CNN interview with one of the four college students sued by the RIAA for contributory copyright infringement:
- BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A story we talked about yesterday want to pick up again today. The recording industry opening up a new front in its fight against file sharing over the Internet. For the very first time, individuals are paying damages for the very first time over accusations of music downloading. Four college students have agreed to pay between $12,000 and $17,000 to settle a lawsuit. None has admitted to any wrongdoing. On Sunday, students at Rensaleer (ph) Polytech Institute in upstate New York showed their support for one of the students, Jesse Jordan. Jesse's an RPI freshman. He'll pay $12,000 in that settlement.
Jesse Jordan is live with us today from Albany, New York, along with his father, Andy Jordan, who's live in New York City.
Good morning to both of you.
Hey, Jesse, why do you think the government came after you?
JESSE JORDAN, SETTLED LAWSUIT WITH RECORDING INDUSTRY: Well, actually it was the recording industry association. I believe they came after me to make an example, because they are trying to fight piracy at college campuses.
HEMMER: You run a search engine at your campus, right?
JORDAN: Yes, my search engine is much like Google. You can pretty much use it to search for any type of file.
HEMMER: Jesse, could I access music on that search engine?
JORDAN: You could search for music, you could search for any other type of file as well.
HEMMER: So If I found music, could I download it to my computer?
JORDAN: Yes, you could download music. You can do that from any search engine as well. Actually, Alta Vista has their own MP3 search engine which you can use to download music.
HEMMER: So if that's the case then, what did the government — or I'm sorry, I apologize again — what did the RIAA, the recording industry, come after you and say that you were guilty of?
JORDAN: They said I'm guilty of contributory copyright infringement, which would mean that I assist people in downloading copyrighted material and direct infringement.
HEMMER: So you agreed to pay $12,000. You're not admitting any guilt here. Why pay the money, Jesse?
JORDAN: I don't really have the resources to defend this case in court, so I don't really have much of a choice. I also don't have the time, because I'm very busy in college.
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