On Thursday, Jammie Thomas, a 30-year-old woman in Minnesota, was found liable for $222,000 in damages to the recording industry for the sin of downloading and sharing 24 songs on Kazaa.
The fine is unconscionable; at most, she ought to pay $23.76 -- 99 cents per download, the fair market price of the goods she's accused of "stealing." Now Thomas, a single mother of two who makes $36,000 a year as an environmental cleanup grant coordinator, has put up an online appeal for monetary help.
You can donate to Thomas at freejammie.com. So far, she's raised $957 in PayPal donations. On her blog, Thomas explains that the money "is being placed into a trust account in my name ... so the RIAA cannot attack it as an asset. I don't know the legal specifics, but that's the gist of it."
She adds: "I cannot thank you enough for everything. Not to sound too sappy, but it makes me cry thinking how much you all support me."
Thomas also says that her lawyers have decided to appeal the case.
Here is Thomas's video appeal for help:
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