So there is a god. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), who we love dearly, finally saw sense and dropped its lawsuit against the granny who had suffered enormously at the hands of Hurricane Rita. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Christmas spirit that made the RIAA see sense in this latest filesharing lawsuit.

Granny Crain had previously claimed that she had never used filesharing services and that she had had her home displaced by the hurricane. That wasn’t enough to deter the RIAA. The case would have continued by for a counter-claim by Granny Crain that the RIAA had played dirty by sending an unlicensed investigator to snoop on the old lady.

MediaSentry, hired by the RIAA, is apparently not allowed to investigate people in Texas – not even in filesharing cases for the mighty RIAA Vs The People. The RIAA is now shaken as it could potentially lose a number of filesharing cases based on this ruling. The RIAA has likely dropped its case out of fear that if MediaSentry snooping is ruled illegal in this lawsuit, a host of other filesharing cases will fall apart – we can but hope.

Granny Crain had been accused of using the filesharing services Kazaa. Demands to settle out of court for $4,500 were rejected by the pensioner.

The RIAA also suffered a setback in a filesharing case when Tanya Andersen and her 10-year-old daughter left the RIAA on the ropes after more claims against MediaSentry investigations. The RIAA stalked and hounded Anderson for three years, but it appears that there is some justice in the world.

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