A Native woman from Minnesota is appealing her guilty verdict in a landmark Internet music sharing case.
Jammie Thomas, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians, was found guilty of sharing copyrighted music. She was ordered to pay $220,000 to record companies for 24 songs.
Thomas, a single mother of two, works her tribe and lives on the reservation. She has been updating her myspace blog to talk about the case and her financial situation.
"First, our tribe does not give out all the profits from our casinos to tribal members. Most of the profit from the casinos goes toward tribal programs, including our Community Development (housing and infrastructure), Health and Human Services (medical and dental clinics), Education (schools, including a newly formed tribal college) and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (hunting, fishing, wildlife, and land management); the exact department I work for," she wrote on Sunday.
She receives a per capita payment from the tribe's business enterprises, which amounts to $700 a month. Her tribal salary was not disclosed.
Thomas has also started FreeJammie.com to raise money for her legal fees. She said she raised $3,853.19 as of Monday.
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