Over the last few months the court case of Jammie Thomas-Rasset vs. the RIAA has gained a lot of attention from technology websites and traditional newspapers. A quick recap is that Jammie Thomas-Rasset was accused of sharing 24 songs on Kazaa; Jammie lost the case and was fined $80,000 per song for a total of $1.92 million dollars.
The amount was challenged as being "excessive, shocking and monstrous" considering that each songs sells for $1.00 - $1.29 on the free market. This would be similar to stealing a snickers bar from Walmart and being required to pay back $80,000 in damages. While arguing about stealing is not the point of this article that matter of the fact is that the Department of Justice received backing from the Obama administration saying that the ruling was "constitutionally sound".
If each track were to cost $1.29 the total value of the 24 tracks would come out to around $31.00. To say that the damages done by stealing $31.00 was equal to $1.92 million dollars is not only excessive but tarnishes the record industry as being greedy and lacking common sense.
It's unlikely that Jammie will be able to over turn the ruling considering the judge had the backing of the Obama administration on the subject. Unfortunately for Jammie those 24 songs will most likely keep her in debt for the rest of her life.
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