Boston University graduate student Joel Tenenbaum said he does not regret his decision to download music illegally despite a $675,000 fine from the Recording Industry Association of America that may force him to file for bankruptcy.

Tenenbaum, who has received extensive publicity from the case, said the RIAA used his case and the July 31 ruling, which found him guilty of 30 counts of willful copyright infringement, to set an example against illegal downloading.

‘I feel like I’m being arrested for drinking alcohol during the time of prohibition,’ he said. ‘It’s like if an officer came into the speak-easy and asked me, ‘Weren’t you drinking?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, everyone was. That’s the point.”

He said he was not bothered by the excessive media attention because it allowed him to express his side of the story, and brought international attention to the case.

‘People on Facebook from all over the world keep ‘friending’ me,’ he said. ‘It’s really touching.’

Tenenbaum, who admitted on the stand to downloading the songs, said the RIAA lawyers ‘twisted’ his words in eliciting the confession. When asked in court about who else had used his computer, he responded that he was unsure if anyone else had downloaded some of the 30 songs. The prosecution accused him of blaming others for his crime, he said.

‘I finally said, ‘Fine, I’ll take responsibility, even though I don’t remember when I [downloaded the songs],” he said.

The RIAA filed suit against Tenenbaum in 2007 on charges of illegally downloading 30 songs with Kazaa in 2003. Last week the RIAA filed a motion with Judge Nancy Gertner to make this reparation official, he said.

Tenenbaum was also accused of ‘continuing to implicitly infringe against the RIAA by encouraging others to illegally download,’ he said.

The RIAA’s accusation was a response Harvard University law students who set up ‘Joelfightsback.com,’ a website supporting Tenenbaum, where hundreds of people illegally downloaded Joel’s 30-song playlist to protest the jury’s verdict.

‘We didn’t have anything to do with this,’ Tenenbaum said of himself and his lawyer, Harvard University law professor Charles Nesson.

BU students said they were shocked by Tenebaum’s punishment.

‘I think that it sucks that he got caught,’ College of Art and Science sophomore Michael Woolford said. ‘If everyone who downloaded music illegally was caught, we’d all be getting fined thousands of dollars. That’s just too many people.’

School of Management sophomore Sharon Hsu said she thinks Tenenbaum should be fined, but less than the ruling orders.

‘ ‘$675,000 is excessive, especially for downloading 30 songs that he’s not making a profit from,’ Hsu said.

BU Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore said while he could not comment on the case specifically, he hopes students can appreciate the concerns of an artist whose music is pirated.

‘I hope students see themselves as people who create,’ he said.

He said the issue of copyright and downloading music is a ‘great debate’ in this generation.

‘People have to stop and think,’ Elmore said. ‘I hope students will engage in the debate . . . I think there is a deeper issue.’