Jammie Thomas must pay the RIAA 1.9 million dollars for downloading 24 songs. This was not a reprehensible act, but maybe showed some poor judgement. I'm guessing that those 24 songs could be downloaded from say, Rhapsody, for 99 cents a piece. How much of that 99 cents would have gone to the RIAA? A few pennies? Just how great is the disparity of the judgement and the actual harm?
Its hard to understand how a rational and thinking judge could come to such a verdict. Maybe he was just following the "letter of the law," in which case the lawmakers responsible should be investigated for corruption.