A Slashdot article recently said:

“The RIAA will appeal the ruling that reduced Jammie Thomas-Rasset’s $1.92 million fine for file sharing to $54,000. ‘”It is a shame that Ms. Thomas-Rasset continues to deny any responsibility for her actions rather than accept a reasonable settlement offer and put this case behind her,” said RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth.’ Joe Sibley, an attorney for Thomas-Rasset, said his client would not settle for the $25,000 that the RIAA has asked for.

The truth of this matter is that since the RIAA has had the “award” reduced to $54,000, they hoped that Thomas-Rasset would settle for paying less (the $25,000) which would thus mean the case was brought to settlement instead of conclusion.

What’s the importance here? The RIAA does NOT want a standing verdict of $54,000 when they are trying to sue for many many times that. It means that even though the ruling isnt binding on other courts, it is influential and can be cited by others in such cases, reducing (or in that jurisdiction/court, possibly eliminating) the chance of multi-million dollar penalties being levied against a music sharer. So… the RIAA wants Thomas-Rasset to settle, thinking she’d be dumb enough to simply agree to $25,000 instead of $54,000 that way the judgement never gets entered and the RIAA won’t have this case as a “semi-precedent” to be used against them by others.

Sadly, they are now trying to fool the world with their most recent statement. Yet again. What idiots. I hope Thomas-Rasset sticks to her guns…

While I don’t do any file sharing, I am very computer savvy (or at least so I would think) and was using the Internet long before 95% of the US population knew it existed (thanks IBM & OS/2 for the first OS with full Internet support!!!)… and the RIAA deserves every failure they get in these cases – at least until they:

  • Get licensed investigators
  • Have said investigators actually trained on how the Internet, tracking people online and networking in general really works
  • Provide real evidence of file sharing and distribution to support any damage claim
  • Ensure they are not extorting people who they cannot truly establish the guilt of
  • Stop stealing artists’ music and selling it for a profit (see the pending cases in Canada and the US against the “Big Four” – these are CRIMINAL cases, btw… not simple civil ones like Thomas-Rasset’s file sharing case).

You know… just those few minor things…

…but I am not holding my breath.