Intellectual Proerty Violations and Punishment

The RIAA has been fighting file download services and individuals using those services for years now. While I am rather a strict believer in intellectual property rights, I have to wonder why the group would go after people downloading certain files. Seriously, if you download Milli Vanilli files, can it not be argued that you have already suffered punishment enough?

Aieee! Stop, please! I'll never do it again! Have mercy!