In February, someone from the recording industry began calling Stephen and Patricia Hereth's house in Pawtucket, accusing them of violating copyright laws by downloading music and sharing it with other people.

The caller offered to settle the matter for $4,600. "I thought it was a scam, to be honest with you," Patricia Hereth said yesterday. "I didn't know what they were talking about."

But on July 18 the Recording Industry Association of America filed a federal lawsuit against Stephen Hereth on behalf of big labels such as Warner Bros. Records and Capitol Records, accusing him of copyright infringement for downloading and/or distributing songs ranging from Poison's "Unskinny Bop" to Madonna's "Into the Groove."

It was one of three lawsuits that the industry group filed in U.S. District Court in Providence last week, accusing Rhode Islanders of online piracy -- a common practice that often involves the unauthorized downloading or posting of songs at free Web sites such as KaZaA, LimeWire and the now-defunct WinMX.

In all, the industry group has sued at least 108 Rhode Islanders and more than 18,000 people nationwide since September 2003. Of the 108 Rhode Island cases, 38 have been settled and the rest remain in various stages of litigation, said Jenni R. Engebretsen, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Recording Industry Association of America. Settlements have been reported at between $4,000 and $5,000.

The latest Rhode Island suits came a week after the conviction of a New York City man for selling pirated CDs and DVDs at a Providence flea market, and two months after the industry group labeled Providence a "hot spot" for pirated music.

"Our goal with all our anti-piracy efforts is to protect our ability to invest in new bands, new music, the next generation of talent," Engebretsen said this week. "Also, we want to give legal online services a chance to take off."

CRITICS SAY the recording industry's strategy is misguided and ineffective.

"This has been a massive and consistent campaign, with really no end in sight, going after ordinary Americans, and it really doesn't provide a solution," said Derek Slater, spokesman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a "digital rights" advocacy group based in San Francisco.

A staff attorney for the group, Jason Schultz, said, "There is no empirical evidence that the suits are doing anything to stop file sharing. The numbers continue to rise."

Engebretsen said, "A significant online problem persists, but without action by the industry, the problem would be exponentially worse."

Schultz said he believes "not a single penny from these lawsuits has gone to an actual musician. Our suspicion is it goes back to the lawyers -- it just feeds more lawsuits."

Engebretsen said, "We do reinvest this money in our enforcement efforts. But again, our goal with all our anti-piracy efforts is to protect our ability to invest in the next generation of artists."

THE DEBATE COMES more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a key ruling in a case against Grokster Ltd. and Streamcast Networks Inc., companies distributing free software that allowed computer users to share electronic files of songs and movies. The high court held that such file-sharing services can be sued if they deliberately encourage customers to use their software to steal copyrighted material. But the justices left in place legal protections for companies that merely learn that customers might be using products for illegal purposes.

Schultz said that before the Grokster ruling, the recording industry had said it was suing Internet users because it couldn't hold file-sharing companies responsible. Yet the industry has continued filing suits against individuals since the June 2005 ruling, he said, criticizing it for "hypocrisy."

Engebretsen said the Grokster ruling has transformed the "digital marketplace" by shutting down some illegal sites and spurring the creation of legal sites. She noted that www.musicunited.org lists "legal sites," such as iMesh and Passalong.

The legal action has a deterrent effect, Engebretsen said. "Awareness of the law shot up overnight when we launched the suits against individuals." Also, she said, "One positive outcome of these lawsuits is that parents are bringing illegal downloading to kitchen-table conversation with the kids, along with conversations about drugs, smoking and alcohol."

Engebretsen said the industry group also tries to let the public -- especially college students -- know what's legal and what's not. To show that its message is "seeping into pop culture," the group cited David Letterman's "Top 10 questions asked by Saddam Hussein when he was captured." Number 7 was: "Is this about the illegal music downloads?"

PAWTUCKET'S Patricia Hereth said she hadn't heard about the suit against her husband until a Journal reporter called this week. It was just the latest bad news for Hereth, who lost her job when Paramount Cards abruptly shut its doors on Friday.

Hereth, whose husband is an auto mechanic, said the recording industry might have targeted the wrong people. She said whoever called in February mentioned an Internet Protocol address that didn't match any of the three computers in her house. She and her husband use one computer, and her children, ages 21 and 14, use the others.

Also, Hereth said that of the 10 songs listed in the lawsuit's Exhibit A, she already has CDs of Poison, and no one in her family likes some of the other artists. "Madonna?" she said. "Give me a break."

The record companies are being represented by former state Attorney General James E. O'Neil in the three suits filed last week. The two other suits named Janice Geddes, of Cumberland, and Fredrick Boyle, of West Warwick, as defendants. Geddes could not be reached for comment.

Boyle said, "I couldn't download a song if you asked me to." He said someone from the recording industry called in February and afterward he told his children, ages 20 and 17, "if they were downloading anything, I want it stopped."

Boyle questioned how the recording industry got his name. The industry group explained that its investigators search for copyrighted recordings made available on peer-to-peer networks, "the same way anyone else could." The user's identity is not known except by Internet Protocol address, but the group files a lawsuit against "John Doe" and then subpoenas the user's identity from the Internet service provider.

Boyle said that when he asked around, he found many people's children and some adults download free music. "If thousands or millions of people are doing it, why am I going to have to pay?" he asked. "Why the heck are they picking on me?"

efitzpat@projo.com / (401) 277-7368

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