RIAA Suits in Repose

A Slashdot post pointed me to this boston.com article on the RIAA mp3 lawsuits. A few quotations:

The campaign has also produced worries, even from one federal judge, that wealthy record companies could trample some of the 3,935 people across the country who have been sued since the first such cases were filed in September 2003.

"I've never had a situation like this before, where there are powerful plaintiffs and powerful lawyers on one side and then a whole slew of ordinary folks on the other side," said U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner at a hearing in Boston. Dozens of such lawsuits have been filed in her court.

...

"It scares me," Plank said. "For anyone fighting any of these lawsuits -- unless they have nothing to lose -- the only thing to do is settle. You have no power against these people."

Personally, I don't think the suits themselves are wrong per se but that the tactics and methods employed by the RIAA have been less than admirable. If the suits are truly lopsided, something's not quite right here. There has to be a better way, both legally and from a public relations standpoint, for the RIAA, and the U.S. legal system, to handle this.