File-Sharing Mom Loses Again

[sanguinator]

why cant people just get along? oh right human nature....

 

[maddawg IAJI]

While it is excessive, you got to understand how stupid this woman is. Seriously, she had her payment greatly reduced and now she is left with an even bigger fine.

 

[cobrausn]

I'm sorry, but I disagree that it costs them enough money to warrant such ridiculous fines. Pirating music is like making a copy of a movie you got from Blockbuster, it's illegal, but who the fuck cares? My guess is that close to 90% of the people who download music wouldn't buy it anyway (Not that I even think they should have to.), and of the other 10%, about 1% of the money would actually end up going to the band. Bands make almost ALL of their money off concerts. Sure we'll never end up with a hermit band like the Beatles' later years, but that's fine with me.

With statements like "It's illegal, but who the fuck cares?", I think it's pretty apparent we're done here.

Nonetheless...

I mean, do you have any idea how much money Lady Gaga makes for the crap that spews out of her mouth. I will support bands that I like, and will buy their music/merch/concert tickets from time to time, but there are millions of bands, and I'm not gonna pay for their shit just because they're popular. Try before you buy.

If you're not gonna 'pay for their shit' then you shouldn't have their shit. Not only that, if they really are popular than you've already heard their songs, so there was no need to 'try before you buy', because that 'shit' is everywhere, and it would be pretty easy to know if you're going to like it or not.

Next time I want a game I'm just going to steal it from Gamestop, play all the way through it, and then throw away the copy when I'm done if I didn't like it. If I did like it, maybe I'll pay for it. According to you, that's how commerce should work, right? I mean hell, do you know how much money Gamestop makes? Rich bastards.

Give me a break. Being cheap and then attaching yourself to some anti-RIAA/Copyright crusade as a way to legitimize it doesn't actually legitimize it, it just makes you feel better about it.

 

[Kenko]

Its not even the bands that hunt after people(Apart from Metallifags). The record "corporations" are sick twisted immoral monstrosities that seem to be able to dictate fines and law at their own leisure. Its fucking sick. I could understand that she'd pay for each album and maybe an added reasonable fine. But they are just trying like fucking vampires to drain what little economy some people have so they can add it to the already grossly huge pile of cash they have. Its sick.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

And this is very extreme, paying thousands for a each songs when a few hundred probably downloaded it.

And? She got caught, the others didn't. Stealing from a shop and not being caught is no less of a crime than stealing and being caught.

I'm afraid you don't understand... Stealing from a shop and BEING caught is more of a crime than sharing a digital copy of something. I've been caught for stealing music from a cd shop, and in the end my total expenses didn't even hit $1000 to get the charges completely cleared.

Except as I explained, You have court fees to pay. Every time she goes ahead and appeals, she pushing off how uch time she has to pay the charges, but they accumilate. If you lose in court, you pay the judges time, the rental of the court room, EVERYTHING except the opponent's lawyer. Those charges arn't just for the music. Then she apepals, and the fees gow, because she rented a SECOND court room, and the judge had to be pain AGAIN. Then she appealed AGAIN...

They offered her a buy out of $25,000. Everything gone. NO more issues. But no, she refused

She refused a settlement of $25,000 (Note this absolutely does not cover her lawyer fees, and I believe it does not cover any other costs.) because $25,000 is still a ridiculous amount to pay for a couple of digital copies of songs. I would honestly rather go to jail than let some greedy assholes take that much of my money because I listened to some dudes thwack a couple of strings and bang on some drums in synchronicity. I've been playing music my whole life and even I don't want or think I deserve a cent for my music, and all these shitty bands today (and their managers) think their music is worth my fucking house.

Music is for sharing. There's nothing in the world that would ever stop me from sharing my music with others.

At $25,000 she's hardly even paying for the music anymore. $25,000 would cover her lawyer's fees, and a ton of the legal fees for TWO hearings. She can either pay that ON TOP of the amount, or she can just pay it off. Everyone keep associating the fine with JUST the music, but the more often you appeal, the more they'll make you pay for the court room, the judge, and everything else. I will admit that the corporation IS being an asshole, but at the same time they left her a relatively cheap way out that would have paid off almost everything. It was MUCH more reasonable

It would have still been $25,000 plus the legal fees from the first hearing, and I don't care how "cheap" that seems... It's not.

A settlement is a settlement of the case, not of the second hearing. THe fees ofthe second and third hearing include the fees of the fist and second. It's not 1.5 Million because of the second hear plus the other ones. The $25,000 would have covered it all if it was a settlement. It's basically "Let's take the 1.5 Million and bring it all the way down to $25,000 and call it all squared.

