Recording Industry Sues Music Pirates

In the latest round of legal actions against music pirates, the Recording Industry Association of America has filed copyright infringement suits against 477 "John Doe" file-swappers, including 69 people who have used university networks to distribute copyrighted recordings over illicit file-sharing networks.

This latest round of legal action, which brings the total number of people sued to nearly 2,500, comes days after the Pew Internet & American Life Project released survey findings indicating that nearly six million people have stopped downloading music because of the RIAA's campaign.

The defendants in the most recent suits are identified only by Internet-protocol addresses--hence the "John Doe" designations. The RIAA plans to subpoena universities and Internet service providers to obtain the identities of the file-swappers.