I thought this might be bullshit, but it's listed on CNN's "latest news" section.

How many of you would owe the RIAA billions?

It's this kind of crap that makes me (slightly) furious. But then, techno viking cheers my day.

loool as if

At that rate I think I would owe US$1,120,000,000, which after conversion is AU$1.4 billion.

wow.. thats not even that many songs compared to some people.

sounds like fair compensation to me

Because 1.9 million dollars is exactly how much 24 songs is worth. That makes sense.

There's no way this can be real.

damn

$800 MILLION.....

Holy cow. Obv gonna need a good lawyer for this one, so high cost anyway! >.<
How fudging lol if it was 24 souljaboy songs you downloaded for a laugh?
$400 million roughly for me! :@

Fucking retarded, to say the least. How childish can people be?

Let's say 600 of my songs (rough estimate) are downloaded that would mean I owe around $48 million.

Let me get my checkbook...

about 370,000,000$ here

250, 000, 000 for me. the judge that ruled this is a fucking retard, honestly.

dont download from sites that originate in your country and you're fine......a cop told me they cant do nuthing if you download from sites away from your country

160 million here.

This is such bullshit.

Because cops are highly trained on the nuances of intellectual property violations?

exactly

Haha, at $80k per song, I'd hit the one trillion dollar mark easily.

Gotta love the American Justice System...

Peer Guardian 2 FTW.

pretty damn lame guys.

eh, the canadian legal system is pretty gay too. basically, if someone attacks you and you fight for your life and end up hurting them, you'll be on trial defending yourself.

Haha, at $80k per song, I'd hit the one trillion dollar mark easily.

oh dear, fining people ridiculous amounts of money isn't the answer to stopping illegal downloading, the music industry needs to evolve with the changing technology,

see trent reznor

Bonafide retardism, regardless of your stance on internet piracy, no one can think this is reasonable

Probably like multiple billions if not a trillion, lol.

^no kidding. That's pretty bad luck if all she downloaded was 24 songs. You'd think it would be someone who downloads hundreds weekly.

probably have more songs downloaded than dollars Ms. Thomas-Rasset was charged.

(uh jk government...)

Another unlucky person to be made example of. It won't stop me though.

i owe $439,040,000



shiet

This just in: RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol has been declared the Wealthiest Man on Earth. In other news, the world economy has collapsed due to anything of monetary value being possessed by the RIAA, and all world governments have been forced to capitulate. Still to come: how can humanity benefit our new masters? We'll tell you how you can serve the glorious RIAA while still living off the one tumbleweed that tumbled aside the barren patch that is your new home at 11.

ITT: A mixture of people who believe it costs 20 dollars to produce a cd and people who purposefully obfuscate reality to validate their stealing.

fucking stupid..

see though, here's the thing... it's been proven that downloading music helps the music industry in terms of sales.

the fuck it doesnt

did you mean 'does'?

1 billion, 960 million, 560 thousand dollars.

haha, yeah I calculated that wrong, I'm a bit over $2 billion.

I added an update to the news article. The RIAA has responded.

this is enough to make your blood boil. "We appreciate the jury's service and that they are as childish about this as we are."

This actually scares me a bit

They are trying to make an example out of someone.

man that lady's life is fucking ruined

What I don't get is how this lady was fined 1.9 mil for 24 songs but The Pirate Bay, of all places, was only fined 2.7 mil (U.S) during their trial. That's fucked up.

yeah man, she's prob not going to win that one. the stupidity of this ranks up there with the war on drugs.

So they fucked someones life up for stealing a few songs from some rich artists? Thats fucked.

I don't agree with downloading but I don't condemn it either.

conservatively, $240 million.

she can still settle for ~$3,500, by the way. i think at this point she's probably spending that on lawyer fees.

if it went through, i'd kill myself.

yes this is retarded

if it went through, i'd kill myself.

wow : /, 4,348,547,000,000 here, this is fucking ridiculous, 24 songs are not worth 1.9 millions

4,348,547,000,000 here

you're saying you've downloaded 54 million songs?

They are trying to make an example out of someone.

the world is run by children.

She stole songs; honestly, if they wanted to be fair and not try and "set an example" they'd just make her pay the amount of money each song costs

so, about 24 bucks.

That's still ridiculous.

It's okay guys. As soon as she admits she's a Metallica Fan, Lars Ulrich will remove the case from court.

Oh wait.

go ahead and fine me. i dont give a fuck

This really freaks me out. Lol I'm not even gonna add up mine.

I wonder what happens if you download a movie. DEATH BY CRUCIFICTION!

Anyone from Aus, dont worry about it. The national body prosecuting music theft came out after the Pirate Bay thing and said they weren't interested in chasing individuals downloading music, just the distributors.

Anyone from the states, wow. Your country sucks balls occasionally hey.

well was she distributing or wasn't she?

The music industry is like all artistic industries.

