arstechnica.com — A federal judge has capped damages at less than a third of what the RIAA wanted in a file-sharing case because the teenaged girl sued by the RIAA was an "innocent infringer." She's still looking at $7,400 in damages, but it could have been $1 million worse.
Aug 11, 2008 View in Crawl 4
8347Aug 11, 2008
Sendai129: If you drive down a busy street at 100mph liquored up and run over some RIAA executives then you should be severely punished! A $200 fine for each executive sounds about right.
tao52nycAug 11, 2008
You "waste" the time/bandwidth downloading it because you DON'T KNOW whether it will be good or not (duh). If it's no good, you get rid of it and you're out nothing. That's better than shelling out $20 for a 17-track CD, on faith, only to find 15 tracks are crap. That's why people began song-swapping in the first place. I support indie artists, as opposed to label artists, that is, I download stuff to try, then buy if I like it, and get rid of the rest. At least I know the artists are getting the money.
writieAug 11, 2008
Artfiend: all very good questions!
monk22Aug 11, 2008
so......"Big Four" RIAA members * EMI * Sony BMG Music Entertainment * Universal Music Group * Warner Music Grouparen't record companies?
lunarsightAug 12, 2008
Carly - You're missing the point - if you pirate, you're effectively giving them a means to MAKE money, via a lawsuit.That's why you should stop pirating, and just boycott the music outright.Either buying or pirating the music can potentially generate revenue for them, especially with these computer-illiterate judges willing to give them a small fortune in fines for each pirated song.
idietiredAug 13, 2008
Monk22, I'd have no problem arguing that those companies have put out few "real" records in years ...But personal pop music taste aside, the proof is in the numbers.The RIAA is a joke. They're burying themselves with their own over-aggressive tactics, and when the day comes that a judge orders THEM to cease and desist, just like that prick Thompson, I'll be there with my Nikon in one hand to capture the looks on their faces and my iPod in the other out of pure spite, all the while dancing on the steps of the courthouse that would be their organization's God-forsaken grave.They and their sympathizers represent everything wrong with my beloved entertainment industry, so let there be no mistake that any quiver in my voice is not born of hesitation but of a very real hatred as I shout over the sound my blaring headphones "f**k the RIAA!"@writie - Sorry if you took my first comment as an attack. Only the first line was meant for you. Music isn't only my life, it's how I make part of my living ... as for the other part of my life, as a journalist, the RIAA is one topic I refuse to be objective about, and -- as you might have noticed -- I tend to get a bit worked up. Needless to say, I don't cover the music industry much, but I've written the occasional editorial ...@Monk22 - to be clear, it's nothing against you, either. Everything past the awful joke in the first line here is directed generally, not personally.