Those free songs you download online might end up costing you way more than you thought.

Wired.com reports that the Obama administration agrees with hefty fines that the Recording Industry Association of America wants to impose on people caught illegally download music. 

The government stated in a brief that it thinks damages ranging from $750 to $150,000 are fair amounts for the offense.   

"The remedy of statutory damages for copyright infringement has been the cornerstone of our federal copyright law since 1790," Department of Justice trial attorney Michelle Bennett wrote to a federal judge on March 22, "and Congress acted reasonably in crafting the current incarnation of the statutory damages provision." 

Presidential administrations have mediated cases where the lawfulness of a federal law is in question. The Bush administration took a similar position on the matter.  However, this may not come as a surprise, considering that two top lawyers in Barack's administration, Donald Verrilli Jr. and Tom Perrilli, have ties to the RIAA. 

According to Wired.com, more than 30,000 people have been sued by the RIAA for file sharing over the last five years.  

-- Sonya Eskridge