IMAGiNE BitTorrent Piracy Group Members All Plead Guilty

Ernesto
September 2, 2012
114
IMAGiNE
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After being tipped off by the MPAA the feds arrested four members of the prominent BitTorrent release group IMAGiNE earlier this year, all of which have now plead guilty. Jeramiah Perkins of Portsmouth was the last to admit to copyright infringement charges this week. Along with his co-defendants from the now-defunct piracy release group, Perkins faces up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Last September IMAGiNE stopped distributing new films. As it was one of the Internet’s leading BitTorrent release groups the hiatus sparked speculation that the authorities were onto them.

A few months later the confirmation arrived that this was indeed the case.

In April, Jeramiah Perkins, 39, of Portsmouth, Va., Gregory Cherwonik, 53, of New York, Willie Lambert, 57, of Pennsylvania, and Sean Lovelady, 27, of California, were all charged with several counts of copyright infringement.

An IMAGiNE Release

imagine

The four worked together to cam, rip and release many pirated films to the public, and according to court papers they were fully aware of the legal trouble their activities could land them in.

“You need to realize that IMAGiNE is the P2P top group. I’m actually surprised that we aren’t nailed yet,” Cherwonik told Perkins July last year in a chat.

“I’m not going to jail over this s***,” Perkins replied.

However, a year on it appears that Jeramiah Perkins will have to retract his statement. Perkins pleaded guilty this week to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.

He now faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, plus any damages copyright holders may claim for their alleged losses.

Perkins is the last of the four IMAGiNE defendants to plead guilty and all will be sentenced on different dates during the months to come.

IMAGiNE started in 2009 and the feds started looking into the group early 2010 after they were tipped off by the MPAA. In May 2010 investigators searched the home of one of the defendants, but the group continued to operate after that and even launched their own private BitTorrent site in the same year.

Aside from reproducing and releasing copyrighted films on their private tracker UnleashTheNet they also “capped” films at local movie theaters, an activity Perkins was heavily involved in.

Along with the other defendants who plead guilty in previous months, Jeramiah Perkins is out on bail awaiting his sentencing which is currently scheduled for early 2013.

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Anyone

more martyrs :(
- http://torrentfreak.com/ Rob8urcakes
  
  This whole set of CopyWorng law MUST now change to benefit the MAJORITY and not the small minority who simply desire profits, cash for each and every viewing, and to act as if their so-called ‘intellectual’ property is worth people going to jail over. It quite simply isn’t.
  
  The law is an ass. And it MUST change NOW.
  
  We are the people, and we are the voters who elect these law-making politicians. So let’s start making it known to our own elected representatives exactly what we want.
  
  Write to your politician(s) and let them know that filesharing material that falls under current copyright laws MUST be permitted unless it can be shown that the breach in copyright results in a cash transaction between parties without permission of said copyright holder.
  
  All other sharing of copyrighted material MUST be permitted in law without penalty and without restriction.
  
  Simple as that folks ;)
  - http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell
    
    Well, not worth going to jail over unless they are actually SELLING the ‘pirated’ stuff. If someone is making more than server fees off ‘piracy’, I say stomp them. If they aren’t, then leave them alone.
- Max Stash
  
  I Don’t understand this shit, I really don’t – I just posted to another article on TorrentFreak on how guys like these, being actual sources for millions of Torrenters, should be lowkey and obfuscated as Fuck.
  ===================================================
  Here’s the (edited) copy paste:
  I’ve always wondered of ways to obfuscate the fact that one is the initial seeder/supplier and thus, source of content. The more I think about it – the more the OldSkool techniques makes sense stuff like:
  
  1: Compress then split large files into many small files
  
  2: Initially Rename file to something else instead of “The Avengers BR-Rip AC3:h264″ something like “D C001~DSC302 pack-.001″
  
  3: Upload in packs: tell friends to upload a part file, perhaps using Tor or similar service (underlying logic being that a nondescript part file would seem more inconspicuous.) Optional: Make multiple rubbishy blogspot blogs, get team to upload parts at random to various blogs, get others to download from there, delete blogs.
  
