Tenenbaum ordered to pay $675,000

It's amazing how many people who commented seem to suppourt the fine and seem to be on the side of the RIAA. In fact I am sure that each and every one of them is a pirate. How many times have you made a mixed tape, or cd for that special someone? Well, that's illegal, and you should be fined, and don't tell me you've never made a mixed tape... you're either a liar or a very lonely loser.

Now He's broke and sad and can't afford to buy blues music so he will go out and steal some more and then BAM. NOTHER HALF A MIL. This scheme is awesome.

Thats what RIAA would do with the money they can shake off this poor bugger.

Nothing more,nothing less.

Those were some pretty expensive titles he downloaded. I wonder if he's still in denial about piracy laws?

Spot the shill's anyone!

It's amazing that people would rather go to jail and be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars instead of paying a few bucks for music. These folks must have been dropped on their heads when they were hatched.

There are a plenty of anonymous VPN services out there. They delete logs and The RIAA/MPAA mafia cannot get to them. Of course they cost something like 20-30 euros per month but at least you can pretty safely do what you will. Also you other traffic is safe from spooks and other unsavory characters. The upcoming "Ipredator" service might cost as little as 5 euros per month. Of course I could be paying the same amont of money for a perfectly legal P2P service but since the industry does not want the money then this is an alternative if you are in normal working life but want to be part of the "good fight" never the less.

...dead or in prison.

It's fun to hear the pirates squeal when they get punished for their crimes. In some countries they cut your hands off for stealing so I guess a fine is more humane for these folks who are a true waste of humanity.

This tick's me right the hell off. I've nothing to say, what is it the inquirer writers type?....Rubbish! I'm in a band and i swear i would never make a soul pay this outrages amount of money. Soon all the major music labels will be out of business, so until then its war i guess. Everything is going underground/private, so get your invites while you can guys....some advice...get uTorrent and check the force encryption in its options!

artificial scarcity is a bullshit way to do business. If it cost $10,000,000 to make the first model of a car, and a $100 for each copy thereafter, how many people would tolerate car dealerships? There'd be online websites and clubs all over the place trying to collect enough money to make the initial car(s) so that they could later be distributed. Same thing with anything else. If they solve the cellulose problem in regards to biofuels, how many people would willingly tolerate a fixed minimum on the price of gas? We tolerate the high gas prices because it's so damn hard to get the stuff, if any Tom, Dick or Harry could make gas people wouldn't support the high prices.

Lol at the comment "Locks just keep honest people honest.". Really honest people would not steal under any circumstances. Locks only keep dishonest people honest.

When I first read this article I found myself wishing that the people, or dare I say scumbags, who brought this insane action against this person would have something similarly unjust and devastating happen to them.
And then a smile came to my face as I realised of course that it would eventually; the dinosaur gas-lamp music industry in its current form IS doomed, and dying bit by bit with each passing day. One can only hope the demise comes sooner rather than later.
To all those people pirating there little hearts out and depriving these greedy corporate lackies of some money - I raise my glass. Good luck to you all.

Pretending that the courts are not going to continue prosecution of pirates is very naive when more pirates are being prosecuted everyday. No court is going to allow violation of copyright law so you might as well get out of denial. Denial don't change nothin'.

Look half-wit, the other shoe isn't going to drop because there is no other shoe. They can't sue everyone and they've officially abandoned the tactic. You're welcome to believe this is a sign of things to come, but you'll be alone in that belief.

If only he had paid $2 per title to download and not distributed copyright protected works, he'd be about $674,940 less in debt and out of prison. Some people really do make ignorant choices.

It's falling and all the music and video thieves are going to feel the hit.

Get ready boys, the trend is not in your favor (as well it shouldn't be) and those too arrogant, or foolish, to remain in denial will just be poorer for it. A LOT poorer it seems.

Pay me now or you'll pay me a whole lot more when you're prosecuted for piracy.

HA ha ha... oh wow...

If you show a movie for a public audience (at least in the USA) there is a maximum fine and potential jail time if you don't have the licensing to do so. This "let's just pick a big number" penalty system for songs is total BS. If what he did was actually against a law, then he should be in a CRIMINAL court, not just CIVIL court. Not that civil cases don't have merit as a rule, but let's get into some technicalities here: Criminal cases have to determine GUILT, while CIVIL only require LIABILITY, i.e. it doesn't have to be Tenenbaum's FAULT that the songs got shared and the RIAA (allegedly) lost money, he just has to be INVOLVED. And there are no "maximum fines" in civil court. I can sue you for a million dollars if your dog shat on my lawn and it caused me severe distress... and there's a good chance I'd win at least something. This whole thing is a bunch of nonsense.

British police shoot one man whilst the country was in a state of high alert shortly after 2 terrorist attacks.

This is a tragic case and I make no excuses for what those officers did.

But, how many people are shot dead in America (probably predominantly black, latino, i.e. not white) by your police every year for having committed no crime.

I expect it to be orders of magnitude more.

@Philip: A man shot in the head because he was running in a British subway. And Americans overreact?

@right on: I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but people were copying music onto cassettes long before digital music came out.

Harvard Lawyers are supposed to be top notch... but he let his client ADMIT to doing something illegal in court?

The RIAA did the smart thing by letting the ISP take care of the illegal file sharing instead of going after each person individually. The PR in the long run looks a lot better, anyways...

But figure, with the internet and the way music gets distributed by those unsigned bands... its only a matter of time before the dinosaur goes extinct. If only people would stop being so close minded and start checking out the TONS of great material from independent artists online who share the music for not the money, but for the love of music.

I understand your perspective. And I would be inclined to agree with you, were it not for the fact that one could not prove how many people had acquired the songs from Tenenbaum. In order for the judgment against him to be reasonable, to me, it would have to be shown that each song was downloaded thousands of times. Otherwise, he is fined $675,000 for having stolen $25 worth of merchandise. Because of that disparity, it becomes a constitutional concern whether or not the amount assigned is reasonable.

I think he is guilty, and I think he should be fined. But I also think that the fine should be more in line the value of the merchandise stolen.

Why is it unreasonable or excessive? He downloaded songs (this infringing on copyright) via a piece of a software which, whatever you download, is then made available to others (further infringements). Considering that millions upon millions of people were using the network at the time and his downloading would enable him to assist in copyright infringement of countless other people, I think the fine is justified.

In the drug world, that's why there are posession charges and posession with intent to distrubute. Only with a P2P app, EVERYONE is a distributer.

It's typically American to overreact? I seem to remember some friends from across the pond that overreacted because they didn't get invited to a little tea party :)

In all seriousness, though, you're right about how ridiculous this ruling is. And if the judge isn't complete clueless, the fine will be reduced greatly, because it IS unconstitutional. The Eighth Amendment states:

"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

I think that pretty much says it all right there.

Stinking pirates. lol Too bad it had to come to this. The Napster founders should have been lined up and systematically shot in the head. They ruined our business models and created a bunch of thieves out of pretty normal people. Like my Dad used to say... "Locks just keep honest people honest." Now maybe musicians will finally make a real living. Unlikely as that sounds.

The size of the fine is effectively to say if you share on p2p you can lose your house and all your possesions.

It's deliberately an arbitrary amount that most people can't afford to pay used as a scare tactic for others.

$675000 GO TO F**K
That is rediculous, who in their right mind would make someone pay this, and what average joe would be able to pay that, this guy is going to be paying this for the rest of his life, and if they insist on interest being paid hell never get it paid.

Typical americans, blow everything out of proportion and overreact bout everything including the "hacker" gray mckinnon.