Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I must respectfully disagree. The purpose of the RIAA is not to "be nice" to people, but to punish criminals.
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Harry, I do not know how it is in Britain, but in the United States there is no private right to criminal prosecution. I agree that piracy is a crime and should be punished, but in the U.S. only a government agency that has prosecutorial powers can punish criminals by bringing a criminal action to a court, which (i.e., the court) determines guilt, innocence, and punishment.
The RIAA has not sought to punish criminals but to collect money in large enough quantities from individuals to make people think twice. The problem is that the RIAA does it without proof; it does it by simply threatening to overwhelm you with debt -- kind of like a debtor's prison with the RIAA being the jailer.
The RIAA brings no proof to the table, because if it did, it would be much better to turn the evidence over to the legitimate prosecuting authorities -- long jail sentences are a better deterrent than taking money from a 14-year-old who doesn't have any. But the RIAA doesn't turn any evidence over because they do not have any that would stand up in a criminal prosecution. The RIAA abuses the American judicial system because it has the money to do so, not because it is right.