People have a passion for their art, and the people who help them to share their passion with the world are greedy stupid bastards, who want more more more more money.

So much so that they try and ruin someones life over 24 songs.

I hope the judges testicles drop off like rotten grapes

well was she distributing or wasn't she?

Said this before: will say again. If I didn't illegally download music, I would have about 10% of the music I do. If I was not able to illegally download music, I would not then go and buy it all in CD stores or on the net (legally). I just could not afford it. I download a lot of music. For me, it does not create a moral problem. An example. One of my all-time favourite bands, Strung Out; I downloaded their entire collection illegally. But then I became a massive fan. I have paid for four concerts, a t-shirt, a record, and four CDs. If the only way I had of accessing their music was by paying for it in the first place, I would never have become a fan of theirs. I just feel that I shouldn't have to pay for the right to see whether I like a band or not, and that is probably ridiculously ignorant and arrogant of me.

Yeah, I know. It works for me so my conscience is clear. I just can't see me going back to what it/I was eight years ago when I would go to town once a week after school and fork out $25 for a disc with a dozen songs on it. And I can't ever see me paying for mp3s... I can see me spending a fuk-load of dollars on live shows, though. Ah well, if they get me I'm going down swinging.

I think the old way, with not try-before-you-buy or illegal downloads, was more conducive to introverted music tastes, too. I mean if I was an indie fan and my mate was telling me about this mad new hip-hop group, I'm not going to pay $25 to see if I like them. Ah well, I better just keep building this music collection so if/when they put an end to it, I'll have enough to keep me going.

Approximately 940 million dollars here.

lets see i owe...

ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS



B-)

Approximately 260 million dollars here.

That's such a load of horseshit, how can they justify that punishment?
I'd owe like 142 million at that rate.

$1,192,080,000 not counting the ones I delete when they suck :D They are worth that much to me and would rather pay it off then relinquish the music stash!!!!! FUCK MONEY!

no one got it :-(

^Austin Powers

No wait, that's 100 Billion...

what are you talking about?

^Um you said "I owe 100 Million Dollars" and then said no one got it, sad face. So I attempted to guess what you were referring to. Damn, was that hard to figure out?

who cares

im not exactly a serial offender, but i've downloaded much more than 24 songs, so yeah this does kinda worry me

Well I'm fucked

Any one know what the legislation for charging someone with this is? In Australia if you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone else can possibly have used your computer to download a song. It would be hard for them to charge you. Thats my understanding anyway.

But American law is pretty gay

$1,120,000,000 here.

Don't worry, just put it on my tab.

how many examples are they planning on making

440 million for me.

Guess I'll have to start saving up in case I'm next...

Some say this will hurt the RIAA. I hope so, because even though I believe in paying for music, the RIAA isn't exactly ethical in the way they treat artists and engage in price gouging/manipulation.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9134582&intsrc=news_ts_head

I think I owe about $19,000,000. But I've distributed 65 of my songs for free, so that ofsets it by 65%.

http://www.eyetap.org/wearcam/netcam_privacy_issues/say_no_to_likeness_piracy.gif

I think we should all agree on a mass murder/suicide spree, should one of us get fucked over by the RIAA. What a bunch of cocks SERIOUSLY.

560 million here. cannot fucking believe this actually happened.

"Jammie's million dollar music collection included such starving artists as No Doubt, Linkin Park, Gloria Estefan and Sheryl Crow."

They wouldnt be starving if they didnt suck.

Starving artists? Bullshit. Go to every city, find someone who supports true art and does this shit everyday for the sake of passion....then you'll find a "starving artist" Starving artists, theyre all fucking rich....

It's ridiculous.

And they're going to ruin their image even further with this. They're really so entirely inept, aren't they? To prove a point, they should go after people who can afford the bills; by targeting single mothers and such, they just look like ruthless, greedy bastards.

I mean, think about this: Trent Reznor, a public figure, admitted openly that he had downloaded via OiNK and other torrent sites. Why not, with such information, target him? Oh, because he's a celebrity/musician and they won't go after their own... even though most people (including Trent) would probably prefer them targeting someone who can afford the costs rather than some struggling mom who didn't even really know what she was doing.

Honestly, most people over 20 who use those P2P programs don't understand that it's illegal. A grandmother got sued a couple years ago (out of court settlement, ultimately) because her grandchildren taught her how to download on Kazaa/Limewire and she wasn't aware of its illegalities. It doesn't help that the programs themselves didn't use to make it very clear that they provided illegal content: "DOWNLOAD THOUSANDS OF FREE SONGS!" And then, in fine print, as small as possible: "Does not pertain to copyrighted material." WTF?

Almost the entire Sputnik community is well and truely fucked then.

the riaa should fine everyone on this site for listening to shitty music

103,360,000 is my tab. Let me just access my swiss bank account.

