The US Department of Justice on Wednesday finally broke its silence and defended the $1.92 million fine against peer-to-peer user Jammie Thomas-Rasset, saying that the amount of damage penalties were what the Congress intended to impose against the file-sharer.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the justice department said that the amount imposed as penalty against Rasset was constitutional.
The statement also pointed that the US Congress wanted the landmark case to “fall like a stone” to file-shares, even those who are noncommercial P2P users.
It will be recalled that Rasset was convicted by a US court after the Recording Industry Association of America accused her illegal downloading and sharing files in the P2P networks.
According to the court documents, the file-sharer owed record companies $80, 000 per song she had downloaded for the file-sharing platform. Rasset’s counsels claimed that the amount was unconstitutional.
To date, some 18, 000 people were facing similar charges from RIAA.
Meanwhile, the DOJ stressed that the amount of the fine posted against the file-sharer were precisely asked by the Congress on such cases. The agency also said that the amount was part of the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999, which allows the increase of statutory damages up to $150, 000 per infringement violation.
The Congress, during that time, argued that the steep penalty was necessary and does not apply only to corporate business but also to individuals who are often the violators of the copyright law.
It added that these people were intentionally violating the law since they have the thinking that they will not be caught by authorities or even end up into prosecution.
The Justice Department said that high-penalties, based on studies, defer millions of users from committing the same offenses as Rasset.
Meanwhile, the RIAA expressed gratitude to the government for maintaining the fine imposed against Rasset, saying that their views are consistent with the administration.
Are you a professional journalist? You write very well.