If 10 people are sharing a file, it is kinda questionable that should result in 90 instances of pirating (9 x 10) when there's only 10 people and 1 song involved.
I guess you could argue that if 5 people worked together to steal a car, they all get charged with attempted theft of that car. In other words 1 person doesn't get charged and 4 get to go free, or they don't all get charged with attempted theft of 1/5 of a car.
I would think though that could be an argument against the supposed lost revenue. I'm sure the content companies are doing the math to show the highest figures possible.
That's exactly my point - it doesn't seem right that the industry should be able to claim large amounts for every person involved because they would be getting an exponentially larger amount of money than the actual damages.
Using the car example, the car owner shouldn't be awarded 4x the value of the car just because 4 people were involved.
I guess you could argue that if 5 people worked together to steal a car, they all get charged with attempted theft of that car. In other words 1 person doesn't get charged and 4 get to go free, or they don't all get charged with attempted theft of 1/5 of a car.
I would think though that could be an argument against the supposed lost revenue. I'm sure the content companies are doing the math to show the highest figures possible.