RIAA to Expand Attack on File Swappers

The RIAA on Thursday announced another round of lawsuits on Thursday against 765 "Internet thieves" across the United States, emboldened by last month's decision by the Supreme Court that said file sharing networks can be held responsible for their users' actions.

The "John Doe" lawsuits -- where the filing litigant is given a set amount of time to positively identify the defendant -- were filed across several federal district courts in eight states.

In addition to Thursday's actions, 176 named defendant lawsuits were filed last week in 25 states, which all came out of previous John Doe suits. The names of the individuals were obtained through Internet service provider logs.

RIAA President Cary Sherman also issued an ominous warning to any file sharers who continue running software such as Morpheus and Kazaa, saying the record industry plans to up the ante in its war on illicit song swapping.

"In the coming weeks and months, we will significantly expand our anti-piracy efforts for those who have ignored the Court's message," Sherman said. " We know that our education and enforcement efforts have made a real impact."