By that argument, anyone who offers to settle a dispute for an amount less than what it would cost to litigate is doing a shake-down.
Do you think the right thing for the RIAA to do instead would have been to not offer to settle, but just open with a lawsuit and insist on a trial? Or are they supposed to just ignore people who they have very good evidence are massive infringers?
In general, when a large company with deep pockets goes after many people with such a tactic, it's seen by many to be a 'shake-down.' One-off instances not so much.
Not to mention that in most cases that evidence was obtained in an illegal manner (by people that were acting as if they were private investigators, but had no license to do so). Is that okay too? Should the RIAA not be responsible for it's own transgressions because they were just 'innocent mistakes' in the pursuit of a much higher goal (corporate profits)?
What about when the RIAA tries to sue people for sharing songs by artists that the RIAA has no legal standing to represent (I'd argue that moves like this are either made because: 1. the RIAA naively view itself as some entity that 'all of music' must pass through or 2. it's part of some targeted plan to make sure that the rest of the world thinks/believes that the RIAA controls all music)?
Do you think the right thing for the RIAA to do instead would have been to not offer to settle, but just open with a lawsuit and insist on a trial? Or are they supposed to just ignore people who they have very good evidence are massive infringers?