Surely Not ALL Publicity is Good Publicity

In the first music downloading lawsuit to make it to trial, Jamie Thomas was ordered to pay $9,250 for each of the 24 songs she illegally downloaded and placed in her Kazaa shared folder. While Thomas was found guilty of violation of copyright laws, the fact that a single mother who makes about $36,000 a year is being made to pay $222,000 to the RIAA is a crime in itself.

It seems that the RIAA, in trying to send out the message that piracy will not be overlooked and that copyright infringers will be punised to the full extent of the law, have instead sent out the message that it is not a case of Virgin v. Thomas, but more of the Record Industry v. the people.

For the RIAA you have to wonder, how much is all this bad publicity really worth? $220,000?? All the RIAA has managed to do is further isolate their own customers, and despite winning the case, have painted themselves out to be the badguys. No one is rooting for the multibillion dollar industry bullying grocery money out of the pockets of single mothers. Perhaps before embarking on the countless lawsuits they have filed against file sharers the RIAA should have consulted with thier public relations department. Hell, maybe they should have consulted with Metallica and asked how well making themselves the poster boys for the record industry's campaign against music sharing is working out for them. Probably not well. In the long run, you end up angering and isolating your own clientele.

Anyone can help contribute to Jamie's cause by donating to her website freejammie.com. So far Thomas has already raised $13,000.

Thomas has also filed an appeal, but because she is up against the RIAA's deep pockets, she might want to launch a site devoted to funding what I'm sure will be costly legal fees.