Woman from central Minnesota fires back for a retrial against music industry

Corbis.com. Regulating music piracy.

     Almost two years since having to pay fines for illegally downloading 24 songs from file-sharing program Kazaa, which becomes one the few cases where the defendant is fighting back against lawsuits over copyright infringement, according to the Associated Press News Release.
     The court hearing will take place to prove whether or not the defendant Jammie Thomas-Rasset of Brainerd, Minn did download and share illegally music of Kazaa. She was ordered to pay $222,000 in damages, or $9,250 per song back in 2007.
     Over the years, the record industry has had financial troubles with the rise of the internet and other file-sharing programs. One of the first to come out amidst the internet explosion and the popularity of MP3s was Napster along with Ghutella, Limewire, Bitorrent, Kazaa and others.
     The attorney Tim Reynolds told the jury that Thomas Rasset did download the music illegally and cost billions of dollars to the music industry, according to the release. Defense attorney, Kiwi Camara had not illegally downloaded music and they have to prove that was the case.
     Most of the cases revolving issues with file-sharing and pirated music end up in settlerments. What is most surprising that a single woman has to pay large fines when many internet users are engaging in downloading and distributing music everyday.
     This debate has been ongoing for many years; the internet has changed the dynamics of law because nobody has figured out a system that works. One company that modeled the functionality of file-sharing programs is Apple’s ITunes. You can pay for a single song, or download the entire album.
     The debate whether it constitutes copyright infringement remains to be seen. One radical way to change this would be to regulate internet service providers, but challenges remain with the complexity of computer technology.
      The judge of the case prohibited juror from using any networking website on the developments of this case. This is an age where technology is changing everything we know in society, including on how to apply law.