Quote:
Originally Posted by spellbanisher
I think massive fines for copyright infringement falls under the fourth principle.
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Fines need to be proportionate to the value of the property obtained, but I still maintain that to be a meaningful punishment, the fine needs to be a multiple of retail value of the goods, or else it's no deterrent at all. If you know that you can download movies that would cost you $1000 to buy legally, and that you'll only be fined $500 for doing so even in the unlikely event of being caught, then why on Earth would you buy them legally when you can download them, and know that even if you're caught you'll still get them for half price? You need to know that you'll be fined, say, $10000 for your $1000 download for it to be a deterrent.
It's not a valid defence to say "but it's not worth $1000 to me, so it's wrong to fine me $10000".