Brianna LaHara agreed to pay about $2 a song for the total number of songs she download, making her the first out of 261 defendants who settled their lawsuit with the association.
LaHara was extremely apologetic for what she did stating "I love music and did not want to hurt the artist that produced". However, the suit came from RIAA claiming that LaHara had been providing more than 1,000 songs over the Internet through a file sharing program.
According to RIAA's chairman Mitch Bainwol, the association is trying to send a "strong message, that you are not anonymous when you participate in peer-to-peer file sharing and the illegal distribution of copyright music has consequences".
Nonetheless, what is interesting about this story is that the association is not cracking down the individuals downloading the music, but rather the one's responsible for uploading the music. According to the article, CNN reported that record companies blame illegal file trading for the 31 percent fall of compact disc sales since the mid 2000. The decision to start prosecuting illegal file sharers was made after the U.S. appeals court rulings mandated that Internet providers turn over the names of subscribers who are believed to be sharing music and movies illegally.
Yet until now the only file-sharing lawsuit that RIAA had, was against four college students accused of making thousands of songs accessible on campus networks. One perfect example of such a network is Rutgers' own DC++. Although a lot of students believe that DC++ is a safer alternative to Limewire or Bearshare, in actuality it is the same. The RIAA is also moving forward with subpoenas at universities around the country to try and identify music file traders. Thus posing a threat to the creators of DC++ and other sharing networks as such.
So the next time you plan on downloading a few songs from DC++ or Limewire, just think about 12 year Brianna who ended up paying a good chuck of money for her illegal downloads.
This is crazy! Filing lawsuits against children is not going to solve the music industry's problems. The labels have not yet come up with a business model that can compete with free online distribution; that's why they're losing money.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore,illegal downloads don't really hurt artists' incomes all that much, since the artist only gets a relatively small percentage of record sales. Downloading only affects record labels' profit margins.