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Internet Mom Strikes Back

By Steven Salkin
January 03, 2006

[Editor's Note: We report on RIAA file-sharing suits almost every month ' at least in terms of number of people sued. But one case filed last year is gaining popularity and interest, and may end up being the case that tests the viability of these suits. So we're going to follow the case as developments occur and provide insight into the inner workings of how file-sharing cases work. Here's some background and the latest.]

Patricia Santangelo, a 43-year old divorced mother of five says she has never downloaded a single song on her computer, but the recording industry didn't see it that way. Santangelo, from Wappingers Falls, NY, was surprised to find out that she was the Defendant in a suit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) ' one of those now about 16,000 that we keep noting as the RIAA sues a new batch of alleged file sharers each month.

Santangelo says she has no idea how almost 1,500 songs ended up on her computer, assuming it was one of her children's friends who down-loaded the copyrighted material.

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