shouting loudly

UPDATE: RIAA to Scantlebury Fam: Nevermind

In my last post, I joined a chorus of bloggers who shamed the RIAA for their callousness, pursuing the family of a deceased defendant.

Now, it appears as though the public shaming has worked. The RIAA has since dropped the suit entirely, citing “an abundance of sensitivity.” (You can’t make this stuff up.)

Here’s Cory Doctorow’s recap on BoingBoing, the site that brought so much attention to the story:

Today, an RIAA spokesperson, Jonathan Lamy, contacted me today with this statement:

Our hearts go out to the Scantleberry family for their loss. We had decided to temporarily suspend the productive settlement discussions we were having with the family. Mr. Scantleberry had admitted that the infringer was his stepson, and we were in the process settling with him shortly before his passing. Out of an abundance of sensitivity, we have elected to drop this particular case.

I wrote back to ask him this followup question:

Where was the “abundance of sensitivity” when the RIAA failed to initially drop its case against the Scantleberry family following the death of the named defendant in the case? Given that this “abundance” only materialized within 24 hours of this story hitting several large news outlets and blogs isn’t it fair to say that the RIAA is demonstrating sensitivity to its public image, and not its sensitivity to the Scantleberry family?

To which he declined to further comment.

Thanks to Security Pro News for the story, which is quite worth your time.