RIAA Target Fights Back Against ISP

A mother of two teenagers who was told to pay $4,500 or face a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Association of America is fighting back. Dawnell Leadbetter has filed a lawsuit of her own against Comcast, who provided the names and addresses of alleged file swappers to the RIAA.

Leadbetter was a customer of Comcast's High-Speed Internet Service and says no court authorized the cable ISP to violate her privacy, according to Reuters.

The RIAA has filed numerous lawsuits in efforts to stem the growing tide of online music piracy. Using IP addresses obtained from users of P2P networks, the RIAA must contact the ISP to find the name of a specific accountholder. Unfortunately, the process is often riddled with inaccuracies.

In February, the RIAA accused a deceased grandmother of sharing over 700 pop, rock and rap songs under the alias "smittenedkitten." Although the music industry group said it would drop the case, the incident highlighted holes in the tracking process - and the potential for privacy violations.

The RIAA has most recently targeted college students sharing files over Internet2, the next-generation network of college universities that is intended for research of new technologies. 405 lawsuits were filed across 18 universities, the RIAA said.