RIAA v. Joel Tenenbaum

Image via CrunchBase

Early this morning, I Stumbled Upon Joel Tenenbaum's blog about his fight with the RIAA. After reading that coupled with the story that the Guardian published today, I fail to see what the RIAA hopes to accomplish. They are taking Joel to court because he shared 30 songs. Originally, they asked for a settlement of $3,000. Joel sent them $500 saying that it was as much as he could afford. The RIAA felt that this was not acceptible. They had his computer seized and hard drive taken as evidence. They have done everything that they legally can to make his life as hard as possible. Luckily Professor Nesson of Harvard Law heard of his plight and offered his help as well as the help of his students. This is where we stand now.

I cannot understand what they plan to accomplish. Even if the RIAA wins the case, there is no way that they can collec the money because Joel simply does nothave it. He is not even paying for his legal counsel. They can try to make an example of Joel, but Joel already has thousands, maybe even millions of dedicated supporters. The RIAA is only costing themselves legal fees. If they lose Prof. Nesson will definitely file a countersuit, which will be successful. The RIAA has dug themselves into a hole that they can't get out of.

My prediction Joel Tenebaum 1, RIAA 0, Joel worlds newest millionaire