RIAA Sued Over Amnesty Program

A Marin County man filed a class-action lawsuit against the Recording Industry Assn. of America, claiming the group’s new amnesty program for file sharers misleads the public.

Eric Parke, a mortgage lending executive, asked a Superior Court judge in San Rafael, Calif., to order RIAA to shut down the Clean Slate amnesty program and inform the public that its offer was “false and misleading.” RIAA launched the program Monday, the same day the major record labels sued 261 people for allegedly violating their copyrights by sharing files online.

Ira P. Rothken, Parke’s attorney, said RIAA doesn’t guarantee people that they won’t be sued or that their admissions would not be used against them.

-- Jon Healey