A woman who claims the recording industry’s anti-music piracy campaign threatens and intimidates harmless citizens has filed a new complaint accusing record companies of racketeering, swindle and illegal spying.

Tanya Andersen originally sued the Recording Industry organization of America after RIAA representatives threatened to interrogate her young daughter whether she didn’t pay thousands of dollars for music she downloaded from somebody else.

Her amended complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Portland seeks national class-action status for other public allegedly victimized by the industry’s anti-piracy campaign and the company it hired, MediaSentry.

The new lawsuit claims accuses the industry and MediaSentry of spying “by unlicensed, unregistered and uncertified private investigators” who “have illegally entered the hard drives of tens of thousands of private American citizens” in violation of laws “in virtually every state in the country.”

The info was used to file “sham” lawsuits intended only as intimidation to further the anti-piracy campaign, the lawsuit said.

Lory

Lybeck, the attorney for the Beaverton woman, said the lawsuit is partly aimed at forcing the industry to reveal how extensive the spying had become.

“We’re very pleased that we’ll finally be able to force the RIAA and MediaSentry to give up secret records they have steadfastly refused to reveal in tens of thousands of cases that they’ve filed,” Lybeck said.

Jonathan Lamy, an industry spokesman, said the new complaint repeats old claims.

“It is unlucky that that case continues to drag on after the court previously deemed all of Ms. Andersen’s claims inadequate,” Lamy said. “We hope to resolve the case in short order.”

The complaint notes the case began when Andersen, a singled-out mother, was sitting down for dinner with her thereupon 8-year-old daughter at their home in August 2005 and a legal process server knocked on her door with notice of an RIAA lawsuit falsely alleging copyright infringement…

Original post by Top Tech News