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RIAA To Appeal Thomas-Rasset Ruling
frank_adrian314159 writes "The RIAA will appeal the ruling that reduced Jammie Thomas-Rasset's $1.92 million fine for file sharing to $54,000. '"It is a shame that Ms. Thomas-Rasset continues to deny any responsibility for her actions rather than accept a reasonable settlement offer and put this case behind her," said RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth.' Joe Sibley, an attorney for Thomas-Rasset, said his client would not settle for the $25,000 that the RIAA has asked for. '"Jammie is not going to agree to pay any amount of money to them," Sibley said, adding that it doesn't matter to Thomas-Rasset whether the damages are $25,000 or $1.92 million.' In addition, Thomas-Rasset's attorneys say that, win or lose, they plan to appeal the constitutionality of the fine."
Well, you have to think about it under more. This story is NOT about pizza!
It's easy to score cheap points with statements like this--or in Slashdot terms, an easy way to get some quick karma--but let's be realistic. Imagine a world where these entities do not exert any undue influence. That is, they are who they are and they want what they want, but they do not lobby, they do not make campaign contributions, they accept any decisions without commentary. In other words, the politicans get to decide all of the issues purely on their merits without any other considerations.
Do you really think they're going to side with you? Do you really think any significant number of politicians are going to decide that more good is done by a person's right to create a Mickey Mouse porno or what-have-you than is generated by allowing Disney to continue to use it to generate wealth? Hell, let's assume that's exactly the case and it WILL do more good (and it very well might)-- do you believe you can convince enough politicians of that to make it matter? Disney has balance sheets and accounting books and X number of employees to show what IT'S doing with the IP. What do you have? Other than "but but but feudal system!?"
It's not as clear-cut an issue as Slashdotters make it out to be, and I'm frankly getting awfully tired of the constant, unending suggestions that every time somebody disagrees with somebody on Slashdot it must be because they're in some corporation's pocket. The concept of IP, at least in the form of copyright, has existed literally as long as the US has existed under its Constitution. Private interests, interjecting their power into the secret drafting process? I don't think so. Maybe smart people just find value in it that you don't.
There's a LOT wrong with many of the things going on right now, not the least of which are the crazy awards these lawsuits have been garnering, but let's not pretend there can only be one possible sane view of the issue. Sometimes smart people disagree. And it doesn't even take a bribe.
Curiously especially uneducated Americans who have never been outside US usually seem to think it's better to live in absolute poverty in the US than in any other place in the world. Such is the brainwashing in American schools.
Their claim of lost sales is bogus, we all know that, but so is the claim that it's not stealing since you wouldn't have bought it anyway. If you wouldn't have bought it anyway then simply don't listen to it or watch it.
Ok then, mister infinite-money-man, why don't you buy all that stuff for me? I don't happen to have infinite resources in my pockets right now, but since you are so fabulously wealthy I'm sure you can reimburse those poor starving millionaires I'm stealing from.
In this particular case IMHO both parties need to change their behavior and work together to solve the problem. You can't have something for free, it costs money to produce and the people doing it need to be paid
I'm a musician, and I'm a geek. When I build someone a website or some other creative work, I don't claim that they must pay me for the high-spec gaming PC I (may have) used, because that just happened to be the computer that I had. Similarly, when I finish the album I'm working on, I'm not planning on charging for the instruments I used, the high-spec gaming rig I used, etc etc. That is what makes the recording industry expensive - that and marketing. And I can't remember the last time I saw an advert for a band that I like.
Seriously, you think it actually costs a hundred thousand dollars to make an album? You (well, I) can make a professional sounding, even-a-professional-can't-tell-the-difference recording for ten dollars, and that includes the cost of pizza and beer. So I've spent maybe two or three thousand dollars on equipment over the years - so what? I don't think I'll ever make any proper money out of it. I didn't buy the stuff as an investment, and anyone that does is an asshat.
Be smart, help people!