OiNK Uploaders Sentenced to Community Service
Written by Ernesto on January 23, 2009After months of delay, four users of the popular BitTorrent tracker OiNK have been sentenced to community service and payment of court costs. One uploader and Alan Ellis, the administrator of the site, are still awaiting their day in court
In October 2007, Operation Ark Royal achieved its aims. OiNK, one of the largest and most prestigious BitTorrent trackers, was shut down in a joint effort by British and Dutch law enforcement.
Site administrator Alan Ellis was arrested immediately and eventually charged with conspiracy to defraud. Five others, who were arrested months later, were accused of uploading music to others via the site.
Four of the uploaders plead guilty at Teesside Crown Court last December, where they were all charged with copyright infringement offenses. The four have now been sentenced.
Steven Diprose was sentenced to 180 hours community service, and has to pay £378 in Court costs. Michael Myers was ordered to pay a £500 fine. Mark Tugwell has to undertake 100 hours community service and has to pay £378 Court costs. The fourth uploader, James Garner was sentenced to 50 hours community service and also has to pay £378 Court costs.
For one other uploader and OiNK admin Allan Ellis the wait continues. Their cases have been adjourned and they will appear before court in March.
A source close to one of the convicted uploaders told TorrentFreak in a response: “[The Judge] swallowed the prosecution line completely that initial seeders were causing major damage to the copyright holders, and particularly uploaders who uploaded before the official release date. The fact that all the early uploads were only 1 or 2 days early and that 3 out 4 of the uploaders bought their CDs online did not sway him. All the retailers, quite naturally, denied this.”
We were further told that, if the defendants had not had such good references and strong legal representation, the Judge would have seriously considered a custodial sentence. This ruling, the first of its kind in the UK, will most certainly be used as a precedent for future cases.
Developing story, more info will be added later.
Previously: Online Pirates vs MPAA – The 2009 Oscars
Next: The Problem with Extending Copyright on Music
65 Responses
didn’t they already did “community service” when they shared art and culture with others ?
Thank goodness they didn't get a prison sentence!
http://www.fetchmp3.com
Community service?
Oh my god its a conspiracy I tell you, think of the poor music companies… shoot these conspirators or find the nearest tree to string them up, oh the injustice. /sarcasm
http://www.eZee.se
Also it is good that their "fines"/costs were relatively small considering what some people [Davenport Lyons] would have you believe was appropriate for what they did.
Haha, you've got to love the shit judical system in the UK.
Glad they didn't go to prison.
Andrew, Its not USA, but EU. Thats why. Else why would all have gotten 1mill fine and prison time ;)
By which I mean their assertion that you should be paying £16000 per download…
they*
That is soo good +1 for piracy! Only getting community service is GREAT news!
OH NOES CLEANING FLOORS? They got off easy, which is good. Community service is good for you anyway, it makes you feel like a better person.
Did anyone actually read the article? This isn't the best of news. Some quotes:
"[The Judge] swallowed the prosecution line completely that initial seeders were causing major damage to the copyright holders, and particularly uploaders who uploaded before the official release date."
"We were further told that, if the defendants had not had such good references and strong legal representation, the Judge would have seriously considered a custodial sentence."
Especially since this will be used as a precedent, things could easily devolve in the future. We're left with the impression that the judge totally bought into the industry's BS arguments, and that the uploaders were lucky to get off with the sentences they did.
I assume that these were all criminal proceedings (a.k.a. "The people" vs. uploaders). Any word if there are civil actions looming (a.k.a. MAFIAA vs. uploaders)?
id do mine sharing out donated food at a shelter
kinda makes me feel like im not chaging habits ROFL
imagine that sharing YOUR food to someoen whom can't afford it OH MY MAKE ALL THE BASTARS PAY OR STARVE NOW
Thank god its over for some of them now, to be honest… but its sad to see them even got what they had, and it is a blow for people who do release the stuff on a daily basis anywhere… I just hope that the world doesn't go mad, and we tell the music industry where it can shove its shitty, remixed, re-released music and come up with something new and interesting. Only then will people really start buyin their music again, and only then will the "true pirate" (in my eyes) spirit prevale.
Just wondering, what were they convicted for? A single track? An album? A couple of albums? Hundreds/Thousdands of mp3s?
Many skimmed, thats easy to see.
I completly agree with you, as this could (and probably will) be used as a precedent, its very bad they got anything. By the judge "buying" the industrys story, that sets the bar so other judges will as well.
Seems theyve won round one, but I still think TPB's case will be the biggest decider yet. TPB wont allow the judge to be fooled easy, like these guys probably did (to get a lesser sentence).
http://bluehumor.org
They were convicted mainly for uploading pre released albums
“So even if you end up buying the things that you downloaded, it still doesn’t count for anything?”
You should have bought it twice! Three times, even. Different formats. Newer, better! Think of the artists and people who work in the entertainment industries. They need to make a living too, you know!
