Hefty fine for French downloader

Found on BBC on Thursday, 03 February 2005
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A schoolteacher in France has been fined 10,200 euros (£7,033) for illegally swapping hundreds of music albums on the internet.

Officials said he was one of the worst offenders for sharing music online, making available up to 10,000 songs.

He also had his computer confiscated and was ordered to take out newspaper advertisements announcing the verdict and punishment.

The court case came as 70 musicians, academics and politicians signed a petition calling for a halt to legal action against people who download music for their own use.

"Like at least eight million other French people, we have also downloaded music online and are thus part of a growing number of 'criminals'. We ask that these absurd lawsuits stop," the petition published in the Nouvel Observateur states.

What is by far more interesting than the lawsuit itself is the reaction of musicians. They don't want the music industry to sue people. So, if we sum it up, the users don't want to be sued, and the musicians don't want those lawsuits as well (although the industry says it protects them). Everybody could be happy and sharing if it wasn't for the industry, who is just doing what it wants.