  4: When all parts have been upload – get a few (emphasis on few) people to actually download (some sort of system, needs to exist to get the word out)
  
  5: Once enough folk have the torrent – edit the torrent’s info page on the TPB to show what the content actually is, hopefully with the initial seeders no longer there.
  
  6: Tell as FEW people (known to initial seeder) as possible
  
  Like I’ said I’ve been thinking about it, especially the pitfalls – there’s much I don’t know, and I’m sure that the smart ones already have a low key secret method of doing this.
  
  This is for the people who are, for a lack of a better term, being dangerously stupid by taking shit easy. I’m in a place where none of this is a risk to me (3rd world rep!) but if *I’m* thinking of simple ways to secure oneself – how can people that are at risk Not?!
  =====================================================
  That comment was for the article on TF about the group of researchers who’re keeping tabs on TPBs uploads.
  
  The way I see it – the internet really does follow the 1% rule (ie. 1% of the PEOPLE on the internet actually creates/provides content), that’s a manageable number for the authorities and Guys like aXXo truly are the “internet elite.” As such they need to keep themselves as safe as possible – but I dunno what the fuck kind of false sense of security initial seeders being lulled into. Fuck Being a BadAss, Please Be Safe.
  - Billadoid
    
    Dude, there are lens detectors in quite many Cinemas already.
    It’s not that hard to catch some pirates these days.
    - Orfetheo
      
      Thats why they shouldnt camcord in the US… or at all! avoid the risk of being found with a camera which noone likes to watch and just safely rip and upload DVDs, its a simple!
  - http://twitter.com/unthekno nthekno
    
    aXXo Elite lmfao, you know nothing about what you speak of at all!
  - GeorgeDWarren
    
    you’re an idiot if you dont think that aXXo is :
    
    a) working for the govt as part of a plea deal
    b) working for the govt as part of a plea deal.
- flubalubaful
  
  More bad news , seems like this has been a bad week for sharing on the internet, but the war will be won by the people, there is absolutely no doubt about that.
  
  Remove one scene group and another rises to the top, remove one torrent search site and another picks up where that one left of, they cannot win , they are fighting a losing battle and nothing the Riaa does will ever stop people sharing on the internet, it will just encourage people to do it in ways that they cannot be tracked.
  
  Now we just need searches to be done by downloading an daily/hourly updated database every day and searching locally throught the database for your magnetic link, uploading needs to be more secure and made in a way that is totally untraceable back to the original uploader.
- Guest321
  
  Its hard to even Imagine going to jail over sharing files. How sharing of digital data can be construed as a crime is beyond me.
  - Guest
    
    lol… May I get your bank account login details? It’s only digital data and I’m sharing your digital data with myself…right? It cannot be a crime right?
    - Niceladyjam
      
      You raise an excellent point, if you got my bank account details and copied the $1 that I have in there, leaving me with my $1, how much money have you stolen from me?
- Yah
  
  ”Aside from reproducing and releasing copyrighted films on their private
  tracker UnleashTheNet they also “capped” films at local movie theaters,
  an activity Perkins was heavily involved in”
  
  UnleashTheNet website said on their banner “what the people want” what assholes it is that arrested them (mafiaa, ped0phile fbi, cops, etc) that instead of giving the people what they want, they shut it down and arrest the ppl involved instead of giving the people what they want.
  
  Total corruption on a global scale. Also the fbi pay people to watch cp 24/7 and hold the largest database of it in the world. If you do not believe me, research it yourself.
IHateYouMyCat

“I’m not going to jail over this s***,” Perkins replied.

LOL
- http://twitter.com/Mathew30 Mathew Lisett
  
  saying that but then still kept their bloody site up. very very stupid move.
Anonymous

so rob a bank, beating up some poor fucker whilst doing it and get max 3 years in prison. share some films over the internet and get 5 years in prison. has the legal system gone to horse shit or what?
- http://twitter.com/ginger_boy92 Syukri Lajin
  
  film makers have billions of money, poor fucker have no money. money buys everything.
  - Guest
    
    The majority of film makers are broke. Serves them right eh?
    - Danny
      
      The majority of film makers are not represented by the MPAA.
      
