RIAA May Face Racketeering Charges

A racketeering lawsuit against the Recording Industry Association of America was revived Friday, a month after a federal judge dismissed the case seeking to represent those falsely sued for copyright infringement by the record labels.

The lawsuit, filed in Oregon U.S. District Court on behalf of an Oregon woman who was wrongly accused of pilfering music via the Kazaa file-sharing network, seeks to represent thousands of people the woman's attorneys claim have been wrongly targeted by the record labels' lobbying organization.

The suit (.pdf) claims that the RIAA and MediaSentry -- the RIAA's private investigative arm that discovers file sharing by looking into peer-to-peer users' public files -- "conspired to develop a massive threat and sham litigation enterprise targeting private citizens across the United States."

Obama in 30 Seconds

Celebrity judges will decide the winner of a video contest sponsored by MoveOn.org and aimed at boosting Obama's chances at gaining the White House. The resulting featurette will be aired nationally.

Actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are among the deciders, as well as musicians John Legend and Eddie Vedder.

Change is in the air

Change beats experience and the two Democratc contenders beat the sole Republican Presidential candidate. This, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll. It says Obama's lead over McCain is bigger than Clinton's, thus far. Even among independents, change wins over strength by a 9-point margin (47-to-38).