EliteTorrents Uploader Faces 5 Years in Jail
Written by enigmax on April 17, 2007A man from Columbus, Georgia has pleaded guilty to two felonies connected to the distribution of copyright works via the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker, which was shut down by the FBI in 2005. As a major uploader he faces 5 years in jail plus a $250,000 fine.
In another episode of the on-going action named Operation D-Elite which brought down the EliteTorrents network in 2005, Sam Kuonen, 24 was charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and actual criminal copyright infringement.
According to the DOJ Kuonen has pleaded guilty to both counts and is facing five years in jail and a $250,000 fine. The criminal charges suggest that Kuonen could’ve been the uploader of the pre-released Star Wars: Episode III, which under US law is a criminal action breaching the Family Entertainment Act 2005. So far in the US, only uploaders who distribute movies that are still in theaters have had criminal charges brought against them.
There have been four previous convictions relating to activity at EliteTorrents including those of Scott McCausland and Grant Stanley who both collected a punishment of several months in jail.
In May 2005, Federal Agents assisted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), first infiltrated and then shutdown EliteTorrents, a BitTorrent tracker with more than 130,000 members. They took down the server and left this message, which was viewed more than 500,000 times in the week following the raid;
Sam Kuonen will be sentenced July 16 in the U.S. District Court for Kansas.
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33 Responses
i wish him good luck in fighting agaisnt this ridiculous “offense”! The US goverment has got to realise that trying to mkae an example out of someone wont stop torrenting and will make people more determined!
Poor guy,
They really are going to make a (pointless) example of him.
Pretty impressed that he was the guy who got SW e3 uploaded though!
this is the new business model, use taxpayers money to implement business tactics
I hope that nerd drops the soap everyday in jail aswell as having internet withdrawal symptoms.
That’s just my opinion of course.
[quote comment="86494"]I hope that nerd drops the soap everyday in jail aswell as having internet withdrawal symptoms.
That’s just my opinion of course.[/quote]
Well arent you just the biggest dickhead ever,
Good Luck to The Man!
All I can say they better up the security at the RIAA headquarters. They better hope they don’t piss off the wrong person and have another Virginia Tech on their hands….. ;-)
Its ashame what happens to some of us. He got off easy, I think. He would of only agreed to the guilty charge because it would of been worse if he didn’t.
Good luck spending your time.
Jeremy,
I hope you get shot in the face tomorrow.
Thats just my opinion of course.
You know Jeremy. Why do you believe this opinion of yours? You never did explain why.
The RIAA is also cracking down. Illegal theft needs to be shut down here as well as China.
Illegal Theft as Opposed to Legal Theft?
every torrent tracker owner should have a furnace right next the servers that have incriminating information. So when the cops knock the door down: throw em all in! and they’ll have no evidence :)
[quote comment="86494"]I hope that nerd drops the soap everyday in jail aswell as having internet withdrawal symptoms.
That’s just my opinion of course.[/quote]
go die jeremy!
Everyone just download more in support of him. The RIAA is trying to make a new “drug” trade out of thin air. The more we download, the more money they loose and the faster they have to face reality or simply go out of business.
Death to the RIAA, death to the middle man, long live movies and entertainment!
That sucks. I don’t think he should be imprisoned he is not a threat to society; that is a violation of the 8th amendment. Good luck man.
though its stated he may have been the uploader of SW3, that is not accurate. Until they release the handle of this person though, I don’t even know who it is.
GOOD LUCK DUDE!
Those punishments are out of proportions, and this guy is not a criminal, he is a hero!
Look how much he sacrificed, just so that he could (wihtout any credit) share this film with so many!
One day we will realize what a horrible mistake this is, and we’ll all owe him an apology.
that is hush punishment for such commercial crime
I use emule to download TV shows that I miss almost every day. Saves me buying a TiVo. I’ve paid for my satellite package so I’m entitled to the shows, I just don’t feel like spending hundreds on a TiVo and monthly subscription to it when I can download the shows so easily.
On the other hand, when it comes to films, music and software – I agree with Jeremy. Lock ‘em all up ! That’s plain and simple theft.
Want to talk about theft…some of you may be too young to remember when CD’s first came out. Cassettes were about $7, CD’s went for about $16 because of the cost of manufacturing at the time. The RIAA swore to consumers that the price would drop dramatically when the cost decreased.
So CD’s cost them like .001 cents to make now yet they have been pocketing the enormous profit difference (compared to the cost of making cassettes) for the last 20-odd years.
So if they have a problem with me downloading music I have already bought on once on LP, then cassette, then CD…then F-them!
