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DoJ Defends $1.92 Million RIAA Verdict
Death Metal points out a CNet report saying that the Justice Department has come out in favor of the $1.92 million verdict awarded to the RIAA in the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case. Their support came in the form of a legal brief filed on Friday, which notes, "Congress took into account the need to deter the millions of users of new media from infringing copyrights in an environment where many violators believe that they will go unnoticed." It also says, "The Copyright Act's statutory damages provision serves both to compensate and deter. Congress established a scheme to allow copyright holders to elect to receive statutory damages for copyright infringement instead of actual damages and profits because of the difficulty of calculating and proving actual damages."
frankly, I doubt it fulfills its supposed purpose at any length.
Your post is a perfect example of what happens when someone bases their entire opinion on anecdotal evidence and things that they believe to be true, without bothering to actually verify them. If you look around you will see very many cases of work being created because of the profit incentive, which is possible because of copyright. Go to Barns & Nobles sometimes and count the number of books that you think wouldn't have been written if it weren't for the profit motive. There are a lot of them. And some of them are actually quite good.
I will give as an example, Born to Run. It is an excellent book and the best book about running I have ever read (although frankly, the quality of a book is quite often a subjective matter). In the back, the author states quite clearly that wouldn't have been able to write it without support (financial and otherwise) from Men's Health magazine. There are many more examples. Do research before forming your opinions, it will make you sound a lot smarter.
Qxe4
This person may need it - there's many reasons why, ignorant AC.