 

[Mysnomer]

Wow, all those people saying she should have settled, you do realize that was a play by the RIAA to prevent bad publicity and sweep this under the rug? They're offering her a deal (and it's still a bad deal, make no mistake) which no doubt would have involved keeping her silent and preventing this injustice from being made public.

Ostensibly, her plan was to show the world the absolute villainy of these corporations. If the reactions of this thread are anything to go by, she has not succeeded to a great degree, and that's sad. Her crime is inconsequential in the face of this complete perversion of justice. An eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth. Let the punishment fit the crime. She downloaded? Suspend her access to internet services, charger her for the album of each song she downloaded, with a tax for the fact that it's not a legitimate sale. But charging her a ridiculous amount of money in rejection of all common sense, it's a travesty that this is being allowed to happen.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

At least this woman has courage to face the company, not many people would have taken so much after a while ...

i surely hope they will dismiss the case because in our Age of Communication etc, there is no such place for this kind of trial, it's just absurd.

Let me clarify my stance.

RIAA = Assholes
Pirates = Assholes

As such, I can't bring myself to feel bad for her. You know what would have required real courage and discipline? Not buying music from assholes if you don't like the way they operate, and not stealing it either. Just find something else to do.

you're right !

 

[Raykuza]

its stories like this that make me want to pirate stuff just as a matter of principle

"They treat us like animals, so let's shit on the floor."

That's some great logic right there...

 

[Worgen]

its stories like this that make me want to pirate stuff just as a matter of principle

"They treat us like animals, so let's shit on the floor."

That's some great logic right there...

its the same reason that as soon as you give online gamers the ability to draw, someone will draw a dick, they feel its expected

but no, this would be more a form of protest than anything else because they are asses

 

[katsumoto03]

The RIAA has said the money, if it ever collects, will help fund its "ongoing education and anti-piracy programs."

Niiice. Suing this lady for all she has to "educate" people about piracy.

Seriously, fuck the RIAA.

 

[Royas]

At least this woman has courage to face the company, not many people would have taken so much after a while ...

i surely hope they will dismiss the case because in our Age of Communication etc, there is no such place for this kind of trial, it's just absurd.

Let me clarify my stance.

RIAA = Assholes
Pirates = Assholes

As such, I can't bring myself to feel bad for her. You know what would have required real courage and discipline? Not buying music from assholes if you don't like the way they operate, and not stealing it either. Just find something else to do.

considering the RIAA owns almost ALL music, that would be very hard to do unless you LIKE living your life in silence.

OT: seriously RIAA, good luck getting even 1/100th of that cash (but how does this lady pay her lawyers, i wonder?)

Maybe she has a lawyer who also hates the RIAA? Or who has just taken this case up as a hobby. Either thought amuses me.

 

[Antari]

Screw the RIAA and any company that works with them. If you support this in any way. I can only hope Karma pays you a nice long visit.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

You may recall the case of Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the mom from Minnesota who was busted by the Recording Industry Association of America< for sharing music online back in 2006. The RIAA went after her for 24 of those songs

This is what I paid attention too, I'm usually on the side of pirates deserve what happens to them but they went after her for 24 songs... and she's a mom.

 

[cobrausn]

You may recall the case of Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the mom from Minnesota who was busted by the Recording Industry Association of America< for sharing music online back in 2006. The RIAA went after her for 24 of those songs

This is what I paid attention too, I'm usually on the side of pirates deserve what happens to them but they went after her for 24 songs... and she's a mom.

What does her being a mom have to do with anything?

 

[Dogstile]

I bet you have a lot of friends.

More than enough.

Besides, I'm not an idiot who thinks a facebook friend is a real friend. I bet you think you're really popular.

I love how you jumped straight to facebook. Seriously?

On topic: If they weren't being such assholes and charged her £50 a song I wouldn't care, but nope, they had to hire expensive lawyers then make her pay to cover them.

 

[Flames66]

And this is very extreme, paying thousands for a each songs when a few hundred probably downloaded it.

And? She got caught, the others didn't. Stealing from a shop and not being caught is no less of a crime than stealing and being caught.

I don't really have much sympathy for her, either. I will agree with the above sentiments that it's a bit over the top, but at the end of the day, she got caught doing something she shouldn't have done and regardless of whether the RIAA are arseholes or not is irrelevant.

It's really not. You remember the whole hero story surrounding Robin Hood? He stole from the rich (assholes). I'm not saying I support her, I'm saying if you try to sue for millions of times the cost of a stolen product, you deserve to be stolen from.

What would be reasonable here would be "pay the legal fees and pay £10 per song".

 

[shadow skill]

The RIAA needs to stop. All of these big associations need to stop period.