In a retrial this week, "a jury found Thomas guilty of sharing 24 tracks by Green Day, Aerosmith, and Guns 'n Roses. It chose to fine her a shocking $80,000 per song, for a total of $1,920,000 USD, nearly 10 times the original verdict."
"Thomas, who works as a natural- resources coordinator for the Mille Lacs Band of the Ojibwe, met the verdict with shock and frustration, stating, "There was nothing I could do. Now the record industry has a $2 million award against me. The only thing I can say is good luck trying to get it, because you can’t get blood out of a turnip."
There is something seriously wrong with all of this. None of these artists is exactly hurting from file-sharing. But the RIAA suits are. They are indeed the real losers here. The old music industry business models are obsolete. I doubt crushing ordinary citizens with massively punitive fines will prevent downloading-as-usual.
Update: Jammie's lawyer could have used this from Michael Geist maybe.
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