http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/RIAA-sues-col...--per-song.html<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>A while ago we reported you that the RIAA had sued four university students who were operating file-search services on their school's internal networks. Thanks to scum1 we can read a follow-up story on this news, over at The Freep.com.It seems that the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has gone mad this time since they've sued one of the students for the astronomical figure of $ 150.000 per song, the maximum allowed by law:Lawsuits against four college students accused of trading copyrighted songs are the biggest punch yet by the recording industry against its core audience, and has experts worried that the next step will be suing the colleges themselves.The damages sought by the suits are astronomical: $ 150,000 per song, the maximum allowed by law. Multiply that by the 652,000 or so songs the RIAA alleges student Joseph Nievelt offered to other Michigan Tech students on his service, and the scope of the suit is clear.That total? About $ 97.8 trillion -- yes, trillion with a T -- or enough money to buy every CD sold in America last year over again for the next 120,000 years, according to RIAA statistics. And that's just Nievelt's case.RIAA senior vice president for business and legal affairs Matthew Oppenheim said the suits are intended to send a clear message to anyone running these types of services that punishment will be swift and severe.According to the article the RIAA's purpose of these ridiculous suits is to intimidate future and current file-sharers.</div>God danm.
