joi.ito.com経由で、Seth Godinがblogした、米レコード協会が無実の少女女性を訴え、その後訴訟を取り下げたものの謝罪もしていない、という話を発見しました。

Liars, cheats and fools

So, an astonishing (but not that surprising) string of news this week.

The record industry sued a "little old lady" named Sarah Ward. She's not that old, but she's little and she's not a pirate. She's never even downloaded the software you need to download the music. The RIAA has dropped the suit, but Amy Weiss, their spokesman, says, "We have chosen to give her the benefit of the doubt and are continuing to look into the facts... This is the only case of its kind."

Now, regardless of how you feel about litigation as a business strategy, refusing to apologize is just a bad idea. This is clearly NOT the only case of its kind. Instead of stonewalling, why doesn't the RIAA say, "This is terrific! She's an honest citizen and we're proud of her. We made a mistake and we apologize. We're sending Ms. Ward a hundred CDs to apologize for bothering her. If there are any other cases like this one, we'll drop them immediately."

疑わしきは罰するのが原則なんですかね。

（追記）少女ではなく女性でした。On Lisa Rein's Radarにて確認。