Single Mother Loses Against Riaa

[Mast3rMind]

Has to pay 2.4 Million Dollars...

Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a single mother of four from the US state of Minnesota, was found liable for using the Kazaa peer-to-peer file-sharing network to download the songs over the internet.

The jury took just under five hours to reach its verdict.

It ordered Thomas-Rasset to pay $US1.92 million dollars - or $US80,000 ($A100,000) per song - to six record companies: Capitol Records, Sony BMG Music, Arista Records, Interscope Records, Warner Bros. Records and UMG Recordings.

Thomas-Rasset had been convicted previously, in October 2007, and ordered to pay $US220,000 ($A275,000) in damages but the judge who presided over that trial threw out the verdict calling it "wholly disproportionate" and "oppressive".

The Recording Industry Association of America and major music labels have brought suit against thousands of people for illegally downloading and sharing music, with most agreeing to settlements of between $3000 and $5000.

Thomas-Rasset was the first among those being sued to refuse a settlement and instead took the case to court.

In December, the RIAA said it would stop suing people who download music illegally and focus instead on getting Internet Service Providers to take action.

The move away from litigation represented a major shift in strategy for the music industry group, which had filed lawsuits against some 35,000 people for online music piracy since 2003.

http://www.zitzot.com/single-mother-lose s-against-riaa-has-to-pay-24m/

They are never going to see that money.

[Lamar537]

Well.. I'm throwing out LimeWire now.

[Freetos]

This bullshit has too stop. How could one woman cause over one million dollars in damage by downloading 24 songs?

[TheBoyOfAges]

1 person down; a whole world to go.

[pwnasuarusrex4real1]

Would using sendspace and others, be illegal?

[Shakyjake]

Wankers.

$1.92 Million for 240 songs?! They're taking the piss. They'll never get that kind of money from her.

[Mast3rMind]

At 6/19/09 11:19 AM, Mast3rMind wrote: Has to pay 2.4 Million Dollars...

My bad on numbers, although I think this might be figured into the other case she had. She may have been able to settle I think. Still fucked by all means though.

At 6/19/09 11:21 AM, Lamar537 wrote: Well.. I'm throwing out LimeWire now.

Smart move. I'm amazed how this happened in my home state.

At 6/19/09 11:22 AM, TheBoyOfAges wrote: 1 person down; a whole world to go.

I think it was piratebay that went down last month, right?

At 6/19/09 11:22 AM, Freetos wrote: This bullshit has too stop. How could one woman cause over one million dollars in damage by downloading 24 songs?

Apparently this is there way of detering those who plan on downloading songs.

[Nessbeatsfox]

That's why I use Replay Music instead.

[Sawdust]

This is seriously spooky.

My God, i'd have to pay millions upon millions of pounds even if was to be apprehended :-/

[KillerCRS]

This is why I love Canada.

[TheTrooper5]

I think the more important question is

What about porn?

[TiredPaperBoy]

This is fucking ridiculous, she must have download the value of about $30 max, and she has to pay that much money?

Government caveing into press once again, its sad really.

Not just USA, I don't want flame war, it happens alot here in UK as well.

[Mast3rMind]

At 6/19/09 11:25 AM, Shakyjake wrote: Wankers.

$1.92 Million for 240 songs?! They're taking the piss. They'll never get that kind of money from her.

Agreed.

At 6/19/09 11:24 AM, pwnasuarusrex4real1 wrote: Would using sendspace and others, be illegal?

Not it makes much a difference but I'd think you'd be in some way in the clear since I think they're looking at Torrents and P2P programs for the time being. I know that companies can have stuff taken down, but I don't think they've gone as far as hunting IP's of the uploaders for any upload site.

[ThoseSneakyFrench]

It's more than likely a fake trial, in attempts to scare people away from downloading. Still, when record companies demand huge amounts of money per song, it makes you realize how greedy and corrupt they are. What makes downloading so much worse than stealing, anyway?

I could just break into a music store and steal some CDs, get off with maybe a fine and some community service.

[TiredPaperBoy]

I would also like to add that they quite simply can't do anything to stop it, there are too many people to blame.

