Illegal downloaders do create victims.

Jammie Thomas did and now must pay them – the copyright owners and record label companies – more than $9,000 a piece for only 24 songs she downloaded. Now, young users of music find that difficult to swallow.

Thomas’ lawsuit is the first of its type to go to trial, according to a CBS News story. Six record companies rightly accused Thomas of downloading the songs without permission and offering them online through a Kazaa file-sharing account.

Despite Thomas’ repeated denial of any wrongdoing and testimony that she doesn’t have a Kazaa account, a jury levied $222,000 in damages against her – a harsh fine because you can buy the music online for a dollar.

Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, said the record companies’ victory will make it easier for them to win other downloading cases.

“No one would argue that going into a music store and taking a CD without paying for it isn’t stealing,” Pybus said. “But when you download a song, there is nothing tangible, so it’s harder for people to understand that it is stealing.”

The Copyright Law of 1976 states the person who created the work or other owner of the copyright exercises control over its distribution. Unfortunately the computer age makes determining illegal distribution difficult. How do you tell if a student bought the song playing on her iPod or took it off a Kazaa account?

Let’s not blame just the illegal downloaders for the wrongdoing. “The industry needs to change; it should have embraced electronic downloading, not have been forced into it by Apple and iTunes; but it didn’t, and now the record labels and the artists are hurting,” Pybus said.

The court sent a message that stealing violates the law, and certainly Thomas suffers from the court’s desire to create a chilling effect. Despite our inclination to believe that technology creates a new freedom, we must obey the law.