Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: RIAA, music, download, piracy | Themes: The Internet, Networking, Digital Entertainment
Jo
el Tenenbaum, a twenty-five-year-old Boston University graduate student from Providence, R.I., was ordered by a federal jury to pay $675,000 to four record labels for illegally downloading and sharing music. As reported by Yahoo News, Tenenbaum admitted to the crime, testifying that he downloaded and distributed thirty songs.
The lawyer defending Tenenbaum provided in his closing statement an overall tone that Tenenbaum was just a kid, and at one point asked the jury to reduce the price-per-song damages to be $0.99. Tim Reynolds, a lawyer for the recording labels, described Tenenbaum as a "hardcore, habitual" copyright infringer, detailing the student's file-sharing history encompassing more than 800 songs between 1999 to 2007; the current case focused only on thirty songs from The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Green Day, and more.
Ultimately the jurors ordered Tenenbaum to pay $22,500 per song, a huge reduction considering federal law entitles recording companies to collect up to $150,000 per song if the crime is deemed willful (as the jury deemed in this particular case). "That to me sends a message of 'We considered your side with some legitimacy,'" he said. "$4.5 million would have been, 'We don't buy it at all.'"
During pretrial depositions, Tenenbaum lied and blamed the illegal file sharing on his two sisters, friends, and other people who had access to his computer. Tenenbaum then took full responsibility during the trial. "I used the computer. I uploaded, I downloaded music ... I did it," Tenenbaum said.
Tenenbaum plans to file for bankruptcy if the verdict stands.
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chapter 11, ftw!
Looks like they are really hurting their image.. They look like big bullies more than "companies that were hurt"
Who wrote the law that allows them to take $150,000 per song? I bet if you were charged with distributing a whole album, you'd make as much as the artist!!!
So this guy pirated some songs and look what those asshole big business frakkers did to him.Sure he was a thief but he got more screwed than I did when I was arrested 22 years ago for Cocaine Trafficking and did Federal Prison time.I got out of jail and stopped my hard drug abuse and it was over with.This poor guy for stealing a few songs will have to go bankrupt and have his credit destroyed.
I do hope that many of you folks out there will just stop buying anything from a large label and/or RIAA Signed Artists.There are so many bands and artists out there like my own art that will love it for you to listen to them and WE DONT SUE !!!
My website is www.bigmeathammer.com which is the name of my maine punk band.Big Meat Hammer has been around for 20 years now.i have quite a lot of free music for you all of it at 320k.Go to the archives page and you will find BMH plus 3 or 4 other bands i have done and we are talking full LP's worth of stuff at 320k mp3.All for free.
Support Local Music !!!
Support Independent Art !!!!
Down With the MAFIAA !!!
Down With Corporate Lables !!!!
TAKE BACK THE MUSIC NOW !!!!!
Pheh, that's just a big effing joke. I can't believe they're allowed to charge such astronomically enormous amount of money for so little.
you know something, given the opportunity someone will give the riaa something to really think about...all the people they are pissing off...and the potential for a one of those people to kill off the riaa one person at a time.... honestly if it is legal to buy the music for .99 a song, then the fine should be 4 times that plus legal fees.... not make it something no one will ever be able to pay.
god knows i know people with over 12,000 songs via file sharing, why not og after people like that...not some little guy with a few songs.
675k is a bit hefty for 30 songs, but the guy is undoubtedly a knob and should be fined to some extent. I personally would fine 1 dollar per song per person he was verified sharing with to pay back the record labels and then have like a 500 dollar fine for stealing. Nothing that is going to put him in the poorhouse but something that will definitely make him and others think twice about doing it again. I do some recording and I would be pissed to if people were stealing my works, but I would just be after getting retail price for what was taken, not ruining anothers life.
They can track back to 1999........*shocked* time for me to fake my own death.
FIGHT THE POWER
load of crap...
Who wrote the law that allows them to take $150,000 per song? I bet if you were charged with distributing a whole album, you'd make as much as the artist!!!
I assume the maximum penalty was written to allow for punishing bootleggers. If you obtain and distribute a CD to thousands or tens of thousands of people, it's legal to be liable for up to $150k per song. But the RIAA is using that as a though it were a suitable fine for individuals downloading and uploading songs for personal use and small circles of friends. The law does not differentiate between bootleggers and personal-use pirates, and the RIAA keeps wanting to put the fear in people.
Finally, justice has been served. I doubt that $675k even covers the RIAA's expert witness fees, much less anything else.