Is it the P2P sites?
Is it the publics fault (doing the downloading)?
Is it the governments fault (no net filter)?
Is it music players (e.g. ITunes) fault for playing music [which could be illegal]?
Is it ISP's fault for allowing the downloads?
Hard Drives manufactures faullt for allowing the storage of illegal goods?

The blame cycle goes on, there are too many people/partys which can take the fall to just go after one.

[Lock3]

And this is why I buy my music at Target!

[Mast3rMind]

At 6/19/09 11:49 AM, ThoseSneakyFrench wrote: It's more than likely a fake trial, in attempts to scare people away from downloading. Still, when record companies demand huge amounts of money per song, it makes you realize how greedy and corrupt they are. What makes downloading so much worse than stealing, anyway?

I could just break into a music store and steal some CDs, get off with maybe a fine and some community service.

Although I do agree that it is has the feel of a fake trial. The charges are very real. It sounds like a joke with real consequences. She's pretty much going to be the one to "scare" others into not downloading.

[milinko959]

Why doesn't the RIAA go after big sharers? All the cases I hear about are people who downloaded like 5 songs.

[ThoseSneakyFrench]

At 6/19/09 11:56 AM, Mast3rMind wrote: Although I do agree that it is has the feel of a fake trial. The charges are very real. It sounds like a joke with real consequences. She's pretty much going to be the one to "scare" others into not downloading.

The record companies will likely settle for a much less amount behind the scenes. Even for a scare tactic, this is low. The message CEOs of these corporations are sending out should be, "If we catch you downloading, you'll be prosecuted as if you stole the physical copies.", not, "Op, we saw your limewire, now you pay for the Mercedes wing of my garage!"

Besides, if they really wanted to catch people, they'd set up fake torrent sites like what the FBI does with child porn.

[ragingfred]

this is why record companies should go hang themselves.

[simon]

At 6/19/09 11:25 AM, Shakyjake wrote: Wankers.

$1.92 Million for 240 songs?! They're taking the piss. They'll never get that kind of money from her.

24.

[Conspiracy3]

"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

- 8th amendment to the US constitution

Let me point out the specific phrase "nor excessive fines imposed"

Is the noncommercial download of songs (for personal use nonetheless) worth that much money? After all downloading legally is only about a dollar per song so why should she pay 80 grand per song? She should really appeal on 8th amendment grounds.

[Furrymarine23]

Call the fucking Alarms man, That woman was using the Internet Hate Machine to spread HATE by ILLEGALLY DOWNLOADING!

This sucks, she shouldn't get a lifetime debt

[Conspiracy3]

To be honest my advice is: Keep downloading illegally. Your chances of getting caught are less then a hundredth of one percent. As long as you don't do something incredibly stupid like type in your real name on a website you should be safe. If you are really paranoid then use a proxy (an internet condom)

If you happen to get struck by lightning and get sued just pay the settlement. The settlements are never more than a few thousand dollars and you have no real chance of winning in court.

[Mast3rMind]

At 6/19/09 12:05 PM, ThoseSneakyFrench wrote: Besides, if they really wanted to catch people, they'd set up fake torrent sites like what the FBI does with child porn.

That is true. But I think it's past the time for settling out of court. She had a chance to do so. She decided to challenge the RIAA instead. She would've been better off with settling.

[dontkillkenny42]

HAHAHA, $2.4 mil, RIAA just wasted their time cause there is no way they're gonna get all the money from her.

[Mast3rMind]

At 6/19/09 12:48 PM, dontkillkenny42 wrote: HAHAHA, $2.4 mil, RIAA just wasted their time cause there is no way they're gonna get all the money from her.

No, it's not about wasting time. It's about them proving a point. It would be funny if only life long debt wasn't tacked on.

[Jonners]

At 6/19/09 11:36 AM, Nessbeatsfox wrote: That's why I use Replay Music instead.

Ooh, very nice, I may have to grab that! At the moment I just use megaupload, works fine for me.

[Pink-Ninja]

The RIAA have always been insanely zealous about their work. Nazi bastards.

[speakerlight]

1OOO Songs and ain't nothing happening to me.I dare them to come after me.