Woman fined $1.9 million for illegal downloads!

[npk]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/18/minnesota.music.download.fine/index.html

Ok you can read the article above. This lady downloaded 24 songs I believe and the court has ordered her to pay $80,000 for each song she downloaded illegally. My question is not so much on the crime itself, i.e. whether you think it is right or wrong to illegally download music off the internet, that is a whole another discussion. My question is what happens if this woman doesn't have the $1.9 million pay the fine. The article says she works for a Indian tribe. I don't exactly know what she does, or how much that job pays, but I am assuming it doesn't pay the kind of money to pay this kind of fine. So will this end up being a moral victory for the record labels, or will they try and take her home, car, other possessions.

A part of me feels sorry for her, yet she knew what she was doing was wrong. But lets face it she is not the only person doing this and getting away with it.

[MercutioATC]

1. Here's some additional info that's not in that article:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Jury-rules-against-Minn-woman-apf-510228957.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

She had 1700 illegally-downloaded songs and was sharing them on Kazaa. The RIAA offered to settle for $3k-$5k and she declined.

I believe the penalties are too high, but the woman DID bring this on herself.

[npk]

3. WOW!

Yeah that additional information helps clarify a few things. I still wonder what the record labels are going to be able to do. I mean I suppose they could take her home, that's assuming she even owns her home outright. What if she is a renter? Then what? Seems like this is not going to end well for this lady.

[MercutioATC]

5. They say they're still willing to settle.

They KNOW they're not going to get anything close to the full award.

If she would have just accepted the RIAA settlement, it would have cost her about two bucks a song (for the 1700). She gambled and lost big.

[napoleon_in_rags]

2. The issue in my eye is selective law enforcement.

Want to see tyranny? Create a system where everybody is breaking the law but the law is only enforced for special individuals. Whoever makes those selective enforcement decisions is in control of everyone.

[npk]

4. This is actually the first case I have seen where they went to trial

That's not saying others are not being arrested and perhaps being offered pleas. But I do agree with you that there are many other people not being prosecuted for doing the same thing this lady did.

[quakerboy]

6. that is true

I am sure there have been some, but mostly they just seem to be about the intimidation. The fines are nothing to them as compared to the fear they are trying to put into file sharers. And 1.9 mil achieves that goal less successfully than 2-3k, ironically.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

8. They were suing about 30 people a month at the University of Tennessee.

Everyone there took the deal I believe.

David

[gblady]

11. the same seems true

of marijuana laws...
everyone who smokes weed is breaking the law
(except where medical mj is approved)

yet, relatively few are arrested.

[Speck Tater]

7. My solution was simple. I don't listen to music any more. Period.

Take that, music industry. :P :P :P

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Well as a creative I will tell you exactly what I told my niece

yep, her parents believe this is part of the family budget... aka doing this is good for the budget.

Look when you do this, whether you believe that the singers are charging too much, or the writers, or for that matter the programmers (and owners) you are taking money away from them. So in effect you would have no problem downloading MY stuff and distributing it for ahem, "free."

Now the reality is that the way we enforce and use copyright worked last century, but it no longer does, so we need to find new ways of getting people who create the stuff paid, so they can make a living, and people their poison. I KNOW that I can put all the security I want on my material... sad reality is... somebody will crack it and distribute it for free since they are giving it to the man. This attitude is not limited to the good Ol' US of A either.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

10. It's stealing plain and simple.

I agree though very hard to enforce.