Some wonderful statistics...

We all love the RIAA, don't we? Let’s take a look at some of their activity over the past few years.

During the last two years, the RIAA has filed over 14,800 lawsuits suing individuals over copyright infringement (swapping music online). Of those lawsuits, only one actually went to court. That means everyone else choose to settle the case at an average settlement of $3,000.

Lets do some math, shall we?
14,800 lawsuits times $3,000 per settlement = $44.4 million.
$44.4 million divided by 365 days per year times 2 years = $60,821.92
$60,821.92 divided by 24 hours/day by 60 minutes/hour = $42.24
$42.24 divided by 60 seconds per minute = $0.70

Lets review, shall we?
The RIAA files 14,800 lawsuits with no judicial review (their suits only require the signature of a clerk). Since people cannot afford to perform a legal battle with a megacorp such as the RIAA, they quickly settle. Meanwhile, the RIAA rakes in money at just over 70 cents a second.

Does this sound like a extortion to you?

And yet I wonder how much of this money makes its way back to "the struggling artists."