If Joel Tenenbaum had $675,000 I’m sure he’d be buying a Ferrari, or at least the largest music collection on the planet. Instead, because he illegally shared 30 songs, Joel Tenebaum will be paying the RIAA $675,000.
The organization spent $1 million to make an example of the poor bastard.
It makes me sick because the RIAA is not starving or protecting the artistis; they’re just being assholes to normal people that we can’t characterize as criminals. It’s sad that I can steal 2 CDs from Walmart and never have to worry about being in Joel’s position. If I were to get caught, sure, I should be punished. But not hung on a bloody cross in front of the store to warn others.
And here’s what the RIAA says:
“We are grateful for the jury’s service and their recognition of the impact of illegal downloading on the music community. We appreciate that Mr. Tenenbaum finally acknowledged that artists and music companies deserve to be paid for their work. From the beginning, that’s what this case has been about. We only wish he had done so sooner rather than lie about his illegal behavior.” Full post>>
Jump to the TorrentFreak article about the story>>
Or visit the Joel Fights Back, a website created to chronicle and support his efforts in court.
The 30 songs are already available on torrent. Just search for “Joel Tenenbaum torrent”, download them, seed them and make this an online protest against the verdict and against harassing ordinary filesharing people…