(no subject)
When I read about the result of a court battle between Jammie Thomas and the RIAA, I didn't know what to think. $222,000 in damages for sharing music over kazaa, a music sharing program. They alleged that she was sharing 1702 songs, but could really only be pretty sure about 24 of them. So the jury awarded the RIAA $9,250 for each of the 24 songs. Doesn't that sound extremely excessive? I don't know about you, but I thought CDs cost like 15 bucks apiece; let's round up to $20 to make numbers easier. And let's say each CD has an average of 10 songs on it. That means a song is $2 or so (which is what itunes charges for many of them). Even if you take into account all 1702 songs she's alleged to have shared, the judgment against her works out to $130.43 per song. That's not 1702 CDs, that's 1702 songs. So basically, the RIAA has claimed damages 65 times higher than the value of each song. Or, 4,625 times higher if you count what they really said in court. It seems to me to be grossly excessive. Anybody else feel that way?
Good job, RIAA. You've ruined someone's life just to send the message that you're an incredibly evil bastard-ocracy. If I had a million dollars, I'd donate $222,000 to Ms. Thomas. I can only hope someone who does have that amount of money can help her out. I can only hope that music sharing gets to be such a problem that you become virtually obsolete. Advancements in technology have done it before, and they will certainly do so again. You're a middleman between the artists and the people that is increasingly becoming unnecessary in today's digital world. It'll happen eventually.
I can only hope it happens before others fall to your evil.
Good job, RIAA. You've ruined someone's life just to send the message that you're an incredibly evil bastard-ocracy. If I had a million dollars, I'd donate $222,000 to Ms. Thomas. I can only hope someone who does have that amount of money can help her out. I can only hope that music sharing gets to be such a problem that you become virtually obsolete. Advancements in technology have done it before, and they will certainly do so again. You're a middleman between the artists and the people that is increasingly becoming unnecessary in today's digital world. It'll happen eventually.
I can only hope it happens before others fall to your evil.