Iceland and USA Feel the Copyright Industry's Wrath

spellraiser writes "Iceland's Internet traffic saw a substantial decrease this week as police raided the homes of 12 individuals suspected of sharing massive amounts of copyrighted material over a private, local DC++ hub that was infiltrated by SMAIS, the Association of film right holders in Iceland. The people who were raided were questioned by the police, and had computer equipment confiscated. It is unclear at this point what their fate is, but there is a distinct possibility might face charges." And in the U.S., an anonymous reader writes "The Recording Industry Association of America strikes again with yet another round of lawsuits. Jon Newston over at P2Pnet.net doesn't hold back anything in his great commentary on it today. Best quote 'It's almost as if having lost its bitterly fought case against the p2p application owners and failed in its many obvious (and expensive) attempts to disrupt the p2p networks, the music industry is now determined to vent its wrath on helpless men, women and children who can't hope to stand up to it with its tremendous political and financial power.'"

Comments

Re:This is The Right Approach

[kmmatthews]

A. They're not breaking *any* laws. Copyright infringement is NOT A CRIMINAL MATTER, it's a civil one. Hence, they're suing.

B. The people they accuse have to either pay for a lawyer (~ 5k$?) or settle out of court (2k$). If proven that they didn't share, guess what - they're still out 5k.

Would you like it if someone accused you of infringing thier copyright, and in doing so caused you to incur 5k$ in legal expenses, with little to no hope of ever regaining those lost funds?