
Originally Posted by
TooNice
Personally, I think there are moral grey areas when it comes to copyright law that the law do not fully take into account (abandonware, certain part of emulation, perhaps even fansubbing in some circumstances), but this really is not one of them. If you are caught filesharing then you can only really expect a guilty verdict. However, I do not fully agree with the punishment delivered.. or so called 'compensatory damage'. People should be responsible for their actions, but the punishment/compensation must be fitting of the crime. Otherwise, you might as well start handing out the death penalty/unlimited fine for every little thing. Could be effective population control.. just humanly questionable (even for the later).
Well, I recently sat my theory test (about time), so I've got my highway code on my table. Apart from causing death, or driving dangerously, all the fines I see on the able at limited to £5000 (including driving while unfit through drink or drugs). Somehow, I find that far more serious than the sharing of one song. The music industry might disagree, but seriously.. if $9250 per song is not punitive, I do not know what is.
Those who downloaded from her got away free, and she picked up the bills. I do not think that's particularly fair. It's probably easier than to chase after everyone who download, but I actually think that it is more appropriate that they slap 50x $5000 fines, than 1x $222,000 fines.