A Chicago woman is suing Kazaa, a controversial person-to-person file-sharing network, on behalf of customers sued by the RIAA for “Shared File Folders”*.

The lead plaintiff, Catherine Lewan, is a Kazaa customer who was sued by the RIAA for her use of Kazaa, and paid a settlement to the RIAA.

In her complaint Lewan alleges that:

• Kazaa deceptively marketed its product as allowing “free downloads”;
• It designed the software in such a manner as to create a shared files folder and make that folder available to anyone using Kazaa, while at the same time failing to make the user aware that it had done so; and
• It surreptitiously installed “spyware” on users’ computers which made the shared files folder accessible to the Kazaa network even after the user had removed the Kazaa software from his or her computer.

via Recording Industry vs The People

* Lewan v. Sharman, U.S.Dist. Ct., N.D. Ill 06-cv-6736