'Don't call me a pirate. I'm an online fan.'

Whitney, a Los Angeles 16-year-old, doesn't look a thing like Johnny Depp. And she says that, no matter what Hollywood might think, she and her friends are hardly pirates.

Sure, Whitney (who asked that her last name not be used) downloads songs for free every week on the Internet. And she'd download movies this way if her computer were fast enough. (She tried it once, and the file was so big it completely froze her computer.)

But she maintains that this doesn't make her the scary criminal conjured by the word pirate. The Recording Industry of America disagrees - to say the least - and has announced it is going to go after individuals such as Whitney, with lawsuits starting as early as next month. The RIAA has set itself a herculean task: If Whitney and her friends are any guide, the industry has failed utterly to convince this generation of teens of the merits of its case.

What has emerged through numerous interviews in person and over the phone is the voice of a new generation that says the industry is out of touch and needs to get with the times - stop charging so much for CDs, move its business online where millions of consumers already are, and stop trying to make criminals out of people who love its product.

"I have a lot of respect for artists, and I love music," says Whitney, a polite, fresh-faced young woman who possesses the unusual ability to talk easily with adults. She adds that she believes musicians should make a profit for their work.

The RIAA is going the lawsuit route for several reasons. For one, the courts have refused to outlaw the file-sharing technology that enables the widespread digital downloading. And the success of recent lawsuits against four college students who were running small file- sharing services off their college computer system has given the industry a tangible target. And with losses of up to $300 million annually, it's anxious to recoup.

"We just came to the conclusion, after significant testing, that all the messaging in the world won't work if there are no consequences," says Mark Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs for the RIAA. "People don't change their behavior because they're told something is wrong. They change because they're told and they realize there are consequences."

But Whitney and her friends say they aren't afraid of being sued, given the sheer number of people who download digital content from the Internet (the most popular file sharing software, KaZaA, has been downloaded more than 270 million times). Besides, she says, she's not doing it to make a profit. She hasn't set up a file-sharing service in her living room, like those that the RIAA has promised to ferret out in its next round of legal tactics.

Actually, says RIAA's Mr. Oppenheim, she has. Software for KaZaA and other such sites automatically turns a computer into a server - whether or not the downloader intends to assume that role.

While Whitney isn't fazed, file-swapping overall dipped by 15 percent on KaZaA the first week of July, after the RIAA issued its warning. That amounts to about 1 million fewer users, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, although it remains to be seen if people will be warned away permanently.

Whitney, for one, says she can't imagine giving up file swapping. A dancer and drama student, Whitney says she has downloaded about 20 songs a week for the past few years. She learned her techniques from friends, and began by using a service called audiogalaxy. She switched to KaZaA because it has so many tunes. Her onboard jukebox now sports 1,192 songs.

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