      And they are broke because they are artists and art has no real value.
      If they want a guaranteed income they should get a real job.
- Anyone
  
  profits are worth more than people
  - Violated0
    
    Very true when money crimes are well punished.
    
    However go beat your spouse and you get a caution along with their hope you beat them more quietly in the future when they don’t want the added paperwork.
    
    In my part of the world the Police now take no real action on physical assault.
    - Guest
      
      Rhetorical question: does domestic abuse potentially interfere with a corporation’s profits?
      
      There’s your answer.
  - Icepick1337
    
    Yep This video proves that statement
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sib-bKfAmMc
    - watch the video
      
      Fuck man.
    - http://twitter.com/Clarencem3 Clarencem
      
      Jacqueline explained I’m impressed that you able to make $9619 in one month on the network. did you look at this (Click on menu Home)
    - http://twitter.com/Clarencem3 Clarencem
      
      ….
      goo.gl/4CKYm
- meowmix
  
  gone? it was fucked from conception.
- Andrew Lee
  
  I doubt that lol my dad spent 27 1/2 years in fed for bank robbery. The day he got out he was in prison for 3 months longer than I was alive.
  
  However I do get what you mean up to 5 years on this is absurd. I doubt any of them will serve even close to that though. They need to realize there will away be another “IMAGiNE” out there.
  
  Until they make content readily available to everyone at once piracy will exist. “It will always exist but it could be slowed down with the correct actions” Give people what they want and it will slow down.
  
  The little spy games they’re trying is pointless.. EX someone could go around flooding torrents with mass proxy connections and setup thousands of people that did nothing. Why? Just to prove a point.
  
  I could go wardrive and setup half of my city within a day. It’s flawed and will never work like they think it will.
- Anon
  
  3 years for bank robbery ? you sir are a fuckwit and talk from your anus.
  
  Stupid cunts like you give anonymous a bad name
  - fdfd
    
    naming yourself anonymous on the internet doesn’t mean you’re a member of the skid group. so ya know…
- Tritonio
  
  Was it ever anything but horse shit?
Guest

Well, that’s the end of people downloading movies illegally.

Wait, it’s not?

Oh.

Maybe it’s time to legalize filesharing in the USA. Or will the copyright industry try to hold on to prohibition a while longer?
- meowmix
  
  lets look at how well prohibition worked with regard to alcohol in america… oh. IT DID NOT.
  - blackice85
    
    Hey, I’ll have you know we’re having a very successful (lol) War on Drugs™ right now.
    - Popehat
      
      Plus the war on Terror is going great. So many wars on nothing :D
    - Jentai
      
      Lets stop terror, with terror! Who´s with me!
http://www.comichippo.com/ ComicHippo

After reading all these news about site takedowns , raids , arrests etc . I often think ” Are the next few years end of piracy ? “
- http://twitter.com/Mido1000 Ahmed Omar
  
  we shouldn’t accept …i support a copyright reform but everything governments is su*ks ….and against democracy and human rights ..lame laws the person will be in jail for 5 wtf !! for sharing movies …that’s crazy
- Violated0
  
  Not at all. Technology will simply change to compensate where added anonymity would not be unexpected.
  
  There are many areas where the BT system could be improved. One current example is that TPB is available on Tor which is completely unblockable.
  - Cheesethief
    
    If TOR was used exclusively for BT it would cripple it
- http://twitter.com/Mathew30 Mathew Lisett
  
  As i pointed out via http://www.scribd.com/doc/76156718/Piracy-Guide-to-How-It-Can-Work-for-All piracy itself has never changed from before the mpaa were named mppda, there was piracy. it just evolves into its function, so in the last 10 years its been more prominent into tech.
- Mpaaarefascists
  
  This is just the “then they fight you stage.” “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” — Mahatma Gandhi
Master

I can’t believe they’re going to jail over this shit!
- ScrewEwe2
  
  I can’t believe it’s not Butter. Gotta be a Yankie file Trader to get that one :-)
TrandFoo

Dude that makes no sense at all man, Why they go and do that for?

