The entire article can be found here. But don't miss the best part:On April 3, 19-year-old Jesse Jordan received a call that changed his life.
The freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., learned he was being sued by one of the most powerful trade groups in the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America.
Jordan, an information technology major, created ChewPlastic.com, the second most popular search directory on the RPI campus.
"You go to the site, you type in a search term, and it finds files on the network," Jordan said. Jordan compares his site to Google, the popular Internet search engine.
But the RIAA likens Jordan's site to Napster, the now defunct song-swap service that revolutionized the distribution of music.
"The service was no different than Napster," said Amy Weiss, senior vice president of communications for the RIAA. "With one click of a mouse, you can get music, you can get anything you wanted."
"The people who run these Napster networks know full well what they are doing: Operating a sophisticated network designed to enable widespread music thievery," RIAA President Cary Sherman said in a statement issued April 3.
"The lawsuits we've filed represent an appropriate step given the seriousness of the offense," Sherman added.
But Jordan did agree to pony up $12,000, his entire savings account, to the RIAA. Jordan and his father, Andy Jordan, felt the settlement was their best option.
"They agreed to allow Jesse to deny their allegations. They agreed to dismiss the case and all allegations against him," the father said. "Basically they agreed that he didn't do anything wrong, but [they're] taking his 12 grand."
Kali's tits, recording industry, what's next? Shaking down twelve year olds with MP3 players for their lunch money?