Unjust punishment
Jammie Thomas is a single mother of four, and her financial future has just been destroyed. A jury has found her liable for nearly two million dollars of damages. That is, in all likelihood, more money than she would earn in her entire lifetime. What could this woman possibly have done to someone to cause them so much harm that she can never repay it, no matter what she does? Did she embezzle funds? Did she negligently cause a car accident, severely injuring others? Did she accidentally set fire to a small apartment complex?
No. She downloaded twenty-four songs.
The retrial of Capitol v. Thomas came to a conclusion this week. The jury awarded Capitol Records $1,920,000 in damages. That is $80,000 in damages for each song. She did not sell copies, or purposefully share them with others. Two million dollars, for downloading twenty four-songs.
Copyright infringement is a crime, and should remain so. Violators of copyright should be punished. But punishment must be proportional to the crime, or the punishment is unjust. It is reasonable to make someone pay for the copy they made without consent of the rightsholder. A copy of each of these songs would cost $1 or less. It is reasonable to make someone pay additional fines, both as punishment for breaking the law and to act as a deterrent. $10 per download would be easily sufficient to make someone think twice.
I could see a $250 fine for what this woman did. Maybe even a $500 fine. But $80,000 per song? She'll never be able to pay that. Everyone involved knows it. Thomas will have no choice but to declare bankruptcy. This judgment is the financial equivalent of executing someone for shoplifting two CDs. And this is not the only case, by far. Tens of thousands of suits like this have been brought, some against people who don't even own a computer. Many settle just to avoid the legal fees, without ever having any charges against them proved.
This is not justice. This is not legitimate punishment for a crime. It's not even an attempt to recover potential profits that are argued to have been lost. The laws that make this possible, and the corporations prosecuting these cases, have one goal in mind: to make you afraid.
Once you know that things like this are going on, you have two choices: you can stand back and let these corporations and the laws they have bought ruin the lives of thousands more people, or you can fight back. Don't vote for anyone who doesn't take a stand, to oppose the laws that allow unjust punishments like this to take place. Tell your friends. Enough lives have been destroyed. It has to stop.
No. She downloaded twenty-four songs.
The retrial of Capitol v. Thomas came to a conclusion this week. The jury awarded Capitol Records $1,920,000 in damages. That is $80,000 in damages for each song. She did not sell copies, or purposefully share them with others. Two million dollars, for downloading twenty four-songs.
Copyright infringement is a crime, and should remain so. Violators of copyright should be punished. But punishment must be proportional to the crime, or the punishment is unjust. It is reasonable to make someone pay for the copy they made without consent of the rightsholder. A copy of each of these songs would cost $1 or less. It is reasonable to make someone pay additional fines, both as punishment for breaking the law and to act as a deterrent. $10 per download would be easily sufficient to make someone think twice.
I could see a $250 fine for what this woman did. Maybe even a $500 fine. But $80,000 per song? She'll never be able to pay that. Everyone involved knows it. Thomas will have no choice but to declare bankruptcy. This judgment is the financial equivalent of executing someone for shoplifting two CDs. And this is not the only case, by far. Tens of thousands of suits like this have been brought, some against people who don't even own a computer. Many settle just to avoid the legal fees, without ever having any charges against them proved.
This is not justice. This is not legitimate punishment for a crime. It's not even an attempt to recover potential profits that are argued to have been lost. The laws that make this possible, and the corporations prosecuting these cases, have one goal in mind: to make you afraid.
Once you know that things like this are going on, you have two choices: you can stand back and let these corporations and the laws they have bought ruin the lives of thousands more people, or you can fight back. Don't vote for anyone who doesn't take a stand, to oppose the laws that allow unjust punishments like this to take place. Tell your friends. Enough lives have been destroyed. It has to stop.
posted by Stephen Collings at
3:58 PM
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