IP-Anon.tk
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ScrewEwe2

Moar and moar bad news everday. The little “be satisfied with what you got” angel on my right shoulder is starting to get as loud as the little “oh come on man, you know your collection needs more” devil on my left shoulder, and they’re both drowning out “Polly want’s a Cracker, Polly want’s a Cracker”. Gotta flick that stupid angel off my shoulder and make room for Polly.
ANON

I think them having that private tracker was a very bad idea.
- downunder
  
  its prob how they got found out… ripping cams and leaking on web via open proxies would be impossible to nab them
  
  they got a aussie guy by staking out the drive in and night vision all the cars until they spotted the camera… seems he didnt know there as a code they put on movies in a corner unique for the theatre so they know which one was used then stake it out
  
  arent most of the movie rippers coming out of asia and russia and south america now days?
- Secureone
  
  always said it was the biggest security problem imagine had
- http://twitter.com/Mathew30 Mathew Lisett
  
  some said it was their ego getting out of control, considering they always went on about making themselves safe ,
- RIAAtarded
  
  Frankly they were arrogant which lead to all this. Even worst they were warned by others multiple times. The minute they launched the public blog they were warned being high profile is a huge risk then they compounded it with the launch of UTN. Couple that with paid VIP FTP access now you’re making money which is a visible thing. Restrict how your releases are disseminated to other trackers forcing users into the pay scheme to get stuff in a timely fashion now you’re a pretty target for MPAA. Sadly these upper guys are narcissistic by nature in a lot of cases and totally ignore what should be driving all this which is sharing culture. Minute you boil it down to a revenue structure you lose the support of those who think the industry is wrong and effective bring yourself into their gun sites to eradicate.
  I wish these guys the best but they were the instrument in their own destruction and although the potential punishments are even close to being on par with what they did when you make money off things that aren’t yours some restitution must be address.
  - Anon
    
    it’s not that smart to tag all your stuff and work in groups anyway, if you want to stay anonymous. when you’re a pirate, staying anonymous should be your main priority.
Violated0

Heroes and nothing less.

Imagine a world where you work for the happiness of others with sharing and caring just to entertain. Guilty of proving what the market wants with quality, speed and efficiency. Now stopped by those who could not compete.

The War goes on and already others have taken their place as our ranks grow stronger as each month passes. The dam has burst and the flood approaches and events like this cannot prevent the world from changing.

Look around when if it is not pirated on the Internet then it is not worthy to be on the Internet.
Worst candidate ever

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120830/02265920216/want-to-know-how-weak-gops-internet-freedom-platform-is-mpaa-loves-it.shtml

Want To Know How Weak The GOP’s Internet Freedom Platform Is? The MPAA Loves It

We were already skeptical of the GOP’s claims about supporting “internet freedom,” and it seems that our concerns have been more or less confirmed by the fact that the MPAA seems positively thrilled by the GOP’s official position on internet freedom. If the MPAA is pleased with someone’s policy outline for the internet, you can bet that it’s bad policy. Here’s what Chris Dodd had to say:
The Republican Party platform language strikes a very smart balance: it emphasizes the importance of us doing more as a nation to protect our intellectual property from online theft while underscoring the critical importance of protecting internet freedom. As the party points out, the internet has been for its entire existence a source of innovation, and it is intellectual property that helps drive that innovation. Copyright is the cornerstone of innovation; it allows creators to benefit from what they create. As Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor — herself once a Republican elected official — wrote, ‘[I]t should not be forgotten that the Framers intended copyright itself to be the engine of free expression. By establishing a marketable right to the use of one’s expression, copyright supplies the economic incentive to create and disseminate ideas.’

