Has the RIAA sued 18,000 people... or 35,000?

[curzlgt]

Story : http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/has-the-riaa-sued-18000-people-o

Just how many file-sharers has the RIAA gone after? Those in the know were widely reporting a figure just north of 30,000 cases—the RIAA never liked to provide exact numbers—but the music trade group stated in a recent court filing that the real number of people sued is only 18,000. What's going on?

Back in 2006, an article in the Kansas City Business Journal noted that local law firm Shook Hardy & Bacon (the firm that first contacted Jammie Thomas-Rasset) would no longer be handling the RIAA's litigation campaign. The paper quoted an "RIAA spokeswoman" as saying that the group had pursued 18,000 separate defendants. (As we'll see later, this may have been a misunderstanding.)

In the years since, the campaign shifted gears and targeted college students more heavily than it had in the past; total numbers climbed well above those noted back in 2006 until the RIAA pulled the plug on the campaign last year.

Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal interviewed EFF lawyer Fred von Lohmann about the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case, and von Lohmann noted that the RIAA had so far "targeted about 35,000 people, many of whom seemed to settle usually in the neighborhood of between $3,000-$5,000."

[Dazzle_2]

...in all the excitement I clean forgot, but if your feeling lucky...