"Driving over the speed limit is a crime - I hope, and a lot more dangerous to society"

What does that have to do with anything? You are comparing apples and oranges.

Even if Tunesmiths red herring declaration were accurate, the fact is that illegal downloading IS hurting the income of an industry, and it isn't just the fat cats in suits that are hurting.

People on this thread seem to be focusing on the "download". The kid was quilty of downloading AND distributing. Did he share thousands of copies, probably not.

The jury awarded damages based on the determination that the act of downloading AND sharing was WILLFUL. He admitted he knew what he was doing on the stand.   Under the law, the jury could have awarded up to $150,000 PER TRACK - and the award COULD have been $4.5 million.

The music industry is fucked up. Plain and simple. Technology advanced faster than they could react, and now they are dealing with the mess. The laws need to be tough. Independent artists who exist on selling their CD's at concerts ARE finding that people are sharing recordings. You can go through threads on Mudcat and you will find someone offering to make a copy of recording. And don't think that just because something is out of print that it makes it okay - there are still rights issues involved with the recording.

This isn't just the big record labels that are suffering - but the big record labels are the only ones who can pursue action. A small label, or an indepedent artist, cannot afford the legal system to fight. That is fucked up too.

There will always be piracy, but it cannot be left to flourish. Will this fine discourage others? No one here can do anything but speculate their own opinion. I think it is worth the effort to pursue.