First BitTorrent Piracy Conviction

Technocrat

First BitTorrent Piracy Conviction

zogger

Tue Sep 12 18:08:04 -0700 2006

Electronic+Freedom.

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The US Department of Justice is saying they have the first conviction (from a guilty plea) of someone using BitTorrent for copyright infraction.

..."This is the first criminal enforcement action against copyright infringement on a P2P network using BitTorrent technology. McCausland's conviction is the third in a series of convictions arising from Operation D-Elite, a federal crackdown against the first providers (or suppliers) of pirated works to the technologically-sophisticated P2P network known as Elite Torrents."....and more legs of peg action there

ed: I guess I will still be waiting for the DOJ to start throwing heads of entertainment divisions for all the big media outlets in jail for cartel price fixing and payola. Funny the P2P infringers get jail time and huge fines, the cartel price fixers get joke tiny fines and never even a *hint*, not even a rumor of jail time. And they've been doing that since I have been alive, yet none of them ever get "shutdown for criminal behavior". Exactly how much crime can a big established corporation commit before they lose their corporate charter? It appears to be near unlimited as long as they can afford the little "cost of doing business" fines.

First BitTorrent Piracy Conviction

Beryllium Sphere(r)

Tue Sep 12 22:51:04 -0700 2006
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I seem to remember that RICO includes disbanding the organization as a possible penalty. If I'm right, can anyone name a case where it happened?
To some extent you're looking at side effects of the design and implementation of the legal system. Judges all went to law school where they were taught to argue both sides of any given point, and when they became judges they would never get reversed for giving someone too many chances to make their case. The result is "consent decrees" and "out of court settlements" because it's so hard to draw litigation to a conclusion if all parties have money.
The problem is money and power, not being a corporation: consider for example long stretches of the history of the Teamsters union.

First BitTorrent Piracy Conviction

Jim Hill

Wed Sep 13 07:16:59 -0700 2006
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they've been doing that since I have been alive

Sure. Social hierarchy is bred in -- we share it with chickens and dogs, right? So for people who don't think, it's climb to the top or toe the line, and at the top whatever maintains that position is good. Nice, instinctive, comprehensible ... bestial. They really don't get that "unexamined" part.
That said, it looks like this guy richly deserves whatever sentence he gets.

First BitTorrent Piracy Conviction

Alan

Wed Sep 13 11:05:29 -0700 2006
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Well, it may be the first conviction in the US, but a guy was busted in Hong Kong a few months ago (for seeding such hot items as "Miss Congeniality").
Too bad this case wasn't tested in court though. Would be nice to see a lawyer make the movie companies justify their claims of huge losses. But statutory damages alone would be a killer.