somebody <x### [at] ycom> wrote:
> Now, even though I think the fine is excessive, and I'm sure it will be
> appealed, I don't think RIAA did anything wrong.

  Maybe RIAA didn't technically do anything "wrong" per se, but it goes
to demonstrate how wrong the judiciary system of the US has gone: Steal
24 dollars worth of goods from a big company, and you get fined almost
2 million dollars. This kind of punishment system has a complete lack of
a sense of proportion.

  It also goes to demonstrate that the law is not the same for everybody.
For example, if this woman had gone to a store and stolen 24 dollars worth
of goods, she would have been fined some amount proportional to the
seriousness of the crime and the amount stolen. I don't have the slightest
idea how much this would be in the US, but I would bet it's most probably
in the thousands of dollars. Maybe even a few tens of thousands. Nowhere
even near millions.

  Why does the music industry get special privileges over other people, eg.
store owners? Why is stealing music a thousand times more serious of a crime
than stealing material goods?

  In Finland, at least in principle, the fine is always proportional to
the seriousness of the crime (and in some cases your annual income). You
usually pay compensation for the damage done, plus something extra as a
punishment (and this "something extra" is not a hundred thousand times the
amount of damage).

  But of course the music industry is spending lots of effort to change
the situation here as well.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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