Towards the end of last year, the RIAA tried to save a bit of face and perhaps change strategy when they announced that they would cease filing lawsuits against file sharers. They claimed their new strategy would be working with ISPs to send warning letters to customers illegally serving up music, and eventually cut off repeat offenders. Though there was a lot of criticism regarding the plan, which many saw as strong-arming, it was still good to hear that they saw the futility in trying to sue the world.

There was a catch, it seems, as the RIA has continued to file lawsuits against individuals. Apparently the RIAA's definition of ‘new lawsuits’ does not include the innumerable amount of people they had been seeking out, but not yet identified, last year. When questioned about why they are continuing to take people to court, the RIAA has claimed that when these previously-filed “John Doe” cases are converted to named suits, they have no choice in the matter but to move forward with the legal process.

While it may not be strictly “new people” the RIAA is going after, they certainly haven't stopped using the law to hunt down alleged pirates. Given the immense amount of data the RIAA could have amassed since their work with MediaSentry began, it's likely that they will still be taking many more people to court.