A bunch of stupid questions that I couldn't figure out myself:

How did she get singled out for prosecution? Is 1700 songs a lot for a KazaA user? Aside the obvious (setting a precedence against music-sharing individuals), why did RIAA go after a person vs. KaZaA itself for providing the vehicle for illegal activity?

More importantly, should I be concerned about having downloaded Flirtin' With Disaster?

As far as my understanding goes ... I think they've gone after a lot of people, but up until now they've all settled out of court and paid a comparitively small sum. This woman fought back and lost.

Someone outside her window with a laptop, that's hysterical. Good point about going after Kazaa instead.
The only concern you should have about having downloading "Flirtin' with Disaster" is acquiring a wall of speakers from which to blast it from.

Where is Kazaa hosted? I know the infamous PirateBay staved off a lot of legal action by being hosted not in the US. I think also there is a legal defense that P2P providers just provide a service/product how their users use it is (so they claim) beyond their control. Essentially saying just as we don't bring legal action against Ford for making a product that kills large numbers of people a year because they are not liable for how their vehicles are used.
Outside her window may be a silly way to state it, but if she does indeed have unsecured WiFi it is not inconceivable that the family/frat boys/whomever next door have use of it.

OK - Sharman Industries is the parent company for KaZaA, and they're incorporated in Vanuatu. So Edgeways is probably right on how the Web site isn't under prosecution in this case.

[Research, sadly, from here.]

What were the 24 songs?

There are several wi-fi networks on my block, some secured, some not secured. If you have an unsecured network, it's not only "not inconceivable" that a neighbor is using it, but probable.

Never mind -- at least, here are some of the albums songs are from:

Appetite for Destruction -- G'n'R
The Comfort Zone -- Vanessa Williams
Control -- Janet Jackson
Frontiers -- Journey
Let it Loose -- Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
Get a Grip -- Aerosmith
Hysteria -- Def Leppard
If You See Him -- Reba McEntire

Appetite is probably worth $220k, but I'd be pretty sad about getting nailed for sharing "Armegeddon It".

Not that the whole thing doesn't suck, but I don't think the frat boys broke into her house, hacked her password, logged on with her computer, and downloaded songs she liked, burned them, then went home... forgetting to uninstall kazaa and deleted said files.

The one thing that clinched it for me was her hard drive. According to the DNT, the hard drive she had when the files were shared/stolen was replaced or cleaned when the RIAA swooped in. So if she was a victim of laptop bandit, her hard drive would have exonerated her not convicted her. So why get rid of it? The other bit of damning evidence was the fact that the songs stolen lined up to her own tastes in music. I mean if there had been any decent music on there other than GNR, than I would have to say that the possibility that someone else downloaded the music may fit. Damn I bet she's kicking herself for turning down that sweet $3000 settlement offer.

KazaA is simply a file sharing device/site/software. Which means you can use it to share any kind of file. It is up to the user to decide to share copyrighted material.

and, cork, "armageddon it" is on the album "armageddon it", not "hysteria". let's give the leppard some room to breathe here.

Handful of misconceptions going on here—I'll do my best to clear some of them up:

• It doesn't matter where KazaA is hosted (somewhat*). It is peer-to-peer software. My computer can be a peer and your computer can be a peer; we just don't know each other. Unless you hire unscrupulous companies to hack/monitor KazaA network traffic. (* KazaA and similar use the argument that their product is "neutral," read: what you do with it can be legal/illegal, but the software itself cannot be blamed.)

• P2P (especially more modern, less virus riddled applications) make finding who is part of a P2P network rather difficult. Truncated files can be downloaded from multiple sources and pieced back together. File and peer locations can have their addresses reassigned frequently and all sorts of other anonymizing techniques—just ask those wacky Russians.

• She was technically found guilty of uploading music—or, rather, making music available that others could download. They eluded to her having acquired the files illegally, but they threw the book at her for uploading.

• The RIAA has sent out about 20,000 "notices" to alleged downloaders across the country (also probably uploaders, because otherwise they'd have to admit that they are actively scrutinizing private citizen's network traffic—see unscrupulous above—which would be, um... bad).

• Most of the RIAA notices get settled for around $3,000. This lady went to court because she believed her attorney's fees and the settlement fee were "about the same."

• The RIAA's been hitting (smaller) colleges with some pretty blanket notices. And though they've gleefully asked, Harvard ('s law program department) has not received one yet.

• The jury awarded around $9,300/song. The RIAA was arguing for $150,000/song.

• Two days ago one of Sony/BMG's head legal council said she believed that ripping music (i.e. from the CD you purchased to play on your iPod or to play in your car) is copyright infringement and illegal. If you want to play that album in your car, you need to pay for another copy. If you want to play it on your iPod, you need to buy another copy.

• Rootkit, anyone?

• The hard drive they analyzed for the trial was less than a month old. If they'd gotten her old, defective one, I'm guessing you'd be able to add a 0 to the $222,000.

I believe her name, Jammie, should be pronounced like the colloquial form of pajamas (jammies), not like Jaimie or Jaymie, etc. That second "m" turns the long "a" into a short one. I mean, where does it end? Why don't we just start pronouncing "daughter" as...uh...bad example, sorry. Anyways she doesn't even like jam bands for cripes sake.

-and the "eclectic musical tastes" of Thomas that he said were reflected both on the hard drive and in the shared folder.-

Really.

Janet Jackson, Journey, Gloria Estafan, Reba McEntire...

What, no NKOTB, Garth Brooks, Bon Jovi or MC Hammer?
It MUST be eclectic.

btw, mayday, "Armageddon It" is from the LP Hysteria. There is no "Armageddon It" album. You must be thinking of the cassingle.

All this talk of crappy music reminds me of a joke. What has nine arms and sucks?

Def Leppard

How much would a person be fined if they just loaded their pants up with CDs and cassettes and ran out of the Goodwill?

One dollar.