Yeah but how much did the share? I can't really agree with that "ohh only community service" If you made just 10€/h that already 1800€+ the 378pound. They should have to upload thousands of tracks in order to get that much in a criminal case.
if i was in their shoes I would do my community service by handing out cds with music downloaded from the net and cds that contain messages to slander the the industry and to prove just what they really are about
In my eyes, this is a terrible conviction, copyright spouts human ingenuity, get rid of copyright and then try and take them to court.
Community service, what is all that about? They've done a great service to the world by taking their time to distribute knowledge, now they've gotta clean skanky toilets for helping others learn. I'd look at this in exactly the same way whether it be distributing apps/ebooks/games/music/video – all this knowledge helps others to know more.
We're in a world that learning and the spreading of information is restricted, thus we must accept what the people higher up the pyramid want to feed us, and then to make matters worse they then attempt control the distribution method of this knowledge reaching us. Can you afford a TV license? (would you even want one? :P)
It's a bloody hypocrisy.
It's definitely saddening to see that the judge apparently bought the industry line – hook, line, sinker, rod, copy of angling times…
Also, it will definitely be used as a club to beat other file-sharers with in the future. Although it's a small punishment by many standards, it's still a criminal conviction. They'll use that line to browbeat many into submission – "you could go to jail for this, so just pay up and we'll forget the whole thing…"
So even if you end up buying the things that you downloaded, it still doesn't count for anything?
Some incentive to buy, huh? And what about the folks who own the physical albums but don't know how to rip them to their computers, so they download them instead? There are more of those than you'd think.
I know, its stupid. It used to be that you were allowed to keep digital backups of all your stuff, even old Nintendo games. Last I heard its illegal now, although I could be mistaken.
Thats why IP's arnt enough to really do anything anymore. People can hack your router, your IP can be displayed a a "fake" peer on TPB, ect. All these results in YOU not even doing anythign wrong, yet you might pay the fines simply to avoid your friends/boss finding out, bullshit.
http://bluehumor.org
Ya, if you have a sneaking suspicion you're gonna be busted, shred your files and open your router's wifi to the public and blame some supposed wardriver.
Oh but have you forgotten the digital TV switch in the USA? Half the people I know cant afford the new box thing, or a new TV. Theyll be left without any signal, and without the news or anything. Restrictions are getting crazy these days…
My sarcasm detector is malfunctioning. Is the "Community service is good for you anyway" part is serious?
If your in the USA, Canada or Australia, and your asked to pay any fine by the court you can simply say to get out of it "Your Honor, I shall pay, upon proof of claim that their is lawful money in circulation, backed by anything of value." cause all money in these country is illegitimate and their for if you state that you do not have to pay.
http://www.thecrowhouse.com
explain?
http://thewarezscene.org
Is TPB case being tried under EU legislation? I was under the impression it was under Swedish Law. I could certainly be wrong about this though.
Cant afford a box – am I missing something? I'm speaking from Australia – here set-top boxes can be had for a pittance. I've seen them for as low as $20AU. I got one of mine for $50AU – branded LG with Sigma decoder.
How much are they in the US?
Get off the drugs you twit.
What happens after a challenge like that – after it's argued about for two minutes and then laughed out of court, you don't pay and then subsequent hearings occur and your found guilty of contempt – is that a warrant is issued for your arrest and your taken to jail and/or a court appointed bailiff visits your home and/or business and forcibly removes goods to the value of what your ordered to pay. The values are calculated from what these goods are sold for at auction which is usually a hell of a lot lower than their second-hand value through other means of sale such as eBay.
But go ahead, do that.
community service = guilty with a 'small' penalty. dont forget, they are now criminals…i doubt thats good in any way.
As far as I'm aware "Fair Use" clauses still apply in many jurisdictions however, some hypocritically one could say, tools to circumvent DRM protections are technically illegal to obtain and use in some jurisdictions. Once again, I could be wrong on this.
Actually the sentences could have been a lot higher
A better method is to use drive encryption. If you use TrueCrypt with the "inner partition" option you even have plausible deniability.
"We were further told that, if the defendants had not had such good references and strong legal representation, the Judge would have seriously considered a custodial sentence."
It seems that this is pure speculation.
Can they appeal to the european courts? If so, they should. I'd be willing to bet that the eu courts would throw out claims so ludicrious.
don't try and tell me that people can't afford a little digital set-top box but they can afford a broadband internet connection and the electricity to power it for houes by which to download tv shows.
There's an annoying ad on torrentfreak that prevents me from using the back button on my browser.
The URL starts with http://ads.dotomi.com/publisher/,and inserted itself in the browser history between this page and the torrentfreak home page.
Each time I press back, it goes back to the ad URL, and then back here instead of the home page. Very annoying.
