EliteTorrents Uploader Facing 10 Years in Prison
 

The fallout from the FBI raid on EliteTorrents in 2005 continues, with a seventh defendant associated with the uploading of Star Wars Episode III facing the prospect of 10 years in prison coupled with a $500,000 fine.

FBI

Every few months it seems the FBI manages to come up with yet more people to charge in connection with Operation D-Elite - the joint ICE and FBI raids against the US-based BitTorrent tracker, EliteTorrents, in 2005.

Everyone charged so far has been accused of being involved in the uploading of Star Wars Episode III which, at the time, was a pre-release movie, carrying criminal implications for the uploaders under the Family Entertainment Copyright Act.

According to an announcement by Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a seventh defendant has pleaded guilty.

An Duc Do, aged 25, of Orlando, Florida, has pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Legrome D. Davis of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on a two-count felony. He?s charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and criminal copyright infringement.

Do is the latest in a line of people pleading guilty in this operation against EliteTorrents. Previous guilty pleas and convictions include those of Scott McCausland, Grant Stanley, Sam Kuonen and Scott D. Harvanek.

In this copyright case tried in the criminal (rather than civil) legal domain, potential punishments are harsh. Do is facing up to 10 years in prison coupled with a fine of $500,000.

He will be sentenced on February 27th, 2008.
http://torrentfreak.com/another-elit...prison-071117/

And that would be federal pound you in the ass prison where you serve your full sentance.

Holy jailtime!! :eek7

While they should go after these guys, I think 10 years is pretty excessive. How much time did the guys from Enron whom stole millions get?

another one bites the dust

Enron didnt piss off George Lucus. Actually I figure it is more from multiple counts.

another example that proves you don't need to stomp all over fair use rights to protect your content

these guys had no fair use rights to upload a pre-air move and they are getting exactly what they deserve.

Seems pretty crazy that you can get more jailtime for copyright infringement than for rape or murder.

You are the only one that could look at a line of people going to prison for exactly what you suggest in other threads, and see it as some sort of confirmation of your views.

You are an idiot. Please go waste your time on the torrent boards, where you and the rest of the people can lick each other's moral wounds and make grand speeches like the noble keyboard warriors you are.

There's a lot more pre-meditation involved here that sticking up a liquor store. There are a lot more counts than a single robbery. Fuck these guys.

Really, fuck these thieves.

Yea but it's a fucked up way they twist the law in these kinds of cases. They use every download as a separate offense in these kinda cases. It's the same when the go after adult sites for obscenity, they charge you with every picture as a separate offense.

Yet some guy that rapes a chick will only be charged with 1 crime maybe 2 and will probably serve less time than this guy. A drug dealers gets busted over and over and gets out on probation in 6 months.

I'm not against making going after these kinda people, but it should more fines and penalties maybe coupled with a few years in jail. Same thing happens when they catch spammers, those guys do more jail time than murders.

you could get more for shoplifting if you added up the maximum for 100 convictions..

reality is the chances of that happening is very slim and rarely do people get the maximum

You have to remember too this isn't just putting up a torrent - this is actually obtaining a copy of a movie by theft and then distributing it. Specifically, they obtained an obvious stolen copy of a pre-release and put it out there. There is no doubt about rights here.

Considering the value of the work (and the money that could be lost by distribution ahead of time of such a wide selling movie) they would be looking at costing the movie company millions of dollars plus all sort of other effects that it could have on marketing and such.

10 years in a federal butt slammin' prison... now there is a warning to some other idiots.

Interesting view, I'll have to think about that.

i have never suggested you have a right to trade content you have never bought a right too, that has never been nor will it ever be fair use.

I fully supported the fines that music sharer on kazza got while other people said they were to high because she was sharing songs she never bought any rights too.

this is the same basic principle and the funniest part is you made that exact same point later on in this thread