Ars Technica reports on the PRO-IP Act, new proposed copyright legislation where copyright infringement in the case of CD albums would award statutory damages on each individual song:
The issue is compilations, which now are treated as a single work. In the RIAA's perfect world, each copied track would count as a separate act of infringement, meaning that a copying a ten-song CD even one time could end up costing a defendant $1.5 million if done willfully.
Hmmmm...I guess all those poor college students trading files aren't paying nearly enough in restitution.
But seriously, isn't it about time that any new, proposed copyright legislation reflected the interests of society rather than those of the content industry and their lobbyists? We should be reducing non-commercial copyright infringement damages and expanding fair use, not attempting to move the currently disproportionate intellectual property situation further in the wrong direction.