This is a reasonable first step. It is premature to reach directly for jailtime when education towards the respect of material and digital property is the more desirable goal of a well ordered society. But the conviction and sentencing is encouraging. The precedent for "guilty and punished" is being set all over the world. Now what remains is to upgrade outdated laws to meet this new digital age and remake this kind of infringement from civil to a criminal matter, with life-changing punishment for those who willfully continue.
The world is faced with a choice; either digital will be useless for product in the marketplace, or it will be protected through forward-looking legislation so that hard work in digital careers retains its former value. To destroy the business promise of the digital age will obviously one day be regarded as a criminal matter. It's not hard to see the choice is gently being made, and the movement is clearly in the right direction..
what a waste of the legal system. they should go find some real criminals.
I use BestCrypt.
" Community servants Sentenced to Community Service "
The Irony…
Yeh those Ad pages suck i find it happens to me on pirat ebay aswell, just use the arrow near back button and skip past ad page
waste of the legal system indeed.
if on one day everyone pleaded guilty to filesharing and cannabis smoking we could really fuck the courts up.
shows how ineffective and pointless it is persecuting PEOPLE for the sake of corporate gain.
pfft, in hindsight, i guess thats the name of the game :(
we need judges with intellect, not OBEDIENCE.
rant over
Retard alert!!!! Appeal 180 hours of CS
In the UK it's not even legal to copy a CD you bought on your mp3 player so i doubt you're allowed to make unreleased stuff that you don't own available to the public via BT … The fact that they bought it could have a positive influence on the outcome of the trial ( like showing remorse, not having any previous convictions etc) but it doesn't make it legal afterwards.
Community service? I thought that's what they were doing all along!
Seeing as my friends parents just got their truck repo'd yesterday (And they arnt just bad people, they lost their jobs) Id say yeah, alot of peopel cant afford them. I never claimed they were downloading, I was agreeing that restrictions were getting crazy, but whatever, I dont expect you to actually read my reply before you say im wrong. However, seeing as its cheaper here to pay for internet and watch them on a computer/TV (S-Cable duh) then it is to buy a new TV, or to buy the box, id say alot more people will be downloading. Think about it, you *have* to have internet today anyway, if the box is $50 why bother to buy it if you can do things how you are now (Through downloading and streaming) for $50 less? Lets see you about to lose your truck/car, and have you decide shall we?
Personally, if I had to decide between a TV box, or food for my kids…well theyd be eating and watching the news online, even if from a cheap laptop and my neighbors wireless >_>
How about we consider those of us who downlaod because we really cant afford things? There are people out there that dont just share because its free, they do it because that the only way theyd be getting it anyway.
Im sure everyone here agrees that people who pirate to sell should be in jail, not the ones that pirate for personal use. That kind goes without saying, yet the legal system picks on us…it is a waste -.-
"Four of the uploaders plead GUILTY at Teesside Crown Court last December, where they were all charged with copyright infringement offenses."
No legal precedent being set here since they plead Guilty, only a guideline as to likely sentence for future cases of a similar nature…
Your trying to tell us that watching TV on a set-top box, worth $50 (one off cost), is more expensive than paying the internet bill (ongoing monthly bill) and downloading? Right… crap.
And you don't *have* to have the internet BTW. People can go to Internet cafe's, libraries and friend's houses to use it to look for work or what have you.
how old are they that got such punishment?
Wow, seems appropriate to me.
RT
http://www.privacy-tools.net.tc
The box isn't $50, there are coupons for getting $40 off the box so you are only paying $10. Also the transition has been pushed back to June, just approved, to clear up any unused coupons and give the government more time to come up with funding to allow people to get these boxes at discounted prices.
get over it MTV and music artists. you have to let go of the past. making a crappy track and selling your cd for 50$ doesnt work anymore in the world we live in. you can no longer laugh your way to the millions of dollars you made when people were more primitive on the tubes. We have the people on our side, and that means a shitload of software engineers/ computer scientists.
Whoever is in the prosecution, they need to go down. We ought not forget this, nor ought we forgive them for this. We need REVENGE for this! Now!
To avoid this – and you'll be amazed at how much nicer the interwebs is if you do this – you need to get some kind of adfiltering.
If you're not technically minded and/or want something that just works with out having to adjust anything I'd recommend using Firefox with the AdBlock Plus plugin – both freely available.
I was one of the guys sentenced before (i was third best uploader on the site), but luckily they undertstood using encrypted vpn with many tunnels it's pointless to mess with it, and quit charges.
Revolt. Stop talking about it and just do it. These tools have no real control over us EXCEPT when we give in accept “punishments” like these. Its not their fault this happened, its our fault for letting it happen.
I completly agree,most dont seem to Really read what is in before their eyes!!!!
You were sentenced, but they dropped charges? Talk sense child.
Bucking the Obama administration, House Republicans on Wednesday defeated a bill to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting to June 12 — leaving the current Feb. 17 deadline intact for now.
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