A Civil Action lawyer steps up to defend a music lover’s right to share (or at least to not be bullied)

This finally starts to sound like the right way to tackle the RIAA’s numbskullery with regards to prosecuting filesharers. Because what seems clear to me is that multi-billion dollar corporations bullying students and other low income individuals to stop them sharing is indeed unconstitutional.

Add to this ridiculously unfair situation a truly scary gulf between rich and poor in America, an economic crisis, and bubbling talk of class war and you’ve got a seriously stupid situation for the RIAA to be pursuing in the same old blinkered way. Not that that’s stopped them before. But maybe the lawyer that John Travolta’s character is based on in A Civil Action can help them see the light…

The professor, Charles Nesson, has come to the defense of a Boston University graduate student targeted in one of the music industry’s lawsuits. By taking on the case, Nesson hopes to challenge the basis for the suit, and all others like it.

Nesson argues that the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 is unconstitutional because it effectively lets a private group - the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA - carry out civil enforcement of a criminal law. He also says the music industry group abused the legal process by brandishing the prospects of lengthy and costly lawsuits in an effort to intimidate people into settling cases out of court.

Nesson, the founder of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said in an interview that his goal is to “turn the courts away from allowing themselves to be used like a low-grade collection agency.”

AP via Wired.