When the record companies sent Jared an email asking for three thousand dollars for music he'd downloaded online, he was dumbstruck. He didn’t have that kind of money. And he definitely didn't have time to go to court.

Someone suggested I start selling illegal pirated music and movies. Pornography. They’re like 'well they’ve accused you of doing it so why don’t you do it?' I was like, uh, maybe.

He actually ended up using facebook to ask people for money. And it worked. Big time. Which proves that social networking sites are good for more than just poking. Listen to the whole radio story to find out which songs they accused him of downloading, how he paid up, and how you can avoid his fate.



Click here for a list of lawyers defending against RIAA lawsuits.

Music and sound in this piece come from Magnatune.com and the FreeSound project.

Labels: audio, college, technology