PiracyWatch: RIAA Wins Case Against Individual Who Destroyed Evidence

By Eriq Gardner

Very few cases brought by the RIAA against alleged copyright pirates have seen judgment. So in a big victory for the music industry, Arizona resident Jeffrey Howell has been ordered to pay $40,850 for infringing copyrights over the Kazaa network.

The case previously made headlines because the judge in the case rejected the RIAA's position that "making available" copyrighted songs on P2P networks qualifies as infringement. But the judge in the case also didn't take kindly to Howell's apparent eradication of the evidence on his computer.

Fred von Lohmann at the EFF thinks that Howell should have hired an attorney instead of trying to represent himself.