Single Mother of Two Ordered to pay $220,000 to Six Music Labels!
A New Low For The Music Industry
It was complete disgust I felt when I read that a single mother of two was ordered by a federal jury to pay $220,000 to six music labels for illegally downloading songs from the Internet. The RIAA sued Thomas for copyright infringement . She strongly denies sharing music files. She said on Friday that U.S. copyright laws are unjust and that the cost of proving her innocence was nearly impossible for someone in her financial situation.
Whether or not this lady is guilty, the punishment handed out is both ridiculous
and morally repugnant. I mean c'mon a single mother supporting 2 children!?.
It also reflects a deep rooted problem within the music industry itself.
It seems that people who lead the industry are, to put it bluntly, heartless
old dinosaurs. They appear both clueless and at loss about how to adapt
to new technologies that people now regularily use. Instead hey prefer to
prosecute and bully the small guy in the street. (To date they have prosecuted
some 26,000 cases!) Let's face it - this case, like Napster before it, is
NOT going to end file sharing or priracy. All this will do is bankrupt a
single mother who needs to take care of two young boys.
What We Can Do About It
We can donate to Jammie Thomas' Legal Defense Fund to help cover her legal costs. She has not asked for any handouts so far and has been fighting alone. You can help by making a small donation to that defense fund. By doing so we can also send out a strong message to the record industry that enough is enough! If you can't or do not wish to make a donation, then you can voice your support on her Blog. Please also help to spread the word to others so we can raise awareness about this issue and put a stop to this sort of injustice
Donations for Jammie's Legal Defense Fund are being accepted on Jammie Thomas's offical site @ freejammie.com
