Los Angeles - A 20-year-old is demanding a trial rather than pay a proposed $7,400 to settle charges she shared 37 songs on the Kazaa file-sharing network back when she was in high school.

Whitney Harper does admit to downloading the tracks on Kazaa, but told Wired.com she was unaware it was illegal, was not familiar with how file-sharing works, and had no idea that the songs she downloaded continued to be offered via her family computer's Kazaa account even after she had left for college.

"I had no idea I was doing anything wrong. I knew I was listening to music. I didn't have an understanding of file sharing," Harper told Wired.com.

"That it was being distributed to all of cyberspace, I didn't have an understanding of that at all."

Harper is now demanding a trial, rather than pay the $200 per song the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has proposed as a settlement for copyright infringement.

The RIAA called Harper's request for a trial on the matter "vexatious" in court documents.

While Harper admits to having downloaded songs years ago, she tells Wired.com that it is "morally wrong for people that know what they are doing. I would not do it now. I would never do it. I don't steal from people. I'm not a bad person."

Related Links:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/riaa-seeks-7400.html

http://snipurl.com/4kupv (Ars Technica)