Free Republic

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) estimates that filesharing website LimeWire owes it over $72 trillion dollars (£46 trillion) in damages. In October 2010, Limewire was forced to shut down after a judge in the Federal District Court ruled that its main filesharing functions be disabled, but the RIAA is still actively pursuing its owners for damages. Given that the combined wealth of the entire planet is around $60 trillion (£38 trillion), the RIAA likely has no hope of securing this in damages, but believe this is what it is owed, reports Computerworld.com.

A 72-trillion-pound elephant is in the room and we have a patriotic duty to acknowledge him before he devours our economy, crushes the quality of our health care and destroys our retirement security. According to the 2004 Social Security Trustees report the unfunded long-term obligations of Social Security and Medicare amount to $72 trillion. The total bill for current and future taxpayers breaks down as follows: $21.8 trillion from Medicare Part A; 23.2 trillion from Medicare Part B; $16.6 trillion from the new Medicare prescription drug benefit; and $10.4 trillion from Social Security. It's highly unlikely that either party will...