In
2009, Joel Tenenbaum, a Boston University graduate student was
ordered to pay $675,000 in fees for copyright infringement of 30 audio
files. Tenenbaum admitted to the acts of infringement and plead guilty;
however, the charges were calculated on the conclusion that Tenenbaum's
actions were willful. The associate press states, "The only issue for the
jury to decide was how much in damages to award the record labels"
(Lavoie). Tenenbaum claimed that he would have to declare bankruptcy if this
verdict was not appealed.
The
associated press also states that this is only the second music piracy case
towards an individual to be placed on trial [as of 2009]. If this crime were
serious enough to foot such a large bill, wouldn't there be more cases like
this to surface? Do you think that these fines are in anyway justifiable?
It seems to me that if downloading and distributing 30 tracks is worth a fee of
$675,000, then our country should increase the penalties of crimes
that are actually violent and dangerous to society. Do you think Tenenbaum
should have a lesser punishment for pleading guilty to the charges? Do cases
like this change your view of pirating at all?
You
can read more about this case here:
Lavoie, Denise. "Jury orders
student to pay $675,000 for illegally downloading music." ABC News.
USA Today. Web. 18 Nov 2013.
<http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=8226751>.
I think that Tenenbaum should have received a lesser punishment for pleading guilty. I don't know much about copyright infringement laws but the fine he was ordered to pay seems a bit high. What made him get caught over anyone else getting caught? I thought music piracy was easy to do, and common, so why wouldn't more people be getting caught?
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with the previous person to comment on this blog,I tok believe that the punishment was a bit harsh just for downloading music. According to the article, since the person pleaded guilty I was expecting the sentence to be less. But with all the warnings that government agencies provide to black market users, people who break the law should know the consequences for their actions. I never understood why downloading music for free was illegal,but as thime passed I understood that by doin this actions, the person is literally stealing money out of the pocket of the artist. With high cost for studio time and production,artist rely heavily on music sales. Therefore if someone is getting music for free, your dimishing the artist effort in creating the music and also taking away from his livelihood. Support your favorite artist, because if you download there music for free, the respect for that person's music diminishes harshly over time.
ReplyDeleteI was about to go on a serious rant about this penalty until I read the article.
ReplyDeleteFrom the article:
"Tenenbaum admitted on the witness stand that he had downloaded and shared more than 800 songs."
My main question is why was Tenenbaum not charged for all the material he downloaded and shared? I would expect the prosecutors to go after any offender for all crimes committed.
But since they only focused on 30 songs, the penalty seems too great. The number of people in the US alone that have downloaded and shared illegal music is too great to focus on one person who is charged with downloading/sharing 30 audio files. Why spend so much time and money going after someone over 30 audio files when there are people in this country with terabits of illegally downloaded music, TV shows, and movies. It seems like a waste of time to me.
I do not know much about the penalties for illegally downloading material, but if this kind of penalty is considered normal then something has to change. The article mentioned Jammie Thomas-Rasset who was penalized $1.92 million for 24 songs. This is an insane amount of money for such a small amount of illegal music, especially when compared to other crimes. There needs to be some sort of limit set so that this does not keep happening. A person should not be fined for illegally downloading 30 songs...not because the crime should be over looked, but because there are people who have downloaded and shared terabits of illegal material.
I too thought it was interesting they didn't pursue all of the other acts of infringement as well. I think it was probably because those songs were held by other record companies who were not one of the four involved. I also agree the number is way to high for 30 songs. I think the amount should be reduced because there are more serious offenses that are actually violent which do not result in such a large fee.
DeleteI think the punishment most definitely does not fit the crime. I think the justice system was just trying to make a statement with this case. They were showing pirates on the internet that they will no longer tolerate even the slightest bit of piracy. The fact that the fee was $22,500 per song is outrageous and should win an appeal. I think there should definitely be a crackdown on internet piracy, but I don't think using Tenenbaum as in example is the way to do it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Jack, in that the companies were probably trying to make an example of Tenenbaum. However, that does not make it anymore morally right or justifiable. And would this really change anything for other people pirating? Probably not. So many pirate media, and so few are actually charged with it. This was the second case as of 2009, and people have been stealing media since the days of Napster (early 2000s).
DeleteNowadays a lot of people use internet for entertainment. They download music, movies, etc. Does this consider a crime? somehow it does, but that doesn't mean he should be charged with all that. He didn't harm anyone using violent. he should receive less punishment. Do they apply this punishment for all who does this? I don't think so
ReplyDeleteWow! The damages award in this case are ridiculous. I do understand that internet piracy is a crime, and those who participate should be punished. However, Joel Tenenbaum will be paying for this crime for the rest of his life. This is definitely an extremely harsh punishment for a nonviolent crime.
ReplyDeleteWhy was he fined so much when we all download illegal stuff. How come he seems to be the only one that is even caught?
ReplyDelete