In a memo sent from the Department of Justice to a U.S. district court in Massachusetts, the DOJ -- which legally refers to its opinion as "The United States of America's response" -- has declared that potential fines of US$150,000 per track are not unreasonable in of a former Boston University student who allegedly distributed bootleg copies of copyrighted songs by RIAA artists. Joel Tennenbaum, who was a 25-year-old grad student at the time of the alleged violations, is challenging the case.

Two of Obama's DOJ appointees have past professional ties to the RIAA:

* , associate attorney general, third in rank. Perrelli has represented the RIAA in several cases, including an unsuccessful attempt to compel Internet service providers to reveal the identities of accused music pirates without a judge's order.

* , associate deputy attorney general. Verrilli represented the RIAA in a high-profile that resulted in a single mother being fined $222,000 for sharing music files over the Kazaa peer-to-peer network. A federal judge has since declared a mistrial in the case.

The memorandum, typed up by DOJ trial attorney Michelle Bennett and available as a PDF from Wired, says that "Congress acted reasonably in crafting the current incarnation of the statutory damages provision." Under the current wording of the Copyright Act, damages for a single copyright version can range from $750 to $150,000.