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[Dakk]

http://www.switched.com/2009/06/19/woman-fined-1-9-million-for-downloading-24-songs/

This is why we can't have nice things. Condemning a single mother for a "crime" that is commited several times a second worldwide, specially on the US, forcing her to pay a sum of money she probably would never have during the course of her lifetime, thanks RIAA and Minnesota court, just 1.999.999.999 people to go now.

/sarcasm

[Rilder]

Their just trying to make an example out of her in an attempt to get other people to stop. It will fail no doubt and make the RIAA look like even more douchebags.

[Lear]

Um, isn't $1.9 million a little excessive?

[Dakk]

Indeed, but apparently the judge forgot to look at the goddamn US constitution.

[Strife26]

That's pretty clearly violating the 8th. Good old scare tactics by the RIAA. How dare you not give us money out of court?!

[Muz]

Ah, as I expected. This was done in America. You can blame the jury on this. All it takes to rack up a fine of that is for a lawyer with high Persuasion to convince the jury that each song was worth $80,000.

[Dakk]

Aye, i forgot the fact it is the jury that passes sentences on the US, the judge just signs it, but he/she has the power to deny something so irrealistic as this.

She probably didn't have the money to hire an elite liberal lawyer.

[Leafsnail]

This is simply ridiculous and insane.  Violates the 8th amendment horribly.  I hope that this loses the RIAA sales as people realise that a bunch of bastards like them doesn't deserve a penny of anyone's money.

[Neonivek]

Hey you do the crime you do the time! Though I think the Mother can get off easy by turning it into a single crime.

Though as people have suggested a lot of these times when someone is arrested and is given rediculous charges (or the manner of their arrest was rediculous) it can be just a scare tactic by the police.

[Leafsnail]

Hey you do the crime you do the time! Though I think the Mother can get off easy by turning it into a single crime.

Though as people have suggested a lot of these times when someone is arrested and is given rediculous charges (or the manner of their arrest was rediculous) it can be just a scare tactic by the police.

But this seems extraordinarily draconian.  Let's say she listened to extremely new singles, and let's incorporate an extra price hike, and let's put the value of each song at $4 (which is, quite frankly, a rip off anyway for one song, but never mind).  This means that the woman is paying a 1,999,900% fine.  How on earth can that be seen as anything other than wildly excessive?  That means that, for instance, shoplifting a $1 item should carry a fine of $40,000 (since you deprive them of two sales - your own and the sale of that item).  That isn't even borderline draconian - it's already there.

[Aqizzar]

I guess this was the one case the RIAA could reliably win, so they decided to squeeze every lost sale in the history of piracy out of her.  Hey, at least America doesn't have debtor's prisons.

[Muz]

Maybe she seeded the songs to 0.4 Million people?

[PTTG??]

What we need is a donation campaign where other people give her food and clothing, pay her mortgage and stuff, so that she never has "money" that can be taken away by Nottingham.

[Neonivek]

The fines come from breaking the Law.

Remember those films that when you watch them they told you how much you can be fined by?

That is what she is being charged with.

[cowofdoom78963]

I would have probably done the same thing just to show off how much legal power I have. To show the people who the REAL boss is.