“Please no Spam, flaming (attacking others), trolling, and posting off-topic.”

Aren’t we still on the internet? Or did I take a wrong turn?

(Just kidding)

Imagine how much of a fuster-cluck we might be in if there were no one willing to set an example of how to fight tyranny. How is it that we have forgotten that LAW is made by PEOPLE and instead seem to be allowing LAW to subjugate the common good and common sense? Law is not the judge of morality, only a set of agreed upon boundaries, and should have no power over what we decide it ought to have. If the battle is going to be fought on legal ground then we must start standing on the field in order to fight, else lose by forfeit anyway. Even if he walked into it, it was the proper thing to do.

Without fear there is no courage, and courage is usually an excellent deterrent to bullies. Especially when one little picked-on nerd starts to inspire a mob into resistance.

Senor tinfoil, we agree with what you’ve said. However, as far we are concerned, the results are obviously unfortunate for Joel, but we feel (not as sensitive as a spider-sense kind of feeling), that he somehow walked right into this. He seems to have known the score and what he was doing, but sadly (for him), was caught.

From what little (we admit) we know of the case and the circumstances, we feel that this is not a matter of right and wrong, at least in the eyes of the law, which says that Joel was wrong, plain and simple. This is now appears to be a matter of wrong and right, fair and unfair in terms of what he did and the fine imposed.

Which leads us to conclude that this whole thing is nothing but one cluster-f*ck.

Cheers …

I haven’t got a problem with anything you’ve said.
I feel exactly the same.

I’ve been completely disappointed from Day 1 about the way Nesson’s been treating this whole thing, and the people they’ve chosen to give free legal services to. The file sharing world needs a better representation than it’s getting right now in the first so many court cases.

Yes! I appreciate Nesson giving a few people free services. And, No! I don’t think Jammie or Joel deserved anything near what they’ve gotten so far. But, this thing’s far bigger and far more important than just the 3 of them – and I don’t appreciate the charity being wasted on people who are guilty of knowingly pushing their luck too far in the first place. And, I don’t appreciate some old grandstander, who obviously doesn’t fully understand what he’s defending himself, coming into the picture and completely THROWING IT ALL AWAY FOR EVERYONE ELSE!

Thing is, readers want to be kept up to date on it.

On my own blog I made a suggestion several months back that I was thinking of discontinuing coverage of the case, because I couldn’t bear to watch it and because the outcome would be meaningless. My readers voted 13-1 to urge me to continue coverage notwithstanding.

So, there you have it. Readers want to know about it.

I’ll admit I’ve not been able to follow the case too well, but here’s what the summary as I see it.

Joel gets offered a settlement. Joel declines. It comes out later that Joel has been busted once before with a letter (from his ISP?) gently suggestion he C&D all his file sharing activities.
Joel gets hooked up with a well known, if not somewhat .. quirky lawyer who decides that he can possibly beat the odds. This after Jamie gets hammered.
Judge tosses out the only remotely reasonable defense, fair use. I’m not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but to me even that was a pretty big stretch. I sure hope he warmed up first and didn’t pull anything.
Joel cops to file sharing and admits to lying about it previously.

He’s not a martyr, he’s a bloody fool. I don’t see the point in publicizing this case other than to point out to other possible defendants that it’s best to get a second, or third, opinion from other lawyers. At least Jamie had a fighting chance originally. The way to change the laws, in my opinion, is not through the courts – it’s going to be changed through legislation.

Flame away, I’m certain I’ve said something worthy of it.