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.
Previously: Generate 3D Worlds From Your P2P Traffic
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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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Hitchhiker Nation
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