Woman who "file-shared" 24 songs (worth less than $50 on iTunes) hit with $1.92 million verdict

According to the Associated Press, last week a jury awarded a verdict of $1.92 million dollars against Jammie Tomas-Rasset on behalf of a music industry plaintiff.  She had placed 24 songs on the music-sharing site Kazaa.  The songs could have been purchased on iTunes for $1.99 each, according to her attorney. 

This was the woman's second trial, as the judge had previously overturned a $222,000.00 verdict against her as "wholly disproportionate."  Chances are the outcome will be similar this time, particularly since the Supreme Court, in the Exxon Valdez case, recently overturned the punitive damage case against Exxon, even though it represented only a few weeks' profit.  Spokespersons for the Progress & Freedom Foundation's Center for Study of Digital Property (a so-called "free market think tank" fronting for big-money supporters) supported the verdict as "fairly seek[ing] to punish and deter such flagrant wrongdoing."