The message of this letter/article helps to humanize the current struggle over what amounts to (in many cases) frivolous lawsuits on the part of the RIAA. It is also nice to see how donations to such a worthy cause as Patti Santangelo being able to defend herself and her children can help. This is certainly part heartfelt thanks for such support and is sound condemnation against the whimsical RIAA 'vendetta' that indiscriminately tramples people without meeting the necessary preponderance of evidence to even constitute the lawsuit! It is difficult to deny the kind of impact putting this kind of 'face' should have on hopefully seriously curtailing RIAA harassment. Of course, this outcome was not a total victory, in terms of the legal designation when the court dropped the case:
"They dropped it 'without prejudice', which means they can still sue me all over again, but we're not going to sit still for that and wait to be victimized all over again. I know I was silent for a long time, but there was a purpose for that."
It is hard to imagine how the case wasn't designated as dropped "with prejudice," so Santangelo could not be sued again. It is at least hoped that by being able to see a real person being attacked, rather than one of the 'nameless thousands' we have not heard of, that both the online petition will garner even more signatures--and the best part would be if this would mobilize more constituents to contact their representatives--so this abuse can be curtailed through legislation that is definitely needed to end this farce.