Starving artists? Bullshit. Go to every city, find someone who supports true art and does this shit everyday for the sake of passion....then you'll find a "starving artist" Starving artists, theyre all fucking rich....

---

passion!? hahaha you idiot - he was joking.

Oh sheeeet. Not adding mine up...

rather worrying

Over $800 million easy

"go to town once a week after school and fork out $25 for a disc with a dozen songs"

where the fuck were you buying CDs? I've always see them at like $12-$15. This also the reason why I buy vinyl now. Better sound qauilty, and it keeps the government off my nuts too.

'A federal jury in Duluth, Minn. on Thursday ordered Jammie Thomas-Rasset to pay six music companies $80,000 for each of the 24 songs she is accused of illegally distributing over the Kazaa file sharing network. In their lawsuit, the six music companies claimed that Thomas-Rasset had illegally distributed 1,702 copyrighted songs, though they chose to focus only on a representative sample of 24.'

its not because she downloaded the song its because she distributed them, not so worried now

just give me the death penalty. I'll never be able to pay back my downloads.

more bullshit from a society on its knees..gotta love it

fuckit everyone lets go to mars

well fuck

Bullshit. These artists are multi-millionaires and all they do is do the thing the love for millions of adoring fans. I hate my job and i dont make a fraction of what they do. They're the ones getting screwed...

Ouch, has the trial already been decided? Does she have to pay that or can she still appeal it?

So happy that all the music I get isn't from labels that are in the RIAA.

Look at all the responses and disgust. I love Sputnik, hahaha.

my tab is currently $746160000

reading this article reminds me i have a couple albums i've been meaning to download.

brb

i'm in the ballpark of....$4,311,040,000. i should probably get that second job.

Everyone that has shares songs should send a .50 check to the label that sued her. They'd get the money, she wouldn't have debt from hell, and they would have to pay someone to process millions of checks.

Hey, this is pretty funny:

On my phone i have a news bit that has a humorous edge called RED news. An article dealing with this news topic said, "By comparison, Cleveland Browns receiver Donte' Stallworth will serve a scant 30 days in jail for pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter. Way to go, justice system!"

lol

$5,200,000 here

That's nothing compared to you criminals!

hey c'mon
like honestly
SO many people have done this
they cant get us all

Im sure our friend Jammie Thomas-Rasset thought the same.

Everyone that has shares songs should send a .50 check to the label that sued her. They'd get the money, she wouldn't have debt from hell, and they would have to pay someone to process millions of checks.

Hard to explain how a $24 theft merits a $1.9 million fine.

I owe OVER 9,000!

i don't think they would even try to get anyone who has downloaded more than a couple hundred songs. i mean, im sure these guys are fucking brain dead retards, but they cant actually think they'll get millions (or in some of your cases billions) out of a normal person!? i know would just say "fuck it," go run away to Cuba and hide all my money in swiss bank accounts if they tried to get the 800,000,000 i owe out of me

NO, WE WILL GO TO MARS

WHERE COPYRIGHT LAW ONLY APPLIES TO ORANGE COLOURED ROCK

Man i am worth over 500M...
crap like this would make ppl special rather than scared

Just a cheeky wee $120 million, give or take

wow the gov't need to get the priorities straight. 24 songs? BIG FUCKING WOOP. this pisses me off beyond belief. Ruin a person's life essentially for 24 songs? wow. just wow.

Oh christ that is so jacked up.

Wait, hold up. IF you get caught shoplifting... say two albums you might get a little fine and a night in jail, but if you download off the internet... BANG YOUR WHOLE LIFE SAVINGS BELONG TO BIG MUSIC.

welcome to earth, zipp3ermouth

I am proud to say i havent downloaded illegally since I was about fourteen.

fag

seconded

What an unpleasant surprise.

welcome to earth, zipp3ermouth

zippermouth is pussying out rather than killing the people in the system

Did I tell you about my illegally downloaded nukes?

cyber nukes that would be used how

To blow up cyberspace, duh.

...and then the cyber fallout will destroy mac...

fuck this man

around $12,000,000 for me

fuck that

"Fuck earth, I'm going to mars on my illegally downloaded spaceship. Who's with me?"


Illegally downloaded spaceship, genius.

damn, that sucks. must have been at the wrong site at the wrong time or something

just don't use P2P and don't share your files and you can steal all you want

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

I owe $1,112,000,000. Buahahahaha.

This is obviously bull-shit. Free, digital music has made the underground music scene flourish, and those are the only starving artists in the first place.

One day people might just wake up to see that there is nothing wrong with downloading music. I'm sure the majority of the artists that aren't even making a living on music are fine with people downloading the music. Because isn't the point that we're hearing there songs and experiencing them and loving them and relating to them? Art is not about money!!! The only reason this shit occurs is because the mainstream greedy musicians are bitching because there check is a few thousand short then normal. I know all of you understand this; this shit just pisses me off.