No Rock And Roll Fun

IF THESE WORDS WERE ANY MORE HOLLOW, YOU COULD HOUSE BEES IN THEM: Cary Sherman, the head of the RIAA, talking about the latest slew of lawsuits against music fans:

"We will continue to go the extra mile and seek to resolve these cases in a fair and reasonable manner."

By sending out demands for thousands of dollars per tune, and then saying "but if you agree to settle, we'll only roll you for a few hundred, mate." Very reasonable. Curiously, Reuters report that people have already been sued - but as far as we know, not a single case has actually reached a courtroom yet. It's funny that the RIAA insist that these lawsuits are about educating the public - the very Cesearesque stance of 'to encourage the others' - and yet they actually seem really, really reluctant to have the exposure that a proper legal case would bring. But, surely, if the people they are suing really are defrauding artists out of tens of thousands of dollars, and the RIAA is confident of its case, what would be the logic in bending over backwards to try and keep it out of court? Unless, you know, they're fibbing a little and don't really have any confidence in their actions at all?