Another EliteTorrents Uploader Facing 10 Years in Prison
Written by enigmax on November 17, 2007The 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.
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.
Previously: The Pirate Bay Laser Graffiti Tribute
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256 Responses
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Could have raped a woman and got less jailtime.
The only ‘crime’ that was committed was George Lucas releasing that piece of shit movie. Am I right???
How smart. Putting helpless persons behind bars for what ? for downloading songs and other stuff…. while a ton of criminals are still on the loose, + they are the real threat to society, not this poor guy. So this is where this world is heading ? What will be next ?
Bittrucker: atleast check facts before making a fool of your self:
average sentence for convicted rapists in the USA is 1203 days, a little over 3 years.
Best to actually have the basic info correct if your going to correct others.
@ Bittrucker
Here’s another big fuck off that goes straight into your bloody stupid way of thinking. Which laws are you talking about ffs? Are you a politician? A deputy maybe? A lawyer? Pathetic and disgusting ….
another reason why we should nuke usa and no im not a muslim
I’m just curious what application Bittrucker is responsible for so I know to A) Not pay for it and B) Download a pirated copy of it for free if I already haven’t done so.
2-3 years is completely unacceptable and unreasonably harsh. Have you actually considered how long of a time that is, not to mention spending it in prison for the uploading of movies? The idea of it seems insane.
[quote comment="215896"]Bittrucker: atleast check facts before making a fool of your self:
average sentence for convicted rapists in the USA is 1203 days, a little over 3 years.
Best to actually have the basic info correct if your going to correct others.[/quote]
I would completely agree, one should check facts before making a fool of one self. So, where did you get your figures from?
Mine were taken from the Department of Justice website (www.ojp.usdoj.gov).
[quote comment=215908]@ Bittrucker
Here’s another big fuck off that goes straight into your bloody stupid way of thinking. Which laws are you talking about ffs? Are you a politician? A deputy maybe? A lawyer? Pathetic and disgusting ….[/quote]
Jeez, what’s with the Fuck’s around here.
What’s with the laws? Start by checking out these websites;
http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/pl109-9.html
or, if you’re a complete moron and need it in laymans terms;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Entertainment_and_Copyright_Act
This is upsetting. Poor Guy… from my neck of the woods, too.
[quote]He didn’t hurt anyone?
As a software developer, I am personally “hurt” by people pirating my software. Point in fact; 3 months ago I released my last commercial project to the public - retailing at $9.99 per license.
[/quote]
And writing a bad review of your software could have technically “hurt” you. Should people go to jail for that?
Since when is profit more important then freedom? Obviously in capitalism…
[quote]Now, in this piece of software I had included computer-fingerprinting (basically it takes your CPU ID and a few other IDs, mangles them together and sends it back to a central database of mine) specifically for the purpose of seeing what the percentage of fully paid for, legal licenses were in relation to copies. I’ll tell you what it was - 20%. Twenty friggin percent are paid for copies, with the remaining 80% being ‘pirated’ copies. Now, I have a fairly small userbase (just over 700 registered users), but it has still cost me $28491.48 in lost business. Ok, so perhaps not everyone now running a pirated copy would have paid for it, so let’s say a third would have, that’s still a net loss of just below $10000 for me personally - or, spread out over the lifetime of the project, $3165 per month.[/quote]
And how many of those people who bought it only did because they pirated it and liked it and paid the (in my opinion, very fair) price of 10$?
Stats only give you information. It’s up to you to interpret it, and you can do so many different ways.
What has my country come to? I tell ya its greed and power thats all it is. You know there is a problem when someone is sent to jail for uploading a file, a simple collection of electronic signals arranged in a specific pattern called “Star Wars III”.
If 10 years is not enough deterrent, hell, then why not the death penalty? That’ll show those Robin Hoods.
Better yet, have them drawn and quartered, and show the event on national television as many times as they showed that plane hitting WTC. That should be enough to drive the point.
