RIAA Verdict: Mom, Pay $220,000 For Using Kazaa

After less than four hours of deliberations, a federal jury in Duluth, Minnesota handed the RIAA a victory in the first file-sharing case to go to trial, finding that Jammie Thomas, a 30 year old mother of two, willfully infringed on the record labels' copyrights, awarding them $222,000 in damages.
This was notable because it is the first of the RIAA lawsuits to go to trial. Of course, they'll never see that money. She will likely file bankruptcy and at best they will garnish her wages for the rest of her life.

The RIAA hopes that this and the 20,000 other cases serve as a deterrent to would-be file-sharers, but the question of whether or not the music industry is engendering so much hostility and bad press with its campaign that it outweighs any short-term benefits remains. With a verdict in their favor, the RIAA hopes to ratchet the campaign of fear up a notch and says it will press forward with its legal campaign.

This will no doubt bolster the RIAA's shotgun lawsuit campaign.
Whatever happens, if you share music online, it is evident that the RIAA is watching you.
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