Seven Crimes That Will Get You a Smaller Fine than File-Sharing

This has relation to controversy in file sharing media. Then actual music.

sarcasticblogger.wordpress.com...-302
"Thinking about file-sharing? Don't. You'll get fined, and crime doesn't pay (unless you rob banks and/or armored cars, then it pays very well). Take it from Jammie Thomas, who was fined $2 million for downloading 24 songs, or anyone else who tried to fight the RIAA.



Instead, try another crime, because plenty of them draw far lighter penalties than downloading Jason Mraz's latest. Thanks to the Mechanics blog at Gapers Block, here are seven crimes that will get you smaller fines than file-sharing:



1. Child abduction: the fine is only like $25000.

2. Stealing the actual CD: the fine is $2,500

3. Rob your neighbor: the fine is $375,000

4. Burn a house down: The fine is just over $375,000

5. Stalk someone: The fine is $175,000

6. Start a dogfighting ring: the fine is $50,000

7. Murder someone: The maximum penalty is only $25,000 and 15 years in jail, and depending on your yearly salary, would probably be far slighter a penalty that $2 million.



Seriously, murdering someone will result in a lighter overall penalty than downloading a bunch of songs and getting caught. Granted, you don't get shivved in the showers at home, but still."

This is crazy and highly unknown. Tell me what you guys think of this.


[edit on 15-6-2010 by Romantic_Rebel]


[mod edit: added source link and required EX tags]
Mod Edit: No Quote/Plagiarism – Please Review This Link.
Mod Edit: Quoting External Sources – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 15-6-2010 by 12m8keall2c]

I disagree with the people downloading everything, including the cds or movies they LOVE. I do not think its wrong to download, when speaking music, as a rap fan, 95% of todays rap is trash because of the major labels. so if i download to see if its good or not, I should be able to.

but guess what happens when i love or im a fan of the rapper, i go buy on the release day.

example, the new Eminem album that leaked, i love it, on the drop date, I will go buy it.

Aside from that, to the people who download EVERYTHING for free, F them, they should be in trouble, i hate how only some are, but as far as that fine ? yes, thats the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

It should be a very small fine.

someone downloading stuff like EVERYONE else should not have his/her life ruined because of that.

I download songs (that I get sent emails from the band sites that I sign up with) and watch movies for (sort of) free online with my very cheap paid services. I am not a model net citizen, in that I also have done some pirating both receiving and sending.

The RIAA is just another criminal organization of file nazis who get line their wallets on the sweat and talent of others. They hardly serve any purpose anymore as a legal buffer zone for artists, their engineers are grossly overcharging for services provided and they are definitely useless in marketting and ad arenas.
Because of the RIAA, musicians see only about 5% of the total sale of their art in its distributable form. With the advent of I-Tunes, they can at least realize a slightly larger percentage take from each sale.
Artists make their money at the show. It has always been their bread and butter. Whether it be the sold out arena or the lounge down the road, the artist will always have to be a showman to be a success.

Exit stage right, RIAA. Kick them out of the business and let the artists and fans benefit from their absense in a thunderous roar.

Here is the main component of this.

If you actually reply to the paperwork, and show up in court and try to argue your case, YOU LOST.

That shows how ignorant someone really is, and the system will feed on their mistakes.

Now, you have virtually tons of options to actually get rid of this type of thing without much trouble. That is if they come to your house, kick in the door, and arrest you over downloading a song. (Which is super unlikely).

You can claim that you were hacked, and thus not responsible. (One of the best excuses because it cannot be disproved!)

You can say that you never reply to mail from super suspicious sources, and say it appears to be some form of extortion scheme from fraudsters. Now this actually works because tons of fraudsters actually pose as lawyers and extort money from people. This is way more common and widespread than you think.

And one of the best, is that if you are caught, go out and Purchase the item with CASH, not credit or debit. You don't want to leave any paper trails. Then claim you owned this item the entire time, and thus it is perfectly LEGAL to download a COPY of the product you OWN.

Just whatever you do, DO NOT cross the "bar" in a court room. Once you cross that bar and walk through the "flood gates"; you are as good as dead IMHO. If you refuse to pass the bar because you are not licensed to pass it; than you present a very difficult problem for the extortionists.

Also, being poor really helps. If you have no money to steal, they will not worry about making an example out of you.

Now if you have 10million $$$ in the bank, you deserve to get busted. Why the hell would you steal music when you have MILLIONS of $$$???

The only people who have a legit reason to download stuff free are 1) those who want to test product before they buy it and 2)people whom already own it and want a backup copy.

How are they catching peer2peer users these days?

It's seems crazy that they are able to catch people. How many of you know people who download? How many of you know people who have gotten caught downloading?

And honestly, if your not doing something cause you love it, then why are you doing it? This whole idea around money has got to change at some point.

[edit on 15-6-2010 by onequestion]

I agree with the OP.

I think it's sick how they put more importance on cheating someone out of +-$30 worth of music, than cheating someone out of their life!

Disgusting and twisted are the only words that come to mind.

S+F

Originally posted by onequestion
How are they catching peer2peer users these days?

It's seems crazy that they are able to catch people. How many of you know people who download? How many of you know people who have gotten caught downloading?

Here is one of the major theories floating around. And I personally think it's totally true.

The companies will actually put their music files up on P2P. They put their OWN property up to download.

Then when people download it unwittingly, they are busted. Because they trace this file back to you.

Yes it's entrapment because they are setting you up and marking the bills.

This is widespread (from what I can tell) and tons of companies are in on it with the RIAA. It's their little scam they are running right now.

Be careful who you download from. The RIAA has tons of set ups with "marked files" that they can trace back to you.

Be very careful.

Every single song I have on my computer I purchased in actual physical format at some time or another. If I don't still have the original CDs, records, or tapes, then someone stole them, which has happened a few times. Once, my car was broken into and they got away with about 200 of my CDs.

I ASSUME the police are still looking for the people who did it. They've been looking everywhere, going on 6 years now. Come to think of it, where's my bike that was stolen from me in the 4th grade? Found that yet, coppers?

Meanwhile, if you had my experience of having so much of your music stolen, I wouldn't blame you or think you were a criminal if you downloaded songs you already paid for once upon a time. Doesn't it count as fair use to have copies of something you paid for, anyway?

yes the fines are criminal and completely out of proportion.

Not looking at females in your life can lead you to be framed by the police desperate to lock you up.

As long as your interested in females as a man, you can commit any crime you want, as long as its not too serious.

But if you do not look at females, the police will hound you forever.

I think if you downloaded Jason Mraz's latest and listened to it then that is punishment enough for your crimes.

Honestly it is way out of proportion i agree, but this mess does need to be tidied up a bit.