Grillz is right! SW EPIII is a POS movie. Lucas wants to show us the great slaughter of the Jedi by the Sith, and yet wants to make it ‘family fare’ at the same time. So he toned down the blood and violence. So in effect the Sith performed a ‘bloodless coup’ against the Jedi. How lame.
Bittrucker you haven’t replied???
why do you bother spamming this site, it’s clear who you work for, and don’t make up false statistics. I did do my research and I do want you to f*** off.
Agree with #8 ;)
Wow, so many of you are incredibly ignorant.
If you knowingly are provided pirated software to others, and you get busted for it - no, you get absolutely no right to be mad. You know it’s against the law, you are infringing on copy written material that potentially takes money away from the people who sunk their own money in it to make it. Sure, you might have pirated the software and then bought it later, but not everyone does - you are allowing folks to get it for free without ever having to buy it. If you walked into a Best Buy and tried to walk out with a couple DVDs without paying for em and you got caught, you would go to jail for shoplifting. Even if your intentions are to play the DVDs to other people so that they may turn around and go to that same store and purchase them, you still broke the law. You get no right to bitch.
I’m by no means on the anti-piracy side, but I’m rational enough to see things as they are. If I ever got busted for uploading, I wouldn’t bitch. I would know it was wrong, and would take the sentence that was given to me, knowing I put myself in that position.
10 years and a 500k fine is quite a bit much, considering that many murderers, child molesters, and rapists don’t get nearly as hefty of a sentence. But that’s why you should contact your local and state politicians to rationally express your disagreement in such a thing.
Whether the corporate fat cats are greedy, blood sucking, and money grubbing; the laws are what they are, we all know what we’re doing, and we all know the potential consequences. But this is also a case of a movie pre-releasing to the masses, and hindering what promoters, ad companies, and the movie industry put so much money in advertising for. What’s the point if people can just download it and watch it before it’s even available?
[quote comment="215768"]They are starting to win in this war…
If there will be more uploaders facing prison, other uploaders might start to fear, and stop uploading warez.. Hope they won’t be able to charge anyone else.. I feel very sorry for this guy… :([/quote]
thats the idea to scare you , common sense it is illegal to do this especially for a big film like that before it comes out , i paid 4 times to see the film and waited, no heart for that guy.
it is is such a risk why even bother
[quote comment="215957"]Wow, so many of you are incredibly ignorant.
If you knowingly are provided pirated software to others, and you get busted for it - no, you get absolutely no right to be mad. You know it’s against the law, you are infringing on copy written material that potentially takes money away from the people who sunk their own money in it to make it. Sure, you might have pirated the software and then bought it later, but not everyone does - you are allowing folks to get it for free without ever having to buy it. If you walked into a Best Buy and tried to walk out with a couple DVDs without paying for em and you got caught, you would go to jail for shoplifting. Even if your intentions are to play the DVDs to other people so that they may turn around and go to that same store and purchase them, you still broke the law. You get no right to bitch.
I’m by no means on the anti-piracy side, but I’m rational enough to see things as they are. If I ever got busted for uploading, I wouldn’t bitch. I would know it was wrong, and would take the sentence that was given to me, knowing I put myself in that position.
10 years and a 500k fine is quite a bit much, considering that many murderers, child molesters, and rapists don’t get nearly as hefty of a sentence. But that’s why you should contact your local and state politicians to rationally express your disagreement in such a thing.
Whether the corporate fat cats are greedy, blood sucking, and money grubbing; the laws are what they are, we all know what we’re doing, and we all know the potential consequences. But this is also a case of a movie pre-releasing to the masses, and hindering what promoters, ad companies, and the movie industry put so much money in advertising for. What’s the point if people can just download it and watch it before it’s even available?[/quote]
I TOTALLY AGREE
[quote comment="215957"]Wow, so many of you are incredibly ignorant.
