MUSIC INDUSTRY SUES 83-YEAR-OLD DEAD WOMAN:

Gertrude Walton was recently targeted by the recording industry in a lawsuit that accused her of illegally trading music over the Internet. But Walton died in December after a long illness, and according to her daughter, the 83-year-old hated computers.

More than a month after Walton was buried in Beckley, a group of record companies named her as the sole defendant in a federal lawsuit, claiming she made more than 700 pop, rock and rap songs available for free on the Internet under the screen name “smittenedkitten.”

I’m guessing that this was a ‘bot-based complaint, and I really think that there ought to be consequences for initiating legal action on such a flimsy basis. Live people sign affidavits on these matters, after all, swearing that they have ascertained the facts. (Via Basil).