backtop

Print E-mail del.icio.us 60 comment(s) - last by xphile.. on Jul 6 at 10:01 PM

The US DoJ announced the takedown of EliteTorrents on May 25, 2005.  (Source: Wikipedia)
Uploaders beware: prison time awaits those that are caught

26-year-old Clintwood, Virginia resident Daniel Dove was convicted of conspiracy and felony copyright infringement by a federal jury Friday, due to his role as an upload administrator at the popular BitTorrent tracker and search engine EliteTorrents.


For his crimes, Dove could face up to 10 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept 9, 2008.

Federal authorities singled out EliteTorrents for takedown on May 25, 2005, after the site leaked a workprint of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith six hours before the movie's theatrical release.

Dove's conviction is the first jury trial and last remaining conviction in EliteTorrent's takedown, which the FBI dubbed Operation D-Elite. The raid netted two other arrests: fellow administrators Scott McCausland and Grant Stanley, with both pleading guilty and skipping the jury trial process. McCausland and Stanley received the same sentence: five months in prison followed by five months of house arrest, with Stanley facing an additional $3,000 fine.

A press release published by the Department of Justice claims that EliteTorrents attracted more than 125,000 members, who downloaded 700+ movies more than 1.1 million times.

"[EliteTorrents'] wide variety of content selection included illegal copies of copyrighted works before they were available in retail stores or movie theaters," it reads.

Despite the severity of Dove's punishment, Slyck writer Thomas Mennecke notes that his involvement with the site stands far beyond the average BitTorrent user.

"The overall impact of this conviction breaks little new ground," writes Mennecke, "as uploaders have always been the historical target of copyright enforcement." Other high-profile P2P cases, such as the massive $222,000 penalties levied against KaZaA user Jammie Thomas, took place in civil courts.

It should be noted that some of the legal details surrounding Thomas' judgment are currently under judicial review, and Thomas may get a second chance to try her case. The RIAA says it is prepared for that eventuality.

Generally speaking, criminal investigations in piracy usually seek the big fish: the release groups that circulate pirated movies and media, or the leakers close to the media they provide. Similar criminal proceedings are currently underway in the UK, where Interpol shut down music BitTorrent tracker OiNK and arrested administrator Alan Ellis, along with a handful of of the site's biggest uploaders.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
CRIME?
By Treckin on 6/29/2008 1:22:43 PM , Rating: 5
Crime? Yes.

The greater crime than stealing a movie, or even 100 movies, is that you can go to jail for longer for that than for molesting a child.

The reason why is because politicians take big money from the interest groups.




RE: CRIME?
By Duwelon on 6/29/08, Rating: -1
RE: CRIME?
By cparka23 on 6/29/2008 2:06:53 PM , Rating: 2
Kid Rock, is that you?


RE: CRIME?
By BZDTemp on 6/29/2008 2:21:25 PM , Rating: 5
Copying IS NOT stealing!

Stop buying into the PR of the ยค%&&##" lawyers.

I have yet to see anyone prove that a torrent site has actually made any copyright holder lose money. Sure you may be able to prove something was downloaded some NNN times but that still does not tell if even one sale of the copyrighted item did not happen because of it. In fact one could just as easily make the case that copies increases sales.

Usually the copyright holders use their current and past sales figures as prof but that does not hold any water. For starters there is a much richer variety of entertainment to chose from today than even just a couple of years ago. Also the reselling wave due to new media formats (like LP -> CD) has passed.

Finally even if we accept that lets say a million people making a copy of movie means say 100,000 less movie tickets sold and 30,000 DVD's less sold (just using random numbers here). The cost to the copyright holder is surely not 100,000xTicketPrice+30,000xDVDprice as the real loss is much lower. Retail prices are far beyond what the copyright holders get plus they also save having to make the DVD's and so on. But of course using the inflated numbers bring more PR it's just wrong that any money brought in by law suits are not shared with retailers.

Also ten years for copyright infringement is insane but unfortunately the criminal "justice" system works like that.


RE: CRIME?
By Duwelon on 6/29/08, Rating: -1
RE: CRIME?
By walk2k on 6/29/08, Rating: -1
RE: CRIME?
By lagitup on 6/29/2008 3:53:46 PM , Rating: 2
walk2k could you do me a HUGE favor? Turn off the bold? And also...

quote:
STEALING IS THEFT.


Move your left pinky finger about an inch (2.5cm if thats how you swing...) to the left and press down? Ah, yes, much better!


RE: CRIME?
By cochy on 6/29/2008 5:36:03 PM , Rating: 5
If I steal a $600 pair of Prada shoes off some store on 5th ave. How many years in prison do I serve?

Punishment doesn't fit the crime here. Classic example of how the criminal justice system is all messed up.


RE: CRIME?
By GaryJohnson on 6/29/08, Rating: 0
RE: CRIME?
By cochy on 6/29/2008 9:36:33 PM , Rating: 5
Last I checked Star Wars was $13 at Best Buy.


RE: CRIME?
By GaryJohnson on 6/29/08, Rating: 0
RE: CRIME?
By Yawgm0th on 6/30/2008 5:18:00 AM , Rating: 2
How the hell can you steal a copyright? If he "stole" the copyright, the original owner of the copyright would now longer have any copyright, and it would be his to use as he sees fit.


RE: CRIME?
By GaryJohnson on 6/30/2008 5:59:18 AM , Rating: 3
To steal means to take without the owner's consent. A copyright is the exclusive right to control how a work is copied and distributed.

The infringer took the original owner's right to exclusively control how the media was copied and distributed without his consent. He did copy and distribute the original work as he saw fit to do so.


RE: CRIME?
By Pudro on 6/29/2008 6:43:43 PM , Rating: 5
Don't be so ignorant. Their is a clear difference between copyright infringement and stealing.They are not the same, and just because you say so doesn't make any difference.

And I am 100% right and you are wrong, because my view is supported by the Supreme Court. Can you think of a higher authority on US law than that? Because there isn't one.

To be clear: yes, infringement is a crime that you will be punished for if found guilty of. But it is not stealing and it is not theft. End of story.


RE: CRIME?
By GaryJohnson on 6/29/08, Rating: -1
RE: CRIME?
By myocardia on 6/29/08, Rating: 0
RE: CRIME?
By DarkElfa on 6/30/2008 7:54:24 AM , Rating: 1
Actually, I believe copying isn't stealing, its counterfeiting. They're making sub standard copies of the original source material. That isn't stealing, thats counterfeiting.


RE: CRIME?