Tip: run a wireless router for plausible deniability :-)
Jeremy2 I don’t think it’s plain and/or simple. I think you have unintentionally demonstrated most people’s point here, I agree that downloading TV shows is ‘fair use’ but the powers that be dont see it that way. You could be next to be ‘locked up!’
Because you’ve paid for the TV shows thru your satellite subscription doesn’t mean they wont see it as theft.
It’s exactly the same as downloading music that you have already bought in another format if you “don’t feel like getting (CD ripping software) when you can download it so easily”
Amen, Mike. As a further note on the RIAA’s own rationale for overcharging for CDs, here is a paste from their website:
” Then come marketing and promotion costs — perhaps the most expensive part of the music business today. They include increasingly expensive video clips, public relations, tour support, marketing campaigns, and promotion to get the songs played on the radio. For example, when you hear a song played on the radio — that didn’t just happen! Labels make investments in artists by paying for both the production and the promotion of the album, and promotion is very expensive. New technology such as the Internet offers new ways for artists to reach music fans, but it still requires that some entity, whether it is a traditional label or another kind of company, market and promote that artist so that fans are aware of new releases.
“For every album released in a given year, a marketing strategy was developed to make that album stand out among the other releases that hit the market that year. Art must be designed for the CD box, and promotional materials (posters, store displays and music videos) developed and produced. For many artists, a costly concert tour is essential to promote their recordings.”
In other words, kids, they are charging you $18 for a piece of plastic in order to talk you into buying it. You are subsidizing your own manipulation.
Worse than that is a little thing called Payola. Payola used to be scandalous. That was when record companies would pay deejays to wear out a record. Nowadays that is illegal. Yeah, now you have to have a middleman buy the airtime, and it is perfectly legal. That means that today’s corporate radio will only play records that have enough corporate muscle behind them. Why would you play a record for free when you can get paid with all of your money for what the RIAA calls marketing expenses. So, that means your money is being used to force smaller, cooler bands, who can’t afford to bribe the radio stations, out of existence to make room for Paris Hilton’s new single and every Brittney Spears or Kieth Urban the RIAA decides to squat down and squeeze out.
The poor RIAA also complains about high production costs. Hmm. Maybe that’s because all of their lap dogs need to be overproduced to make them sound less like ass.
Let me advance my idea of why CDs cost so much: BJs. All these bloated record executives are spending our money for BJs from girls who wouldn’t even look at us.
F*ck the RIAA and anybody who looks like them.
Hell yes Heretic!! thanks couldnt be put any better
!! FREE BANDWI(d)TH !!
time for another free kevin moment in states ……..
states govt is tryin to make an exampling by putting this man behind bars ……but i think they forget abt kevin mitnick and the free kevin moment
and its time for another free kevin moment
i think all the file sharers here should join hands and start a free Georgia moment instead of giving useless comments like jeremy did
regards
tj_pasha
5 years for file shareing !!! aye thats harsh and for such a lousy film too
you are my man Heretic because of this>
“Let me advance my idea of why CDs cost so much: BJs. All these bloated record executives are spending our money for BJs from girls who wouldn’t even look at us.”
Sam sat beside me in college. A thin young man, good looking, very very bright. Always ignoring the professor and working on his hand held computer. I am very sad to see this happen to him. He had so much potential. At his young age he got a job at nearby fort benning, georgia working in something classified for testing ballistics scenarios. I always thought he would go far in life. He was a very nice and kind person, always willing to help people, and I thought the world of him. I think it is sad that such a good person could have a jail record from just playing on the internet uploading music or movies.
They will make an example of him because the corporatist thieves are angry that their strangle hold over the population is being threatened.
This is direct proof that the corporate world control government and ultimately us. The rich powerful moneymen rule this world, not the fake democracies and puppet politicians. People need to continue to fight the corporate agenda; the alternative is to continue as slaves to the wealthy.
There is an Asian saying “You kill one man to warn a hundred.” But this does not apply in the internet. It’s like how everyone goes over the speed limit on the freeway. You just can’t stop these kinds of things, like how you can’t stop illegal drugs from getting into the hands of druggies.
k guys, dig this. corporate hegemony is indeed the reality of things. but doesn’t it then follow that the man has anticipated precisely the rhetoric iterated on this forum? what I’m getting at is this: the corporate hegemony has anticipated our/your actions and is quite aware of the scale of illegal downloading. because they haven’t yet cracked down on online pirating doesn’ mean that they/it are/is helpless. on the contrary, what that means is that either 1) the man derives some sort of benefit from the pirating therefore allows it to occur albeit under the constant shadow of illegality (fear as tool of control) or 2) doesn’t care enough to clamp down hardcore on everybody cost/benefit analysis.
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