Oct. 7 -- What The Rest Of The Internet Is Talking About:

The recording industry's victory over defendant in first file sharing case to go to court.

She has to pay them, like, over $200,000 for some songs she shared online.

I think this verdict will make this situation horrible for small-time digital thieves.

First, this will embolden the RIAA; it is likely that they will pursue a greater number of future cases, more fervently.

Second, this will make people everywhere really scared of going online and doing anything remotely illegal.

This isn't actually a solution for a broken and obsolete business model; like the little hack I wrote about in my previous post, it's a quick fix that doesn't really strike at the root of the problem. Unlike the little hack I wrote about, this verdict could have far-reaching and potentially liberty-reducing effects.

What good can come of this for anyone but the recording industry? Is this even good for them in the long term? It certainly won't work forever.