I agree wholeheartedly with my friends in the Republican Party that we must protect the free flow of information on the internet while also protecting American innovators. It is imperative to our national economy and our national identity that we protect an internet that works for everyone.
As he is prone to doing, Dodd is presenting a very distorted version of history and intellectual property. There is no evidence (none, zip, zilch, zero) that “intellectual property helps drive innovation.” Historically, it’s been shown that competition and need is what drives innovation — whereas intellectual property laws tend to lock in place legacy players, holding back disruptive innovation. Either way, the MPAA’s support pretty much shows that the Republican’s “internet freedom” platform isn’t serious.
- Bob
  
  You’re an unbelievable idiot. If you think the Goopers are going to save you, you’re sadly mistaken. You’re part of the problem. I doubt you’ve even read any of the Nazi platform those assholes revealed.
  - Worst candidate ever
    
    You moron, the whole post is criticizing the GOP. The only one praising the GOP is Dodd the MPAA shill, whose bullshit is quoted in the middle.
  - blue_bomber
    
    Did you even read his post? He’s quoting Chris Dodd as supporting the GOP’s position on IP (“imaginary property”).
ForestSilverwood

“to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement”

I laugh at any law that says conspiracies are illegal. Such a stupid way to charge someone. All the accuser has to do is claim they thought a certain way, and if the defendant has even the slightest of bad pasts, he gets hit with the book >.>

Oh, and sharing for free, on any scale, should be fair use. Go after those people selling off the stuff without paying royalties first.
Imagine

r i p imagine utn was great while we had it
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187654

In my country you can get away with doing 18-36 months for RAPE !
downunder

the real silly thing is camrips suck arse.. the quality is poor to medium at best… only the real fans will bother grabbing.. I would doubt it had any impact on the money the movie makers made.. prob made same if a little more as its free advertising and most would of gone to the cims to watch it. or grabbing the cams after seeing to rewatch until dvd came out

its not as if they were ripping dvd quality and uploading isos going by the info in the article thats different and probably more serious

but again whos wants dvd and covers filling up their houses now days
they want a digital copy on a memory device a small one
again the supply is not there

they just cant see this is just amazing still..

in fact some movies they should pay us to sit and watch some
are appalling and some are even b grade,
thedude321

I think people in the future will look back at this and call it the dark days of the internet. If google glasses makes a strong debut, you will be getting better Cam-rips than ever before.
- jeb20
  
  At first I was like fuck yeah. In a way I still am. I think cramming movies is a douche move.
  
  That being said, not one financial person from the financial crisis has been sent to jail. Think about that shit.
- http://twitter.com/Mathew30 Mathew Lisett
  
  no you wouldnt, unless the wearer never moved, which is physically impossible from a normal human being.
Monster

I could beat somebody within an inch of their life with a baseball bat and end up facing less time than these cats. Sad and very scary at the same time. Good luck at sentencing guys!
- http://twitter.com/Mathew30 Mathew Lisett
  
  it seems in the states you face a max of 5 years, which is 5 less than the uk. but this isnt the end yet, they still have to go to court for final conviction if there is any.
GUEST

And a year on…No one will remember them.

The “sharing community” will turn its back on the actual people who put in the work.
- http://twitter.com/Mathew30 Mathew Lisett
  
  says who
  - GUEST
    
    Says I. No one will remember this.
    
    Look at the DOD guys. You remember? No. So STFU.
    - http://twitter.com/Mathew30 Mathew Lisett
      
      you just got that wrong, you remember DOD. so your theory is inaccurate and foolish.
    - Ii
      
      I remember all of the people – the admins, the does and the janes since the napster’s days. 10 years already!
    - GUEST
      
      Absolutely not, as I knew a person that was closely involved in it.
      The general public will not remember them, nor care… This “sharing community” is a smoke-screen for a lot of bullshit. Just “superficial” backing, when the underlying issue is current and that some of the “rippers” or “releasers” are busted. It’s “fake” support – no one gives a rats arse…They really don’t as long as it is not “them”.
- Guest
  
  So what are we supposed to do when the “rippers” and “releasers” get busted? Swoop down on our magical unicorns and save them?
  
  Oh, I see. We’re supposed to remember them forever. I hate to burst your bubble but that doesn’t fucking help them.
jeb20

And that should tell you everything you need to know about the scene
DualbrainDUDE

Suddenly, it’s getting harder…

But that makes no differnce: Most of the media, like movies, music, games and so on are not more than entertainment-s**h.

Putting this down – which is almost impossible -, will NOT increase sales, for this they have to produce quality, and their (Media-Indutry) model is not aligned for that.

