The legal system can be a harsh mistress. When you attempt to decive, her eyes can turn red and fury can rein from her fingertips, as one defendant found out recently. A Texas judge has awarded a default judgement to the RIAA after the defendant reportedly wiped clean a hard drive that was subpoeanaed as evidence in a filesharing lawsuit brought by Arista records.
Our hero Ray Beckerman says, "In Arista v. Tschirhart, in San Antonio, Texas, the judge awarded judgment to the RIAA because the defendant -- in violation of a court order directing her to produce her computer's hard drive for inspection -- had the hard drive "wiped" first, thus deleting song files that had been downloaded. The court noted that this "wiping" irreparably prejudiced the RIAA because the only evidence it had without the hard drive was "scant and piecemeal"."
The court order granting the default judgement can be found here.
[via The Recording Industry vs. The People]
