I was watching a story on the news today where that lady who got smacked with a $2MM penalty for posting songs on the internet was telling "her side of the story".

Now mind you I think the lawsuit reward is ridiculous.  However...

I think she is full of doody.  Here she was on TV claiming to not know that her songs were posted on the 'Net.  "I don't know how they got there.  I guess my kids somehow did it.  I never heard of Kazaa."  ::)

What a lame story.  If any of her kids woulda done that, by now one of them would have admitted it.  Her story is complete BS, and I suspect that is why the jury delivered such an onerous verdict.

I do imagine that the award amount will either be overturned by7 a higher court, or the plaintiffs will settle out-of-court if she at least admits what she did.  :-\\

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tec_music_downloading

This wasn't her first time in court over the situation.

They originally fined her $222,000 for everything, but she chose to appeal it, which has now netted her the $1.92 million, or $80,000 per song. Obviously setting a precedence for how and how much they can fine the remaining cases that still remain.

I think they are using Jammie as an example. Everyone else they have tried to fine has immediately settled out of court, while Jammie chose to fight it.


This is exactly why I always remove any peer-to-peer program from any computer I work on even before I connect it to my internet! And of course, I use iTunes, even though it burns my arse that their songs have gone up to $1.29!

This is exactly why I always remove any peer-to-peer program from any computer I work on even before I connect it to my internet! And of course, I use iTunes, even though it burns my arse that their songs have gone up to $1.29!


A couple of years ago before I changed careers, I was working as a computer tech.  And probably 80% of the computers that came in had one or more peer-2-peer software installed.  Along with the virus, spyware, and other junk that goes with it.

At the time we offered free reloads if the computer was bought from us.  But after one customer brought his system back 4 times in a month, we changed that policy.  We started handing out a sheet explaining things to not do, and #1 was peer to peer software.  We even said that the installation would terminate our software warranty.

But people still did it.  And they would still bring them in, often times claiming that we never told them about that.  Even though we had multiple news articles posted in the shop wanring of both the dangers, and the ever increasing judgements against people that did it.

Finally one of our customers was popped.  He came in screaming that we had put the program on his system (Kazaa), and that he was going to sue us over the $50k bill some RIAA lawyer sent him.  Luckily we had a policy at the time of holding a customer's backup data when we did a reload for 3 months.  I went back and looked at the reload we did 2 months ago for him (virus infection), and sure enough, he had Kazaa and Limewire both installed.  He stormed out the door and we never heard from him again.  ;D

For some reason, the lure of getting something for nothing is just to strong to resist.  And I laugh every time they get busted.

And I laugh out loud when people say the music companies charge to much for CDs.  Because the opposite is actually the truth.

When the CD first hit the market (1983), the MSRP was $21.50.  By 1993, it had fallen to $13.20.  And by 2006, it was $14.90.  When you factor in inflation, it is not hard to see that the price has actually decreased every year.  Especially compared to the price of the old 33 1/3 album.  In 1967 the MSRP for an album was $3.70.  That equaled $23.25 in 2006 currency.

But people will continue to steal movies and music from the internet.  And they will continue to get caught, because they all think they will not be the ones.

And I will laugh as they get huge arsed fines.  I guess they feel the anonymity of the internet makes it safe.  But to me, it is no different then they went into Tower Records or Blockbuster and stole it themselves.

But to me, it is no different then they went into Tower Records or Blockbuster and stole it themselves.


Please site me another case where stealing two albums, tapes, or CDs' worth of songs (or anything else that has a retail value of ~$30) resulted in a near two million dollar fine. This woman was punished to set a precedent, to be made an example of, and not because of her crimes.

"For some reason, the lure of getting something for nothing is just to strong to resist": interesting, seeing as how this is a free messageboard that has no ads. Do you give back to the site by editing or moderating any of the numerous sections that really need editors? Do you donate anything to ChuckyG to help cover his hosting costs for the site? No. So you are getting something (a forum in which to post) for nothing (no money or commitment to help out, nor are you innundated with crap ads). Now that I've pointed this out, are you going to stop posting here or pick up some editing duties? I hope you continue posting, but I doubt you'll do any editing duties. I'm laughing because you have just been busted, and you say it's okay to do that.

I'm not trying to bust your chops, Mushroom, just make an example of you, in a far less painful way than was made of that woman.

CD prices have been kept lower than inflation because CDs are much cheaper, easier, and faster to make than tapes or vinyl records. Disregarding that for a moment, using your inflation rates for a 1967 album released on CD today (~$25), I would pay that much for a worthwhile CD. Music today, heck, it's unlikely that more than two tracks are worth listening to more than once, so I'll spend $1.29 for each at iTunes.

There's also the fact (with me anyway) that had I not downloaded some musician's songs for free, I wouldn't have bought their CDs. So yes, they lost out when I d/l the song, but got a small portion of my money when I bought the entire CD.

What happens when I d/l items that are not for sale by the copyright holder? Most of what I have (the little that it is) as far as pirated stuff is NOT for sale. Do you think if I sent BMG or the RIAA a check for $1.29 and a letter attached saying "You guys didn't have for sale, so I d/led it from a P2P site illegally. Here's a $1.29. Have a nice day." that they'd be okay with that?

I also realize, from a legal standpoint, that you are correct, and that this woman's fine could have gone as high as $150,000 per song. From a common sense standpoint, their is much fail in the 12 jurors from Minnesota who came up with $80k per song damages (unless it was proven that she had an average of 80k downloads for each song, in which case I would retract most everything I've said here  ;)).

Ant