RIAA sues hapless Internet-illiterate single mom over the holidays, claims Ebenezer Scrooge as role model

I'm not kidding.

Patricia Santangelo is a single mother, hasn't downloaded a song in her life, and doesn't even have the money to settle out of court with the RIAA, which named her in a lawsuit against music downloaders. Somehow in the midst of all this, she's supposed to raise four children.

The trial has cost her $24,000 so far, money she doesn't have; but even though she's representing herself she refuses to bow to the assholes at the RIAA on principle. "It's a moral issue," she says. "I can't sign something that says I agree to stop doing something I never did."

Hers could potentially be the case that proves the whole downloading matter one way or another. No downloading case has ever been brought to court in America; so far only out-of-court settlements have emerged. So it's quite possible that the RIAA's bullying extortionary tactics could be brought down by one lone single mother standing up to them and saying "Enough!"

Here's another blog standing behind you, Ms. Santangelo. Thanks for having a spine, however it turns out.