The RIAA uses systems to gather lists of alleged infringers,
and bulk-sues them. It has set a price that seems to be
profitable for it, while being low enough that it is not
profitable for the accused to mount a defence, as they do
not get the economies of scale involved.
If the above sentence doesn't scare you, we also have
the issue that for the big player, a few mistakes are
tolerable noise in the system. For the target of a mistake,
such as a person whose wireless network was used by
a neighbour, or a completely innocent person caught in an
ordinary error, we see no solution -- pay a settlement
of several thousands, or spend far more to fight in court.
We will need to adjust the legal system to deal with
spamigation. Mistakes in any bulk use of the law must
be punish, I suspect, with high penalties which eliminate
the economies of scale. Ie. if you threaten 100, and
1 defends and wins, penalties must exceed the settlements
of the entire 100, perhaps. And something must exist to
assure the innocent will defend themselves -- the potential
for punative damages may be insufficient.
