloading music all the time. It just figures that I would have to deal with this.
"It was like when I was in high school. I skipped school one day, my mother caught me and I got punished for the rest of the year," Sims said. "No one else got caught. It's the same thing here."
With the lawsuit, Sims and Phillips have received national attention. They were featured in Rolling Stone magazine this month, CNN has contacted the duo and so has "Inside Edition."
"I never thought my name would ever be in Rolling Stone," Sims said. "I guess this is my 15 minutes of fame."
The suit calls for damages ranging from $750 to $30,000 per song, which could add up to more than $300,000.
Sims is not alone, the RIAA has sued more than 11,000 people since it began its campaign against illegal downloading. There have been 2,000 cases settled out of court with the average settlement being $3,600.
"We had a similar offer to settle recently," Sims said. "But, they wanted us to pay $3,500 over a six-month period. That would be $500 a month and I can't afford that."
Most of the defendants chose to settle their cases instead of risking a costly court battle.
"There is some risk involved, but I want to fight," Sims said. "This is not right and I want to fight."
'Free' music could cost teen thousands
By Kelly Caldwell
Everyday millions of songs are downloaded from the Internet. It happens in Alexander City, but one local teenager and her mother are being sued for something they didn't know was wrong.
"Nichole was just getting music from her favorite artists," Vickey Sims said. "She did not know it was wrong."
When Nichole Phillips was 16 years old, she logged onto a Web site named Kazaa, a peer-to-peer, file-sharing network, which she used to download more than 1,200 songs from some of her favorite artists.
"I thought because it was free, I wasn't doing anything wrong,' Phillips said.
According to the Web site, Kazaa is used by millions of people every month to "search for and download music, movies, games, software, images and documents."
What Phillips did not know was she was violating copyright laws when she downloaded and shared her files of music with others. Buried in the Web site, Kazaa states there is a copyright infringement liability if information shared is protected by copyright.
In 2004, Phillips and Sims realized the problems of Kazaa when they received a subpoena stating the Recording Industry Association of America was suing Sims for illegally downloading and sharing copyrighted music.
"When I got that, I just thought 'why me?'" Sims said. "I hear people talk about downloading music all the time. It just figures that I would have to deal with this.
"It was like when I was in high school. I skipped school one day, my mother caught me and I got punished for the rest of the year," Sims said. "No one else got caught. It's the same thing here."
With the lawsuit, Sims and Phillips have received national attention. They were featured in Rolling Stone magazine this month, CNN has contacted the duo and so has "Inside Edition."
"I never thought my name would ever be in Rolling Stone," Sims said. "I guess this is my 15 minutes of fame."
The suit calls for damages ranging from $750 to $30,000 per song, which could add up to more than $300,000.
Sims is not alone, the RIAA has sued more than 11,000 people since it began its campaign against illegal downloading. There have been 2,000 cases settled out of court with the average settlement being $3,600.
"We had a similar offer to settle recently," Sims said. "But, they wanted us to pay $3,500 over a six-month period. That would be $500 a month and I can't afford that."
Most of the defendants chose to settle their cases instead of risking a costly court battle.
"There is some risk involved, but I want to fight," Sims said. "This is not right and I want to fight."