Let’s talk hypothetically for a moment. Let’s say you’re the average American (or wherever you’re from), going to school or working for The Man. Let’s say that you occasionally download an MP3 or FLAC from wherever you get such things. Now, do you have $150,000 to give to the RIAA for every song you’ve downloaded? I sure as heck don’t! (I’d need a government bailout, lol!) More importantly, why is $150,000 an appropriate amount to ask for, as Sony seems to suggest? If I can buy a song off iTunes for $1.30, how is it that “finding” that same song could cost me $150,000?
There’s another one of the RIAA vs. Some Guy court cases going on right now, and the defense attorney asked Sony’s lawyers to put a number on per-infringement damages. Sony wouldn’t, instead saying that, under the law, damages can range from $750-$150,000.
Now, I’m not a doctor, not even in the Dr. Nick sense, but on what planet does Some Guy downloading a song, or an album, or 100 albums, equate to $150,000 in damages? It just seems so ridiculous to me.
Even more to the point, is anyone else a little tired of the RIAA? Like, even reading about it, and its wacky exploits, its insane monetary demands, just doesn’t have the same punch as it did in 2004. The Internet could use a new boogeyman.