justice? probably not. "normal person" to pay 1.9M to greedy/silly/delusional "record company"

[froggie]

Can you imagine this? A "normal person" supposedly having to pay a corporation 1.9M

sure, it's sensation, sure, it's meant to cause the effect of fear

but how can anyone justify a normal person having to pay such an amount, and that to a company that makes (made) excessive amounts of money anyway, from things that can actually not be measured in monetary value (music. and mostly even silly and bad music nonetheless to top the whole thing off. (just an opinion)

 

 

------

 

(CNN) -- A federal jury Thursday found a 32-year-old Minnesota woman guilty of illegally downloading music from the Internet and fined her $80,000 each -- a total of $1.9 million -- for 24 songs.

 

Jammie Thomas-Rasset's case was the first such copyright infringement case to go to trial in the United States, her attorney said.

 

Attorney Joe Sibley said that his client was shocked at fine, noting that the price tag on the songs she downloaded was 99 cents.

 

She plans to appeal, he said.

 

Cara Duckworth, a spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America, said the RIIA was "pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable."

 

"We appreciate the jury's service and that they take this as seriously as we do," she said.

 

Thomas-Rasset downloaded work by artists such as No Doubt, Linkin Park, Gloria Estefan and Sheryl Crow.

 

This was the second trial for Thomas-Rasset. The judge ordered a retrial in 2007 after there was an error in the wording of jury instructions.

 

The fines jumped considerably from the first trial, which granted just $220,000to the recording companies.

[Aetherous]

It's bad enough these record companies steal so much from the artists...but they also try to completely destroy someone's life just to make a point? They need to remember they are just middle men in the business and realistically should have no say.

 

Just sue the person for 24 dollars, and call it a day!

 

And the jury...bunch of bastards. How can you actually do that to someone just for downloading music illegally?

[DalTheJigsaw123]

This is something else, to say the least.

[phore]

they have to sensationalize it to make a point.

realistically you are more likely to die in a car accident than to get sued for internet piracy

[Tuplad]

It's crisis... they're running out of money.

[joeblast]

that must mean there's opportunity abound

[Owledge]

I thought you can only be fined for distributing the music, but only a download is mentioned there.

 

Mafia tactics are typical for government and industry.

 

I really wonder how a jury can act like this. There's definitely a lot more to the story. Please give us the CNN link.

Edited July 12, 2009 by Hardyg