DoJ Sides With RIAA On Damages

Alberto G writes "As Jammie Thomas appeals the $222,000 copyright infringement verdict against her, the Department of Justice has weighed in on a central facet of her appeal: whether the $9,250-per-song damages were unconstitutionally excessive and violated the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. The DoJ says that there's nothing wrong with the figure the jury arrived at: '[G]iven the findings of copyright infringement in this case, the damages awarded under the Copyright Act's statutory damages provision did not violate the Due Process Clause; they were not "so severe and oppressive as to be wholly disproportioned to the offense or obviously unreasonable."' The DoJ also appears to buy into the RIAA's argument that making a file available on a P2P network constitutes copyright infringement. 'It's also impossible for the true damages to be calculated, according to the brief, because it's unknown how many other users accessed the files in the KaZaA share in question and committed further acts of copyright infringement.'"

Comments

If I wasn't so lazy..

[josteos]

... I'd set up a honeypot limewire/kazaa/torrent/whatever and firewall access such that only the RIAA/MPAA 7 their tools can access it. And then populate the shared directories with files like:
BRITNEY_SPEARS_OOPS.MP3
METALICA_ONE.MP3
etc.

Of course the MP3's would just be actual MP3 audio of my kids singing some random song.

While I don't actually WANT to be sued, I would like to see them explain to a judge why they think they own the rights to my kids singing "The RIAA is a bunch of floppity-floofy heads!".

If only I wasn't so lazy...

Re:NO

[Cassius Corodes]

Can you summarise your argument? It seems you are all over the place. I think you would feel about the situation differently if it was your music or software that was illegally being distributed.

Google "Bush gaygate"

[MacCumhail]

News Flash Knoxville Mayor Victor "Victoria" Ashe Named by Kitty Kelly Book as Cop-Killer George Bush Jr's Skull & Boner Boytoy As reported by John Lee on PIRATE NEWS and censored IDIOTBOX WARS for the past 3 years! Georgie "Lips" Bush Junior loves polishing the knob of bald men like James Guckert aka Jeff Gannon aka kidnapped Johnny Gosch - Senator John DeCamp reported in March 2005 that Gannon is in fact Gosch, and that Bohemian Grove presidential retreat snuff pornographer Hunter S Thompson was one of 4 deaths within days of Gannon/Guckert outed at White House, with further confirmation at TomFlocco.com - DeCamp is author of The Franklin Coverup snuff kiddie porn S&L drug dealing trials linked to George Bush Sr "I'm very impressed with James Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon. How often does an enterprising young man, heralded in press reports as both a reporter and a contributor to HotMilitaryStud.com, MilitaryEscortsM2M.com, WorkingBoys.net, and MeetLocalMen.com, get to meet the president of the United States? Who knew that a hotmilitarystud could so easily get face2face with the commander-in-chief?" -Maureen Dowd, NY Times, "Invasion of the Reporter Snatchers", Feb 18, 2005 (upset that she was denied a White House press pass while "Gannon" was allowed to live in the White House) "I'm also most appreciative of the Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee for being here. I've known Mayor Ashe for years and years and years. And he has done a fabulous job of being a fine public servant in Knoxville. So, Victor, thank you for coming." --George W. Bush, head cheerlader at all-male Andover High School and cheerleader at all-male Yale University "I want to thank my old college classmate -- you used to call him Bulldog, we call him Victor -- the Mayor of Knoxville, Mayor Victor Ashe." --George W. Bush, Van Hilleary for Governor Luncheon, Knoxville, Tennessee, 2002-10-08, ("Bulldog" same nickname Bush Jr. gave "Jeff Gannon"/"Jim Guckert" (kidnapped, raped, tortured, mind-kontrolled Johnny Gosch?), his homosexual White House hooker/journalist at HotMilitaryStud.com, MilitaryEscorts.com and MilitaryEscortsm4m.com. Bush has gay-style excrement nick names for the people he hangs out with: "Turdblossom" for gay puppeteer Karl Rove. David Lewis went under the name Sally Suckemsilly. "Pooty Poot" term for Vladimir Putin, Russian President and Commie KGB chief. "Mr. Big O" term for lispy treasury secretary Paul O'Neill, ex-CEO of ALCOA Corporation in Alcoa, Tennessee. George earned the nickname "Lips Bush" for his skill at giving blow jobs to his fraternity buddies, according to Kitty Kelley. Roedy Green, The Wit and Wisdom of George W. Bush. Georgie Bush Junior loves touching and kissing heads of bald men and little boys.) "That's when Yale really started going downhill." --George W. Bush commenting on Yale's decision to admit women "Why is Bush so hostile to the idea of gay marriage? Perhaps because until 1987, George W. Bush was gay. According to a group of 29 Yale classmates who comprise Gay Ivy Leaguers for Truth, Bush was "known to be at least sexually experimental throughout his time in college." One of Bush's alleged former boyfriends, Anthony Berusca (class of '70), told The Dallas Morning News that Bush was "deeply conflicted about being gay, even somewhat self-hating." Berusca is convinced that this conflict led to Bush's drinking problems, but describes the President as a "gentle, caring lover". In 1986, the Bush family arranged for George to join Worthy Creations, a church group in El Paso that focuses on converting homosexuals through faith. A year later, Bush claimed to be straight, born again, and engaged to Laura Welch (Kitty Kelly in THE FAMILY wrote that Bush's twin daughters were not his offspring, but from a donor at a fertility clinic). Bush at all-male Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts was "head" cheerleader. Drama club and cheerleading are where the gay boys hang out. George earned the nickname Lips Bush for his skill at giving blow jobs to his fraternity buddies, according to Kitty Kelley. Bush has gay-s