Minnesota woman charged $1.9 million for illegally downloading music

It appears that Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year-old woman from Minnesota, should have stuck to iTunes. According to CNN, on Thursday a jury found Thomas-Rasset guilty of illegally downloading music through the Kazaa Internet service and fined her on a piecemeal basis of $80,000 per song—bringing the total to $1.9 million for 24 songs—which she must pay to the recording industry.

The Associated Press reports that the jury found Thomas-Rasset guilty of willful infringement of copyright laws, which increased the penalty she received. However, her attorney, Kiwi Camara, stated that they had not yet decided whether they will appeal or pursue the Recording Industry Association of America's settlement overtures. A spokeswoman for the RIAA said that they have been and are still willing to settle. She mentioned that Thomas-Rasset had been given an opportunity earlier in the case to settle for $3,000 to $5,000.

This was the second time Thomas-Rasset's case had gone to trial. In 2007, she was fined $222,000 total, but the judge threw out the verdict after deciding that he had given the jury "incorrect instructions," according to an article in The New York Times.