HOUSTON -- Major music labels sued some Houston-area computer users over stealing songs from the Internet, Local 2 reported in an exclusive story Thursday.

The copyright lawsuits were filed in Houston federal court.

The music industry got court orders to find out who was behind screen names from Kazaa, a popular file-sharing network. The site tells users that it's legal to download music.

The 750 lawsuits around the country list every song downloaded under screen names.

Lake Jackson electrician Rolando Cancino is one of those named in the lawsuit.

"I had no idea what it was about," he said.

The record labels want him to pay for the music on his computer. Now he's afraid of losing his house.

"How are they going to squeeze anything out of me if I ain't got it?" Cancino said.

Cancino said his children had nothing to do with downloading music. He believes a relative downloaded the music before selling him the computer.

"We started it up and all that stuff is already on there," he said. "I didn't worry anything about it because I didn't know nothing about it. They should really be looking into who they're coming after. If people are doing this and making a living off of it, or making money off of it, well, then, that's who they should be going after."

Another Lake Jackson man is also being sued. He told the Local 2 Troubleshooters, off-camera, that his two teenagers probably downloaded hundreds of songs from the Internet. The recording industry told him that it could cost him $750 per song. He said that he is throwing away the letters because he does not have the money to give.

Local 2 was not able to reach the record labels or their local attorneys for comment. It is not yet known how many Houstonians could be facing the copyright lawsuits.

"We are trying to deter illegal behavior. We're not trying to be vindictive. We want to be reasonable, but we want people to change their behavior and start buying music again at legal sites," Carey Sherman, the chairman of the Recording Industry of America, said last year.

The record industry said its lawsuits are having an affect. In the first half of 2004, 58 million songs were downloaded legally. The industry has sued more than 7,000 people nationwide since September 2003. Most cases were settled for between $3,00 and $6,200.