 BILL
HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A story we talked about yesterday want to pick up
again today. The recording industry opening up a new front in its fight
against file sharing over the Internet. For the very first time,
individuals are paying damages for the very first time over accusations of
music downloading. Four college students have agreed to pay between
$12,000 and $17,000 to settle a lawsuit. None has admitted to any
wrongdoing. On Sunday, students at Rensaleer (ph) Polytech Institute in
upstate New York showed their support for one of the students, Jesse
Jordan. Jesse's an RPI freshman. He'll pay $ 12,000 in that
settlement.
HEMMER: You know, Andy, I think a lot people -- and I
asked your son this; I'll ask you it as well, if you weren't guilty, why
pay the cash? It's a lot of money, especially for a college student.
A. JORDAN, JESSE'S FATHER: We didn't have any choice. The RIAA had
a deadline. What they didn't tell the press, when they first hit Jesse
with the papers, is while they were serving the papers on him, they also
had a letter that they didn't give to the press and they told us that, oh,
that was supposed to be the cover letter to the papers that he received,
gee, we'll get it to right away. It was an offer to settle.
HEMMER: Jesse, now this has been settled, I'm assuming you're able
to go back to your studies and find some work as to make up for the lost
cause here. Can the record industry, do you believe right now, knowing the
efforts with Napster going back a few years ago, can the RIAA shut down
search engines and prevent them from sharing music at any point, whether
it takes a month, a year, or five years down the road?
J. JORDAN:
I don't believe so. I don't believe that their intimidation really is
going to work, just like the recent rulings about Grokster (ph) and
Morpheus. I think that the search engine that I ran is legal. I did plan
to bring it back up in the next day or two.
HEMMER: You used the
word intimidation. Do you believe that's what it is?
J. JORDAN:
Yes, basically. I don't think it's going to work either. People are still
sharing the same amount of files. There's still actually a search engine
available right now at RPI. |