I wonder what evidence the RIAA uses to suggest to its supporters that these lawsuits are actually benefitting the industry any. Napster and Kazaa were replaced by BitTorrent and others. People have been trading MP3s over IRC well before Napster, and as far as I can tell not one single IRC user has been accused by the RIAA. Sure IRC is dying, and maybe ISPs will be forced to shutdown IRC like they did Usenet, but until then, I say have at it young pirateers!
P.s. I do not condone nor encourage illegal activity. My statements are made for entertainment purposes only. I do not assume any liability for those mistaking my comments for anything other than entertainment.
Piss on the legal disclaimer...I pirate everything not nailed down. Simply in spite of the RIAA. I'll never buy a song or movie again.
Well, lesson of the day (and many previous days):
RIAA = cocks
I love how, instead of going after and fining a large group of "pirates", they decide to just focus on one guy and fuck him over hard. Just a couple bullshit cases like this a year and they've covered all the losses from pirating altogether, lol.
The gallivanting cabal of black-robed fascists (some people falsely call them "judges" and as usual when they are around justice is absent) strikes again.
How in the name of hell do they get that information legally?
they got nothing beter to do ...
this kind of case makes me want to avoid music all together. and it doesn't make me want to purchase music at all!!
No body asked:
How did they FIND him???
period
Anybody who sticks up for the RIAA/MPAA.. This right here proves there as fucking crooked as any pirate out there. So piss off before you even start.
what douchebags...seriously...that just reinforces my feelings of never purchasing music from those huge label companies...
he was probably downloading the songs on his schools network.
King-
Although I personally won't stick up for RIAA or the gradual dismantling of the public sphere and privacy rights, saying that no one should be allowed to defend them would make us just as fascist as we are accusing them of being. I for one would love to see if anyone can come up with compelling argument for the tactics/goals/practices of RIAA. So please...have at it.
I buy music off of itunes and in music stores, but you know what? from now on im going back to the good old napster days, I am personally going to pirate every movie and peice of music that isnt nailed down. Games, software Ebooks, I dont care any more. I have 3 terabytes of space on my hard drives... F@ck these idiots
Fuck them. Seriously.
This could have been any of us, they are ruining lives with random precision.
Moral of the story? Stop stealing. Downloading is stealing and there isn't a single legitimate argument against it. "Down with the RIAA" isn't an argument.
These "fines" are ridiculous though. I liken downloading music online to stealing a CD from Best Buy. Stealing 30 songs would be considered a class C misdemeanor (under $50) and punishable by a maximum fine of $500.
Also should mention that the RIAA is not the judge and jury. The RIAA doesn't decide on the punishment they merely argue their case and let the jury decide. The jury can go anywhere from $750 to $150,000 per song and it is our peers, not the RIAA, that decided on $20,000 a song. I also have to believe that the RIAA offered this kid a settlement which was probably exponentially less than $20,000 a song.
"the current case focused only on thirty songs from The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Green Day, and more."
So on top of a huge fine the whole world now knows of his mediocre taste in music lol
"the current case focused only on thirty songs from The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Green Day, and more."So on top of a huge fine the whole world now knows of his mediocre taste in music lol
Hey, only 2 of those 3 were mediocre, lol
Let's not also forget get that he liedin court which is also punishable by perjury. Simple lesson, don't download illegally. Stealing is stealing under and parameter whether it be stealing money from a bank, a car from a dealership, or music from the RIAA. I do not agree with the fine but stealing just not justify the fact that the RIAA might be assholes.
http://www.modot.mo.gov/newsroom/i [...] orker-.jpg
I swear there was something in the amendments about the punishment fitting the crime.
It would be much cheaper if he stole 1000 cd's from a store and sold them on the streets.
This is an outrage, stealing might be stealing, but what makes it ok for them to fine so much money, and not other businesses? If someone steals my $3000 car can i sue them for 5 million? This guy's life is basically ruined if he can't claim bankruptcy. Feel sorry for kleptomaniacs....
I don't know what your all bitching about, for spamming this kid houses with USPS.com free boxes and 1000 dollars worth of pizza at his home I am now facing a Class 2 misdemeanor for "Cyber Stalking and harrasment", but the cop was highly rude to me using insults such as "Idiot, moron, douchebag, as.hole" and Even insulted my intelligence because I wanted to know how to spell his last name (Which is Knauer). So yeah if you are in Elkton Maryland, Watch out for the "bad a.ss knauer" cause he's on tha case!
Class 2= 500 Bucks and OR 6 month jail time.