If you knowingly are provided pirated software to others, and you get busted for it - no, you get absolutely no right to be mad. You know it’s against the law, you are infringing on copy written material that potentially takes money away from the people who sunk their own money in it to make it. Sure, you might have pirated the software and then bought it later, but not everyone does - you are allowing folks to get it for free without ever having to buy it. If you walked into a Best Buy and tried to walk out with a couple DVDs without paying for em and you got caught, you would go to jail for shoplifting. Even if your intentions are to play the DVDs to other people so that they may turn around and go to that same store and purchase them, you still broke the law. You get no right to bitch.
I’m by no means on the anti-piracy side, but I’m rational enough to see things as they are. If I ever got busted for uploading, I wouldn’t bitch. I would know it was wrong, and would take the sentence that was given to me, knowing I put myself in that position.
10 years and a 500k fine is quite a bit much, considering that many murderers, child molesters, and rapists don’t get nearly as hefty of a sentence. But that’s why you should contact your local and state politicians to rationally express your disagreement in such a thing.
Whether the corporate fat cats are greedy, blood sucking, and money grubbing; the laws are what they are, we all know what we’re doing, and we all know the potential consequences. But this is also a case of a movie pre-releasing to the masses, and hindering what promoters, ad companies, and the movie industry put so much money in advertising for. What’s the point if people can just download it and watch it before it’s even available?[/quote]
Indeed, comparing copying to stealing is incredibly ignorant.
[quote comment="215979"]
Indeed, comparing copying to stealing is incredibly ignorant.[/quote]
agreed, propaganda FTL.. their tactics are working :\
@ colossal
Do you happen to think before jotting down your thoughts? Don’t call people ignorant since you don’t know ‘em in the first place. So you’re advocating the laws eh? Who are those making the laws? What are those laws made for? Do you REALLY think it’s for the common people? What if you stood for the RIGHT to share instead of running and hiding like a rabbit? You’re so vain ‘cos you haven’t been busted yet, big mouth behind anonymity eh? Piss off …..
[quote comment="215874"][quote comment="215825"]HE FUCKING DIDN’T HURT ANYONE! All he did was share some data over the internet! This is plain insanity.
America, Inc; a fully owned subsidary of Corporate America, Inc.[/quote]
He didn’t hurt anyone?
As a software developer, I am personally “hurt” by people pirating my software. Point in fact; 3 months ago I released my last commercial project to the public - retailing at $9.99 per license.
Now, in this piece of software I had included computer-fingerprinting (basically it takes your CPU ID and a few other IDs, mangles them together and sends it back to a central database of mine) specifically for the purpose of seeing what the percentage of fully paid for, legal licenses were in relation to copies. I’ll tell you what it was - 20%. Twenty friggin percent are paid for copies, with the remaining 80% being ‘pirated’ copies. Now, I have a fairly small userbase (just over 700 registered users), but it has still cost me $28491.48 in lost business. Ok, so perhaps not everyone now running a pirated copy would have paid for it, so let’s say a third would have, that’s still a net loss of just below $10000 for me personally - or, spread out over the lifetime of the project, $3165 per month.
Just to be clear, those 80% of unlicensed copies only included people running the software regularly (which in this context means at least once a week since installation). Also, the fact I did collect this information was made perfectly clear in the legalese provided with the product.[/quote]
So you are the proud author of a piece of SPYWARE of which 80% of it’s users think is not even worth $9.99?
Congratulations on a job well done!
Hi,
One of you, bitTrucker at Post 24, said that the average jailtime for a convicted rapist is 11.8 years.
Another of you, Anonymous at Post 29, said that the average jailtime for a convicted rapist is “a little over 3 years”.
Care to cite your sources?
I guess I should start stealing from the stores instead, like theyre saying. less jail-time that way. or maybe I should go out and kill some mpaa scum or something. my guess it’d give me more satisfaction and just about the same jailtime as this poor dude.. damn :\
guy1: “What are you in for?”
I raped a teenager.
guy2: “You?”
I killed a man.
guy3:
“And what about you new fish?”
I uploaded Star Wars to the internet.
guy1: lmao lets beat this nerd up
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