Well, the RIAA has done it again. It was bad enough extorting teenagers and music lovers out of thousands of dollars, with the threat of high-powered lawyers if they don't comply. Now we find out what happens if you don't settle and actually take it to court: The RIAA turns into Dr. Evil.
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That's right, a jury in Minnesota has decided that Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year-old mother of four accused of illegaly sharing a whopping 24 songs, must pay the record companies $1.9 million dollars in damages.
I actually used to be pretty anti-illegal file sharing -- I mean, my job is basically to generate intellectual property, so I'm a little sensitive about compensation for IP -- but over time, the record companies have just pissed me off so much that I don't really care anymore. That and a number of musicians I respect have just started giving their music away for free, because they hardly see a dime from the actual record sales.
Whatever. As Ms. Thomas-Rasset makes it clear, there is no way she is paying this, so all they really accomplished was to fuck up her credit. And make themselves look like grade A assholes. Good job, RIAA! Sue your customers for seven figures! That will fix your horrible PR problems. Next time, though, maybe you can find a mentally-challenged person who has been illegaly downloading and try to get him thrown in jail. I bet that would go over even better!
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