The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

Except that's not what the RIAA gave Verizon. According to both sides of the case, RIAA's list didn't comprise files that the anonymous user had downloaded -- that is, copied from elsewhere on the Internet onto his anonymous computer.

No, the list contained files that the anonymous user was willing to upload. They were files already on his computer that he was willing to share with others via KaZaA.

Got that straight? Not downloading, but uploading. And not even uploading -- simply ready to upload. The RIAA made no allegation as to how many copies of the files at issue were actually made from the files at issue.

Compounding Judge Bates' error, numerous news outlets repeated the "downloaded 600 files in a day" accusation. People who should have known better. Institutions you would think get tech. Places like CNBC. CNN. Reuters. The Washington Post. The San Jose Mercury News. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Newsday. And, oh yeah, TheStreet.com.

OK, we know what you're thinking. You're thinking, download, schmownload, what's the difference? Piracy is piracy, no matter what end of the transaction you're on and no matter what pace you do it at.

Maybe so. After all, representatives of both the RIAA and Verizon say the factual mix-up doesn't really make any difference in Judge Bates' opinion. This is no Perry Mason detail that's going to turn things around for Verizon.

And yet, and yet. It's not just a legal battle being fought here, but a public relations one as well. And on the PR front, this particular error weighs heavily in the RIAA's favor. After all, what sounds more heinous when you read it in your local paper of record: offering to share 600 files? Or stealing 600 songs in a single day?

Separately, says Verizon Communications general counsel Sarah Deutsch, the confusion is emblematic of larger problems with Judge Bates' ruling, which Verizon is appealing. "It's evidence that they're not really paying attention to the technical issues at stake," she says. "It's just another thing the court got wrong in its decision."