The RIAA and lawsuits

What's your opinion opinion on the RIAA and all these anti-piracy lawsuits they always have going? Like in this story for example: RIAA Jury Finds Minnesota Woman Liable for Piracy, Awards $222,000.

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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.

I can understand that this may be hurting artists, but what if some kid is file sharing? Many people do it, and I know it doesn't make it right, but I don't think this is something that can be stopped since people think they can get away with it.

Ouch! That was a harsh fine. I don't understand why these people did not know or realize that what they were doing was not legal or right? Was it because everyone else was doing it also? Because they just didn't care? Because they just didn't know any better? Or what?

Whatever the reason, it certainly seems to be a painful end.

This is only the tip of the iceberg to come. I feel bad for her being a single Mother and all that, but I also understand why the recording artists must have something like this to protect their interests.

There should have been some kind of information, alert, or something out to warn people that what they were doing was not legal and that they could get in trouble for it. I honestly think that most people, or atleast a good majority of them, really and trully were not aware that what they were doing was wrong. If they were, I don't think many of them would have gotten involved in it in the first place.

Some people know and just don't care. Some don't think they will ever get taken to task on the issue. The RIAA tried to make an example of this woman, but there are millions, if not more, people sharing music files. The chances of a specific individual being targeted are relatively low right now.

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I can understand that this may be hurting artists, but what if some kid is file sharing?

The parents would probably get sued in that case.

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Many people do it, and I know it doesn't make it right, but I don't think this is something that can be stopped since people think they can get away with it.

That's pretty much what I think as well. File sharing has become so wide spread now that it will be almost impossible to stop.

I wonder how much money the RIAA loses on lawsuits like this. They might get $222,000 from this woman, but their lawyers probably cost twice that.

I can't get over the amount they fined the woman. $9000+ per song? I really doubt one person doing file sharing amount to that much in damages! If they want to scare people out of file sharing, that's a good start to it.

But like you guys already said, they will never be able to put an end to sharing. Once music got on the internet, it took off like Sonic after Eggman!