Woman must pay 222K in RIAA lawsuit

[chefmike]

RIAA Jury Finds Minnesota Woman Liable for Piracy, Awards $222,000

DULUTH, Minnesota -- Jammie Thomas, a single mother of two, was found liable Thursday for copyright infringement in the nation's first file-sharing case to go before a jury.

Twelve jurors here said the Minnesota woman must pay $9,250 for each of 24 shared songs that were the subject of the lawsuit, amounting to $222,000 in penalties.

They could have dinged her for up to $3.6 million in damages, or awarded as little as $18,000. She was found liable for infringing songs from bands such as Journey, Green Day, Aerosmith and others.

After the verdict was read, Thomas and her attorney left the courthouse without comment. The jurors also declined to talk to reporters.

The verdict, coming after two days of testimony and about five hours of deliberations, was a mixed victory for the RIAA, which has brought more than 20,000 lawsuits in the last four years as part of its zero-tolerance policy against pirating. The outcome is likely to embolden the RIAA, which began targeting individuals in lawsuits after concluding the legal system could not keep pace with the ever growing number of file-sharing sites and services.

"This is what can happen if you don't settle," RIAA attorney Richard Gabriel told reporters outside the courthouse. "I think we have sent a message we are willing to go to trial."


rest of article-
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/riaa-jury-finds.html

[youcancallmeclaire]

I <3 free, unsigned music.

Fucking people and their money. :?

[manbearpig]

And I bet they were shitty songs too...*sigh*

[SarahG]

What do you expect? She had no case.

The laws are clear about the consequences if someone uses your insecure wireless network for illegal activity.

If you refuse to read the owners manual and have an open network, people can do whatever the hell they want with it and you're the one that'll end up in jail when the cops find your IP has been hosting a kittie porn site...

Ignorance is no excuse.

[Legend]

Ridiculous,corporation greed at its best instead of going after single mothers why don't they spend that time and effort going after sites like piratebay who really puts a dent in their precious sales.

[timxxx]

And I bet they were shitty songs too...*sigh*
She downloaded
Guns N Roses, Vanessa Williams, Janet Jackson, Gloria Estefan, Sara McLachlan, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Green Day, Bryan Adams, No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, Richard Marx and Destiny's Child.

[ottorocket]

The key is do not "upload". Downloading is not the crime, as RIAA would have a heck of a case proving she did not own those CD's in the past at some time or another (which provides her ownership to the copyright to download).

She should have used an anonymous IP ie TOR or something if she was going to distribute..

[SarahG]

The key is do not "upload". Downloading is not the crime, as RIAA would have a heck of a case proving she did not own those CD's in the past at some time or another (which provides her ownership to the copyright to download).

She should have used an anonymous IP ie TOR or something if she was going to distribute..

It is also illegal, debatibly, in some states & countries, to "link to pirated content"

And if you settle with the RIAA et al, they expect you to sign a legal document stipulating that you agree making something available for download is the same as actually uploading the content to someone else.

[phxguy]

Just another example of corporate America stiffing the little guy. Not like the artists or labels would go bankrupt on a few people downloading their music. I stopped buying CDs years ago.

[fitz207]

I stopped buying CDs years ago.
You're not alone buddy. Torrents are my friend.

[Willie Escalade]

Just another example of corporate America stiffing the little guy. Not like the artists or labels would go bankrupt on a few people downloading their music. I stopped buying CDs years ago.
Ever since I joined Napster, I've been downloading songs and putting them on my media player. My CD purchases have gone down considerably because of that. If I can find the album online somewhere (like Rapidshare), I may download it.

I don't use torrents, but I'd still like to have Jay-Z's Grey Album.

[youcancallmeclaire]

Ridiculous,corporation greed at its best instead of going after single mothers why don't they spend that time and effort going after sites like piratebay who really puts a dent in their precious sales.

They already tried, and seized some of PB's equipment, but there is not a whole lot the US media giants can do to prosecute a website like PB which has been hosted in the Netherlands and Sweden.

TPB is anarchy, and I love it.

[manbearpig]

Ridiculous,corporation greed at its best instead of going after single mothers why don't they spend that time and effort going after sites like piratebay who really puts a dent in their precious sales.

They already tried, and seized some of PB's equipment, but there is not a whole lot the US media giants can do to prosecute a website like PB which has been hosted in the Netherlands and Sweden.

TPB is anarchy, and I love it.

Weren't they at one point trying to purchase an island and declaring themselves a country or something of the sort?

[youcancallmeclaire]

Weren't they at one point trying to purchase an island and declaring themselves a country or something of the sort?

Yeah, for some reason I think it was owned by the Swedish government though, and they wouldn't allow TPB to buy it.

[Legend]

Those guys at piratebay are loonatics,one of their representatives was featured on aots's the loop and he acted nuts,he kept referring to piratebay like it was some form of political party.

[Buzz]

Actually he's not nuts. There is indeed a political party for information freedom and privacy in Sweden. It's called the Piratparteit (the Pirate Party).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party
http://www.piratpartiet.se/international/english

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Piratpartiet_demonstration.jpg/240px-Piratpartiet_demonstration.jpg

Ah, the beauty of proportional representation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representation), unlike the winner-takes-all system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FPTP) in the US.