| Not surprising A giant media organization with millions upon millions of dollars being sent to their teams of lawyers says that you broke the law. If you fight it in court and lose, you face hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. Even if you win, you'll still be spending hours upon hours of your own time and cash you might not have on hand for your own layer. Or you could accept the ~$4,500 settlement offer and make the whole thing go away.
If I were in that situation, I'd like to say that I'd fight against the charges because I was innocent. Except that I probably wouldn't fight it. Not because I wouldn't have been innocent, but because I wouldn't have the time or money to fight it. It would wind up being cheaper for me in the long run to pay the RIAA to go away.
This is why I oppose the RIAA's efforts. I think that they have every right to go against people who are violating their copyrights. However, I think that the state of affairs right now provides no protection against someone being wrongly charged. This means that the RIAA can charge anyone they want, railroad those people into settlements, and then add more onto their "pirates sued" press releases. Something needs to be changed in the system to protect against this happening (while still allowing the RIAA to go against the real pirates).
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-Jason Levine
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 NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
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| Great post Jason! I agree 100%. That is the same problem I have with these lawsuits. They can victimize the innocent as easily as the guilty. Sure, 99% of these lawsuits have some merit to them, but what about the 1% who have never traded files?
If the RIAA want to go after these pirates, and they should have the ability to do so, then there should be some checks and balances in place to protect the truely innocent.
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 TechieZeroTools Are Using MePremium
join:2002-01-25
Gibsonton, FL
 ·Verizon FiOS
| reply to Jason Levine
To settle is *almost* an admission of guilt. Perhaps this Mother of 5 feels that she is innocent and wants to set the record straight.
Some people actually care about their reputation.
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| Actually, from what I've heard, part of the settlement is that you admit that you pirated the songs (whether you actually did or not) and you can't talk to the press (or anyone) about your experiences. Meanwhile, the RIAA can go around saying whatever they want. Unfortunately, when faced with a team of lawyers with a big-money company behind them, the threat of millions of dollars in fines, and years in court, most people would opt for the "quick and dirty" $4,500 settlement regardless of their actual guilt. In this way, the innocent will settle along with the guilty.
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-Jason Levine
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