RIAA wins first lawsuit, defendant to pay $9250 per song

Well it most definitely will scare people out of sharing music. They might have just used her as an example. It's just sad that they had to pick a single mother and ruin her life because she shared 24 songs.

I will go as far as to admit that sharing songs is immoral, though I've done it myself. However, I do not think the punishment fits the crime, in this case. Her downloading and sharing 24 songs could very well have cost the music industry $220,000, though it's unlikely. We will assume, for argument's sake, that it did. The music industry does not get it's life ruined because it's out $220,000. However, that's going to absolutely ruin this lady. She's going to end up filing bankrupcy, her credit will be ruined. She probably wont be able to send her kids to college because she will have horrible credit. They will have to do it on their own, which is entirely possible, but a lot harder.

There needs to be some sort of proportional punishment, I guess that's what I'm trying to say. If the music industry has billions of dollars, and this lady prevented $220,000 from going to them, they need to proportionally make her pay for it. A few thousand, maybe. $220,000, no.