File-sharing Boston student fined, but it's a hollow victory for music industry...

HOW MUCH is a stolen song worth? $22,500, according to a jury in Boston, in a copyright case with serious implications for the music industry. Joel Tenenbaum, a postgraduate student at Boston University, admitted sharing tracks online during sworn testimony in which he acted as if the record business itself was on trial. He has been ordered to pay damages of $675,000.

Despite the verdict, Tenenbaum claimed he had succeeded in drawing attention to the heavy-handed prosecution of file-sharing. "My whole point is that I didn't do anything wrong," he said. "That being the case, I say, yes, I downloaded the music'. There's no point in denying it - and we don't feel that a generation should have to deny it."

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The Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) will declare victory, but it is a hollow triumph. "It's going to cause a lot more backlash than they're able to deal with. It definitely doesn't make them look reasonable," Tenenbaum said. "They've spent $1m on chasing me with the most expensive legal team in the business. I don't have $1m, so who's making money out of this? It's not the artists. It's the lawyers." Full story...

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