“TROY, N.Y. — One of four college students accused by the recording industry of making songs available for illegal downloading says he collected the money for his $12,000 fine online.
“Thanks to the many generous people out there, I have recovered my savings,” read a posting on 19-year-old Jesse Jordan’s Web site. “Please don’t send me any more money.”
Jordan, a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was able to raise the money just six weeks after the Recording Industry Association of America announced settlements with four students it claimed stored songs on servers accessible through their schools’ high-speed Internet networks.
Jordan, who admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, solicited donations on his personal Web site, www.chewplastic.com.
More than 900 people made donations from around the world, according to his father, Andy Jordan. The donations _ which ranged from about 10 cents to $500 _ picked up after other Web sites either took up the cause or reported on Jesse’s solicitation, he said.
“It just took off as the story got bigger and bigger,” Andy Jordan said Thursday.
Matt Oppenheim, the RIAA’s senior vice president for business and legal affairs, said it didn’t matter how Jordan got the money.
“He stared down the barrel of a massive lawsuit,” Oppenheim said. “I’d be very surprised if he or anybody else who is familiar with this would want to have to face this again.”
Jesse Jordan is home for the summer on Long Island and could not immediately be reached Thursday. He has been critical of the RIAA, which on Wednesday announced it would escalate its fight against piracy by suing hundreds of individual computer users who illegally share music files online.
“This is only going to alienate people,” Andy Jordan said, adding that a lot of the online donations included comments like: “I’m sending this to you instead of buying a CD.”
Jordan and one other accused student attend RPI. The other two attend Princeton University and Michigan Technological University. Jordan’s site now includes a link urging people to help one of the other students pay his $15,000 settlement.”
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