October 3rd, 2007
Testimony closes in first RIAA trial
Testimony ended Wednesday in the first trial of a computer user accused of copyright infringement by the Recording Industry Association of America. Defendant Jammie Thomas took the stand but her attorney called no other witnesses. While the RIAA lined up a fairly hefty heap of evidence, Thomas’s defense was essentially that she didn’t do it, reports Wired.
The RIAA showed that a Kazaa user named Tereastarr shared some 1,700 digital audio files on Feb. 21, 2005. The industry lobbying arm demonstrated, without Thomas disputing it, that Thomas uses that Tereastarr username on her e-mail accounts, on her online logins and as her username to access her own computer. She also uses that name with Match.com and with online retailers where she has bought hundreds of CDs, she testified.
The evidence against her also showed that an internet protocol address associated with that Kazaa share file in question was assigned to Thomas by Charter Communications the night RIAA investigators captured her shared folder. The cable modem used to share the files was also leased to Thomas, according to testimony from a Charter Communications security official.
Against all that, defense attorney Brian Tober told the jury that RIAA had still not proven that Thomas had shared the files. He said that Thomas’s computer could have been taken over by a zombie, a cracker or a drone. Or perhaps someone hitched a ride on her wireless connection to run Kazaa. (Except an expert testified that there was no wireless connection that night and Thomas never said she owned a wireless router.) It seems unlikely that such speculative reasons would be enough to cast sufficient doubts on the RIAA’s evidence.
And let’s make Thomas an even worse defendant: She testified at her deposition that she installed a new hard drive before the night in question but the drive she turned over to RIAA inspectors turned out to be purchased two weeks after that date. In court she said she misspoke during the depo.
Thomas even put on a brief demonstration for jurors (pictured above) showing that it took about 15 or 20 seconds to rip each song off a CD onto a hard drive. Tober, her attorney, kept time during the demo with his cell phone. He said Thomas had ripped them all. But each song was time stamped about 15 or 20 seconds apart, meaning Thomas would have had to spend a day or more in front of her computer to complete that task.
Perhaps jurors will be given the reason for that exercise during closing arguments Wednesday. During the demonstration part of the hearing Wednesday, jurors were clearly bored, disinterested and some sat with their arms crossed on their chests.
