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Posted by ctrlc in News, Editorials (Friday March 31, 2006 at 4:17 pm)

As of today, an estimated 18,337 Internet users have had suit filed against them by the RIAA for the alleged distribution of copyrighted materials.

I get these figures from a Janurary 2006 article at Slyck.com, in which Slyck states that as of January 31st there have been 16,837. Since then, in the month of February and the month of March there has been 750 more sued for each, resulting in the number at the top.

Most RIAA lawsuits against individual file-swappers result in the defendant settling with the RIAA to avoid going to court and possibly losing against the multi-billion dollar organization.

Generally, these suits are settled at $3,000 USD to $6,000 USD. I have seen in the past few years a $2,000 or a $7,000 every now and then, but for argument’s sake, we will say the average settled lawsuit is $5,000, since this appears most frequently.

Let’s say all 18,337 USA citizens sued have settled for $5,000 USD each, to avoid going to court and possibly losing their homes. That would give the RIAA massive profits of $91,685,000! The RIAA has profited nearly $100million by suing individual who are too helpless to fight back, since their ’sue em’ all’ campaign began, years ago.

Despite Music Industry studies which indicate that P2P users are more likely to purchase music, and P2P does not damage music sales, the RIAA continues to sue the magic number of 750 people a month.

Since the beginning of the RIAA’s sue-em-all campaign, file-sharing has only increased in the United States and globally. This proves that the RIAA is completely inaffective in deterring users from downloading music ‘illegally’.

Therefore, there can only be one true motive lying behind the lawsuits, that being monetary gain, of course. With their campaign proving inaffective, their profits higher than ever, and domestic studies proving P2P does not damage sales, the RIAA continues to sue to make mass-profits for their own pockets.

Nearly $100 million stolen by the hands of the RIAA, and our government standing by idly, allowing it to happen.

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hello thar