I don't need evidence in a court of law!

Or at least, the MPAA thinks that they shouldn't.  

The Motion Picture Association of America said  Friday intellectual-property holders should have the right to collect damages, perhaps as much as $150,000 per copyright violation, without having to prove infringement.

"Mandating such proof could thus have the pernicious effect of depriving copyright owners of a practical remedy against massive copyright infringement in many instances," MPAA attorney Marie L. van Uitertwrote Friday to the federal judge overseeing the Jammie Thomas trial.

"It is often very difficult, and in some cases, impossible, to provide such direct proof when confronting modern forms of copyright infringement, whether over P2P networks or otherwise; understandably, copyright infringers typically do not keep records of infringement," van Uitert wrote on behalf of the movie studios, a position shared with the Recording Industry Association of America, which sued Thomas, the single mother of two.

Well, yes.  Even in civil suits, we still live in a country with, you know, freedom and a justice system and all that.  And that justice system operates on the idea that the burden of proof rests on the accuser, not the accused.  "But that makes it really hard!" is not a valid argument to do away with that.

Look, MPAA and RIAA: Stop charging so damn much for your mediocre products.  Stop being control freaks and trying to tell us how we can and can't use the media we purchase.  Most people assume that when you purchase a movie or a CD, you're buying a copy of that movie or CD, and not the rights to watch it.  Don't try to install any software on my computer*.  Just make the media affordable and available under reasonable terms, and a lot of this problem will die down.

*Yes, I'm talking to you, Sony.  But I'm also talking to every damn DVD publisher that insists on bundling an automatic installer for some damn 3rd-party media player on the disc.  No one wants that, because we've all got enough damn media players already.  Stop it.