ISPs In Australia Raided In MP3 Case - Exaggerated Loss Claims Already Announced

from the oh-please dept

Australian officials apparently raided a number of local ISPs to gather information about someone who is sharing MP3s online. The ISPs gladly gave up the info - and even said they don't see what the big deal is, since they get requests like this all the time. What's different this time, is that they're making claims that the MP3s in this case are valued at $60 million. Here is yet another ridiculously exagerated loss claim. It's based on the idea that every single MP3 downloaded would have been bought at inflated retail CD prices. That's simply not true. The vast majority of people who downloaded whatever MP3s they found probably wouldn't have paid for the CD if they didn't get the MP3. Even worse, there's been plenty of evidence suggesting that many people who do get free MP3s use it to sample music that they later go out and buy. The $60 million claim will draw plenty of headlines, and probably get some poor kid thrown away for a few years - but it's simply wrong.

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