So, the RIAA decided to sue Allofmp3 for the enormous sum of 1.65 trillion dollars. Yes that is right guys, it is not million, nor billion – it is trillion. How did they come up with this amount of money ? They took a look at the sales of allofmp3 and came up with the figure of 11 million mp3 sales in about 6 months. They then decided to multiply this number by 150000 (which is the maximum amount chargeable by law) and came up with the number.

Will the RIAA finally be able to knockout the underdog ? Even if the RIAA wins this case it won’t have an effect on the Russian mp3 site because it would only affect them if they would run their business from the United States. As long as they don’t come stateside they are probably on the safe side.
I personally think that is is ridiculous to demand $150000 for every single song that has been downloaded from the allofmp3 website. The proportions get way out of line here.

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Now. What would you do ? Would you fight for the chance to win this uphill battle risking everything you got in the course of it ? Or would you give in although you might have every right to link to those websites and shows ? It is indeed a difficult question and I’m really not sure how I would react if I would face such a situation.

Would you personally say that linking to a movie on youtube for instance is illegal if the movie itself has been illegally uploaded to the site ? Would not it make more sense to sue youtube instead – they are hosting the content. So, why didn’t they sue google instead ? Could it be that google has enough money to hire some lawyers who would defend their site ? Could it be that Fox is not interested in a ruling at all ?

The same tactics can be witnessed when RIAA lawyers sue people. Most can’t afford lawyers and do what the RIAA lawyers tell them. The people that fight the ruling normally win and the RIAA backs out.

The main question however is the following: If it is indeed illegal to link to illegal content why aren’t they suing the search engines ? What if a website changes content and has now something illegally on their site ? Do webmasters have to check all the sites that they link to every day to make sure there is nothing hosted on them that could get them in trouble ?

Where will this end ? Can they sue me if I talk to someone in person and tell him that he should search for Simpsons on youtube to find and watch the latest episodes ? What if someone does not link directly to the shows but to a search results page ? Still illegal ? What if he writes down the name that his visitors should search for and links only to the main address of the video hosting site ? Still illegal ?

Where does it end ?

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