| Alot ...but... FWIW, It's about precedent, not fairness. 
It's not just that he downloaded 31 songs, he also uploaded them (others he shared to the net with, e.g Kazaa, limewire and other sharing software).
Those songs now were downloaded by hundreds of others, now showing that he was distributing software (music) illegally.
Excessive fines, perhaps. But someone has to pay the extortionist, um, RIAA lawyers...
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Splat |
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 pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | said by cableties:Excessive fines, perhaps. But someone has to pay the extortionist, um, RIAA lawyers... I'm not crazy about the RIAA but this guy was served with multiple official warnings over an extended period of time. It does suck, but you'd think after the first love note from the RIAA, he'd shred his hard disk and never touch P2P software again.
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Romney/Ryan 2012 - Put a couple of mature adults in charge. |
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| reply to cableties
RIAA should have to go after each individual who downloaded the songs since the individual didn't really upload them. The software just made them available to download. The defendant didn't take any action to explicitly upload the material anywhere else. The law should be changed to differentiate between uploading them to a third party server and simply downloading them to your home PC and as a consequence of the software involved, making them available for further download.
The damages per download should be capped at 3x the retail value of the songs in question. It's ridiculous what the judgements have been in these cases. The violation of the law here shouldn't force an individual into bankruptcy -- there needs to be some balance. It'd be analogous to sentencing a shoplifter to consecutive life sentences in prison for a first offense. If our legislators were really working for the people rather than special interests like the RIAA, this would have been fixed by now. |
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| "The damages per download should be capped at 3x the retail value of the songs in question."
It's not about the download but the upload.
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I do not, have not, and will not work for AT&T/Comcast/Verizon/Charter or similar sized company. |
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