Comments on: Jammie Thomas loses lawyer but avoids paying RIAA's legal fees

Fund-raising efforts of woman ordered to pay recording industry $222,000 fall far short of amount needed to fund appeal.

[Benf]

Jammie Thomas

The small country of Sudan is said to have the mose corrupt and inept legal system in the world, if this is the case then the United States cannot be far behind after looking at the Jammie Thomas matter.

[taa02]

RIAA

From what I've read, the RIAA modus operandi is to send a letter to those folks that it accuses of filesharing stating that they can pay a smaller fine up front (typically a few thousand dollars) or face a lawsuit for damages like Jammie Thomas has been ordered to pay which tend to be one hundred times the amount of their "original settlement offer."

When did blackmailing folks become legal in this country?

[sanenazok]

so the RIAA sucks

OK I know the RIAA sucks, etc. I don't really share any of their music, nor see the point seeing how it's all trash, but still one point...

Exactly how is offering a small up-front settlement "blackmail?" It cost the RIAA maaany thousands of dollars to sue this gal and if she had a plausible defense she could have won. I just don't see the blackmail: a file sharer is offered to pay a small fee or can go to court where all bets are off.

[umbrae]

Since the DMCA...

Its an evil law that allows many copyright holders to harass people: even when they are fully within their rights.

Did you know you could get a lawyer to send a letter and take down almost any website? Most ISPs take down first and ask questions later. Even with a ridiculous accusation of copyright infringement or DMCA violations, most websites or account can be temporary suspended for several days just with a letter: all before they bother contacting you.

[RussJr]

"Chomping at the bit"

For future reference it is not "chomping on the bit", but rather "champing at the bit" ( http://www.langston.com/English/ )

I despise the RIAA methods, although I understand (or have heard )that intellectual property must be protected to be enforced. I have not used any of the file sharing services for years, so I guess thir methods work...

[ejevo]

Terrorism alive and well in the USA

Except here they wear suits and carry briefcases.

[ajhoughton]

Deserves what she's got

There's a lot of silly whining here.

The fact is that if Jammie Thomas had not been illegally sharing files, the
judgement would not have gone against her, and she would not now owe
$220,000. And you may whine on about the forensic techniques used to
determine that it was her doing the sharing, but since copyright
infringement is a civil matter, the plaintiff must only demonstrate balance
of probability (in U.S. terms, "preponderance of evidence" or "clear and
convincing evidence"), unlike a plaintiff in a criminal matter where the
required standard is "beyond reasonable doubt".

"Sharing" copyrighted material when you are not entitled to do so is
immoral, illegal and selfish. Jammie Thomas has been found guilty by a
court of law, on the basis of the evidence presented to that court. People
who selfishly steal the hard work of others do not deserve our sympathy
when they are caught and punished for their actions.

[The_Decider]

hmmm

The jury was full of technically ignorant yahoos who were given incorrect and illegal instructions from the judge.

This thing will eventually be reversed.

The only thing the RIAA proved is that they are a bunch of greedy sods with no morals and no future.

[BroWren]

Cry me a river

if "Sharing" copyrighted material when you are not entitled to do so is immoral, illegal and selfish, when can I expect my $222,000 compensation from the MPAA for illegally distributing the linux kernel containing patches *I* wrote? After all, they're selfishly stealing my hard work!

The fact is that the RIAA and MPAA don't give a damn about the morality of taking someone else's work - hell, that's what *they* do, to all of the artists that they leech their profits from. All the media companies care about is cash, and relatively speaking, they're *dread* pirates compared to this one woman's supposed wrong-doing.

[artfulactivist]

donate at freejammie.com

Please donate to Jammie's legal defense fund at freejammie.com

[New-York-Accident-Lawyer]

Although she committed a crime, but court should have relaxed her penalty. It will serve no purpose if the guilty doesnt have money to pay for. Moreover, she is a mother and court should have taken this factor into consideration. Nobody would want her kids to end up as criminals when they grow up. Court is ruining her life as well as her children's who have nothing to do with this.