This Is How Internet Regulation Can Go Really Wrong
The recent history of misguided and heavily lobbied anti-piracy legislation shows how damaging poor regulation can be
Jammie Thomas-Rasset always claimed she hadn’t heard of Kazaa until her trial, and that it must have been her boyfriend or her kids who illegally shared songs on the file-sharing service, including Guns n’ Roses, Gloria Estefan, and Green Day.
In 2012, after a protracted lawsuit brought by the Record Industry Association of American (RIAA), she was found guilty and ordered to pay $222,000 in damages. Thomas-Rasset said she’d declare bankruptcy to avoid paying the fine; to this day, the RIAA has reportedly not received a penny.
Thomas-Rasset was just one of an estimated 18,000 file-sharers to be sued for copyright infringement by the RIAA in the first half of the 2000s. It was a questionable strategy — and an expensive one. From 2006 through 2008, the RIAA spent more than $64 million on legal fees and investigations to recoup just $1.4 million in settlements.
In late 2008, the RIAA changed tack, redoubling its lobbying efforts. By 2011, it had spent more than $90 million pushing for legislation that would help protect copyright and its legacy business models.
