Has the RIAA gone too far?
Perhaps the RIAA’s recent $2 million victory in a lawsuit against a single mother of four will begin to change the minds and hearts of America in the battle over digital music, copyrights, and file sharing.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having won a copyright infringement lawsuit against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a single mother of four, is now backpedaling as fast as it can to rid itself of the bad publicity that the case has brought it. RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth, for example, says, “Since day one we have been willing to settle this case… and we remain willing to do so.” While that may or may not be true, it is perfectly clear that the RIAA spent a great deal of time and money pursuing Ms. Thomas-Rasset into an early bankruptcy.
At issue is whether or not the defendant downloaded and shared 24 songs. That basic civil charge was settled in the favor of the RIAA by a court in Minnesota. The verdict was guilty, and the price to be paid by the defendant has been determined at $1.92 million. That, by the way, is $80,000 per song.
Ms. Duckworth of the RIAA had the following to say about the case when it was over: “We are pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable.” This is the second time that Thomas-Rasset has been tried and found guilty of the same crime, having been ordered to pay $220,000 in damages in 2007, according to a Rolling Stone story.
Obviously, the RIAA does not expect Thomas-Rasset to pay up. She cannot. Rather, they are ruining her life in order to frighten the rest of us into never, ever downloading music for free again. Just like that has never worked before, it will not work this time. The cat is too far out of the bag; no court system in the world is nearly large enough to handle all of the potential cases of “illegal” downloading.
That occurrence of the word “illegal” is not in quotes because of the illegality of music downloading. That activity is clearly currently illegal. It is in quotes because the system of laws under which it is illegal is clearly antiquated and tilted in favor of not the performing artist or the music fan, but instead benefits only people who no longer play a useful part in the music business. The internet IS the music business today, and that is what the RIAA is fighting.
Someday soon, the laws will be rewritten, and will hopefully cut the unnecessary third parties out of the music business. The laws currently on the books describe the music business in the forties, when the same people were taking advantage of the same artists and no one seemed to care. Now that some people do, the laws should be changed. They are a paean to industry greed. Unfortunately, that will not help Ms. Thomas-Rasset and the other lives are ruined in the process.
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