Haha, just brainless stuff without content.
http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell

Oh joy… a bunch of non-violent people in prison for 5 years, taking up space that could be used to keep pre-meditated murderers in prison.

Anyone else feel like kicking the ass of the governments around the world literally? It’s getting severely old here that they cannot realize that 90% of people who ‘pirate’ things have already paid for them via cable TV or satellite TV memberships, thereby just doing timeshifting.

They shouldn’t be going after the people who put up the torrents or run the sites either, it’s a waste of time, money and energy.
- Roswell1701
  
  You make an EXCELLENT POINT! Cable TV has always been the BLOATED MONSTER lurking in the darkness; a massive rip-off from it’s very inception!!!
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Strader1781

” Tipped of by the MPAA ”
More like stiched up by a rival group member…? Hope you rot in hell,you know who you are you little squirm !!!
As they say what goes around comes around !!!
As for IMAGiNE guys you was and still are legends, i hope all goes well with the sentancing.
tmc8080

If the way they went about violating copyright is true… it was quite stupid and easy to get caught.. There doesn’t seem to be any precautions taken.. While you might not see much action taken with somebody selling pirated video discs in an urban envrionment.. the promotion of the bittorrent and movie release scene is like putting a big target on your back, whether another group snitched on them or not, is besides the point.. almost..
Worst candidate ever

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2194690/Republicans-crackdown-multi-billion-dollar-adult-porn-industry.html

Republicans call for crackdown on multi-billion dollar adult porn industry
—————
click, there it is… solid proof that Romney is much worse than Obama on the issue of Internet freedom…
- Guest
  
  Not worse. The same.
  - Worst candidate ever
    
    No, worse. Romney wants to rev up “obscenity” prosecutions against adult porn. Obama isn’t doing that. Harassing adult porn reduces Internet freedom.
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Grammar Police

Past tense of “plead” is “pled”. Unless you are going to tell us all you’ve writed many posts here, and eated many meals in your life, and have drinked lots of liquid, I suggest you correct that.
- Rekrul
  
  Didn’t you know? using special forms of words to indicate the past tense is no longer required. Now you just put “ed” on the end of them. Like “kneeled” instead of “knelt” and “leaped” instead of “leapt”. I expect to see someone use the word “sleeped” any day now.
  
  Actually, Firefox’s spell checker seems to think that “leapt” is misspelled.
  - Grammar Police
    
    Firefox – or at least its dictionary source – is poorly informed, according to Merriam-Webster, Macmillan, Oxford, etc.
harry krishna

so many bad movies, so few cammers
That_Anonymous_Coward

Do not forget that the Government of the lovely USA enjoys plea deals. They like them so much that they create much longer sentences and more crimes if you dare not accept the deal and make them actually go to court for these things.
A plea deal makes it look like it was a slam dunk, not that it was a flimsy case that was quickly closed by threatening them with 4 times as much jail time if they pursue it into a court room.
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http://modmyi.com/forums/iphone-4-new-skins-themes-launches/740147-neurotech-hd.html#post5637502 Jay

Not worth it :(
chronoss chiron

ill quote centropy after the drink or die raids

“can you imagine how much i love you”
motoxxx

Good luck Imagine, you will be missed.
Guest

Who would really want to see a cammed movie anyways? The clarity, resolution, color vibrancy.. it all sucks!

Furthermore with the amount of movies available today, there’s tons of shit available, and what is new today is old tomorrow. There’s so much to pick from. And there’s no big deal about seeing a movie before everyone else. It’s not like getting a piece of gold or something. There’s no special prestige, nor do you become some sort of god.

All the stuff (good and bad) produced by the studios makes its way to the bargain bin of wal-mart or redbox or netflix. Just see it then.. All this camming and pirating garbage is pretty much just that.

When we go to the movies we go a few times a year, at best, and very carefully select what we see.
Rusty Shackelford

People still download CAMs and TS’?
- Tufu
  
  People preview the CAMs and TSs first before they decide to watch it in the theater
foff

I think the day of camcording is more or less dead. In this day and age of blu-ray and high resolution screens no one in their right mind would watch a cam. If you want to see the movie that bad go to the fucking theater. Most people in the Us can afford that if they want.

