"I thought it was a scam"

A middle-aged New Hampshire woman is baffled to be accused of downloading songs like Jigga My Nigga using BearShare, and she ignored a host of court papers because she thought they were some kind of scam. That decision nearly cost her a massive amount of money.

By Nate Anderson | Last updated March 16, 2009 10:34 AM CT

Though the RIAA says it has stopped its large-scale litigation strategy against suspected file-swappers, the music trade group has decided that it will continue those cases that were already in process before last winter. When put this way, the whole process sounds antiseptic and rather boring, but it continues to affect real people like middle-aged New Hampshire woman Mavis Roy, who was baffled when the music labels accused her of sharing songs like Real Niggaz, Jigga My Nigga, and Da Rockwilder using BearShare. Unable to afford a lawyer, Roy was confused by the legal documents she received.

"I thought it was a scam and I was being pressured to send them money for something I have never done," she eventually wrote the court in a letter.

The case was brought early in 2008. Roy was served with papers; she never responded. Within a few months, she was in default in a federal court case, and all that remained was for the judge to agree with the labels on how much money Roy would pay.

Fortunately for Roy, at this point she replied. She personally wrote the court a letter, explaining that she had not understood the notices, thought they were some kind of scam, and could not afford a lawyer to look into them. "I have never downloaded nor do I even know where to go to download," she wrote. "I feel they should have to show me something that proves this was done by me." She didn't know what to do next.