It’s completely understandable that artists feel like their intellectual property is being hacked. As it is, most of the money made from their music goes to publishers, record labels, agents and/or managers, leaving artists with a small piece of the pie. So when the pirates further reduce your profits, the frustration can turn to anger.

But artists need to learn a strong lesson from Carol Kaye: Know your rights before you throw your legal weight. Kaye, who turns 75 on March 24, is a legendary studio musician and was one of the few professional bassists of her generation. She has taught guitar for fifty years and has written several books on how to play the guitar.

When Kaye discovered that some of her sheet music and courses are available on various torrent sites. There is no shame in not knowing the hierarchy of the Internet infrastructure or understanding how copyright applies to this new medium. What is not excusable is remaining ignorant and waging the wrong fight against digital piracy. While there can be little argument that piracy of copyrighted material is illegal and immoral, technology cannot be blamed.

At one point, Kaye announced that she had filed a complaint against Google with the Federal Trade Commission for allowing illegal downloads. That would be like trying to blame Ford for having the getaway car used in a bank robbery. Technology is agnostic; how people use that technology is not the responsibility of Google or any other search engine. That’s true of any technology that has other valid uses.

This was the crux of the issue when Sony sued Betamax, alleging that the videotape machines were being used to illegally copy shows and movies that were being broadcast on television. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Betamax, and part of the ruling focused on the fact that VCRs had legitimate uses that superseded any illegal activity by individuals. The same logic applies to copiers.

But Kaye didn’t stop there. She went after a blog site that covers torrent news and accused it of infringement, apparently believing that writing about torrent sites was tantamount to offering illegal files to download. And he followed that belief with a torrent of his own: a tirade against the blog site.

The unfortunate aspect is that instead of drawing attention to the real problem of piracy, Ms. Kaye herself has become the center of attention, and not in a good way. So before any artist starts issuing legal threats, she needs to make sure to go after the actual offenders and refrain from shooting messengers or innocent bystanders.