Since disks are out within 3 to 6 months the wait for a good copy is nothing. Copyright laws and penalties are way to skewed in the favor of the distributors. As internet speed increases cable ought to die and owners of content need to be forced to make content available online in a timely basis for a reasonable fee. If apple can compete with free then any content provider can if they do it right.
20Bucks

I hope to ANYTHING that the NARKS …. EPiC-iNK get arrested or have karma in return for their part in this shit. Faggots
https://thepiratebay.org/user/manOtor/ manOtor

I am deeply sorry for those guys, but I feel even more sorry for the moral values of western society flushing down the toilet while democracy becomes a hypocritical hollow shell.

And before any copywrong-troll gives me his “some criminals go to jail for their crimes, and for you it’s a political matter”-bullshit take a step back, “zoom out” or whatever you do to get a look at the greater picture here:
The punishment is totally out of proportion – people are declared criminals for stuff that should get you a slap on the wrist at most. Nobody was hurt, they didn’t profit at all.

The alleged losses caused by copyright infringers should have to be proven through airtight argumentation PLUS actual proof by anyone who claims them.

Ridiculous! The current law is simply ridiculous and unnecessary!

Rob8urcakes is right, this can’t go on, so let me quote:

“Write to your politician(s) and let them know that filesharing
material that falls under current copyright laws MUST be permitted
unless it can be shown that the breach in copyright results in a cash
transaction between parties without permission of said copyright holder.

All other sharing of copyrighted material MUST be permitted in law without penalty and without restriction.”
Storm

Lol this guys gets 5 years while Dr. Conrad Murray got 4 years for being the cause of Michael Jackson’s death. What a bunch of crap.
tremor

Fuckin MAFIAA gotta make money some how. Can’t make it off continually producing the same old regurgitated shit.
GeorgeDWarren

The secret to being a succesful pirate, releaser, website owner, tracker etc..
is to FLY UNDER THE RADAR.
Dont think that all the VPN and other BS tech you use will actually protect you from the FBI / CIA etc.. they are MUCH smarter than you and have a lot more money and resources to nail your ass.
Maintaining a low profile is key!
- Guest
  
  “from the FBI / CIA etc.. they are MUCH smarter than you”
  
  Have you been paying attention to the Megaupload debacle? I’m pretty sure they’re actually quite stupid.
Guest

More political prisoners.
Guest

”plus any damages copyright holders may claim for their alleged losses.”
In other words, a hundred million dollars because American courts don’t know how to math damages in any realistic way.
Hasdf

We need more mofo’s using software like RetroShare http://retroshare.sourceforge.net

* It’s free
* It’s serverless
* It’s encrypted

Darknet is coming my friends! Good luck stopping that shit MPAA / RIAA!
Regular Guy

They pleaded Guilty – which means the admitted to committing a crime. They didn’t try to claim that what they did wasn’t a crime. They knew what they were getting themselves into and can’t exactly complain about the consequences
- gat
  
  How can it be a crime when there is no victim?
H4rfang

piracy is not a crime, what the FBI, RIAA, MPAA do is a CRIME called Extortion and Conspiracy. The rich people/corporation have the governments in their pocket and it’s well known. FUCK THEM ALL…

”To protect and serve” they said??? yeah that’s right, ”to protect and serve all fuckin rich greedy people and corporation”

thank you for all IMAGiNE, we’ll continue to fight the MAFIAA for all unfair crime they commit. One of these days, they will pay for that.
Average_joe

Meanwhile the folks who crashed the economy are free and collecting their CEO bonues paid for with bailout money. Go figure.
Guest

And they will spend more time in prison than someone who murders 20 people.
Boblenton3

Hey remeber that guy from Norway? Anders Breivik, was it? He killed over 70 people…..the majority of them teenagers. He shot them down like a set of sheep….He’s prison sentence is initally 21years…… So if I’m correct downloading the equivalent of 4 – 5 tracks from some album gives you a far more longer prison sentance compared to total mass murdering?

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