Oldest BitTorrent Site Targeted by Police, Owner Arrested
Written by enigmax on August 04, 2009One of, if not the oldest BitTorrent communities still around today has been targeted by police and anti-piracy officers. The owner of FileSoup, one the most enduring sites since the introduction of the BitTorrent protocol, was arrested by police and denied his phone call and legal representation for more than seven hours.
After gaining a warrant eleven days earlier, on Monday 27th July at 09:05 police backed up by the MPAA-funded UK anti-piracy group FACT conducted a raid on the home address of the owner of one of the most enduring torrent sites on the Internet.
Founded way back in 2003 – a light year in BitTorrent terms – UK based FileSoup is one of the original torrent sites and has built a solid reputation while keeping a surprisingly low profile, particularly considering its status. It has already outlived The Pirate Bay by around 9 months and is believed to be the oldest community still around today.
The search warrant for the owner of FileSoup was issued under Section 109 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 and authorized the gathering of any evidence related to the illegal distribution or file-sharing of copyright films. Notably, since 2005 FileSoup hasn’t operated a tracker but links to metadata which links to material hosted elsewhere. It has never hosted any copyrighted content.
Known online as TheGeeker, the owner of FileSoup was arrested and taken to his local police station. The charge: Suspicion of downloading copyrighted movies. He told TorrentFreak that his site had been under FACT investigation since February this year.
“I asked them [police] while still at home if I could contact a member of my family so that someone could come and make sure my dog was catered for, they said that I couldn’t. On the way to the police station I asked if they could contact someone to take care of the dog or if I could make a phone call, they again said I could not,” he recalls.
But the police’s lack of sympathy for Geeker’s pet was just the start. He says that before being put in a cell he was given a ‘Notice Of Entitlements’ sheet, a document explaining how a prisoner should be cared for. One section explained:
Keeping in touch: As well as talking to a solicitor and having a person told about your arrest you will usually be allowed to make one phone call. Ask the police if you would like to make a phone call. You can also ask for a pen and paper. You may be able to have visitors but the custody officer can refuse to allow that.
But Geeker soon discovered that things were different in his case. “I asked again as I was put in the cell, if I could contact someone or make a phone call, I was told no I couldn’t do that, I asked why and was told that the Inspector had put a block on any and all communication from me to anyone.”
Each time an officer called on Geekers cell, he asked permission to let someone know of his arrest. He also asked to contact his lawyer. Seven and a half hours later and both were effectively still being denied.
Around 4:45pm a policeman appeared in Geeker’s cell with a 12 page list of items seized from his house, and demanded a signature that would indicate that the items were his. Of course, it was impossible to say if the items they had in custody were indeed the ones on the list, so Geeker declined and the policeman stormed out of the cell.
“What do they take me for, a complete idiot!” says Geeker. “No one in their right mind would have signed to say any of these items were their property, especially if they’d not been there when it was seized!”
At 5pm Geeker was finally allowed legal representation, where he questioned that surely “downloading” was a civil issue, not a criminal one. However, the movie industry anti-piracy group FACT are known to frame things differently. In previous cases they have insisted that donations are profit and therefore constitute a criminal copyright offense. It is probable they have done the same thing at FileSoup and this could be why Geeker was arrested and not sued.
Geeker then had an interview with two police officers which was recorded on a machine which malfunctioned throughout the interview. In common with other FACT-run cases, the nature of BitTorrent proved difficult for law enforcement to grasp, with Geeker having to explain how everything worked – including what URLs and domain names are.
Upon leaving, Geeker was informed that in common with other cases in the UK such as that against TV Links, the private anti-piracy group FACT was in charge of his seized property, not the police.
Geeker was eventually released on police bail a little after 19:30 with his offense listed as “Distribute Article Infringing Copyright”. He must return to the police station in October.
Geeker says his home was a mess. “I got back home just before 8pm to find my belongings had been turned upside down, the dining room was a like a whirlwind had gone through..[]..they’d turfed out all the drawers of the desk, chucked back what was of no interest to them, left a pile of paperwork scattered across my desk and table with wires everywhere, talk about a nightmare!”
And Geeker’s dog was pretty upset too. “My dog was extremely traumatized, he’d been barking almost non-stop all day long the neighbour told my Dad when he went over at about 6:30pm to feed the dog as I hadn’t got back yet. My dog rarely barks at anything, now he barks at the least little thing, I am SO annoyed that they have done this to him!”
The FileSoup site remains open. Stay tuned.
Previously: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent
Next: The Pirate Bay to be Traded on NASDAQ
200 Responses
Wow, what complete idiots
Wow..
What country are we talking about here?
fuck you copyright Cartel. I will not buy shit from you!! I encourage everyone else to do the same.
@3
England.
That’s the Gestapo for you. They come and seize his property then give it away to a third party. I hate the police, nothing but a bunch of psychopathic punks, who get their jollies off from pushing people around, and pretending to be little gods.
Why does the Police always act like one is already convicted? Do they have the right to turn ones home into a mess? Are they even allowed to enter the home when no one’s at home? This is sick!
Damm nothing is scared now filesoup
Corruption among the legal system is becoming more and more evident.
And where they turfed up the house that would send me CRAZY!, I’m sure if anything was broken you could sue them for damages or something.
This is really sick
Looking at all this I find my country much much better.
everyday it becomes more clear that the UK is one fucked up place to be.
i honestly dont understand why people still choose to live there.
god bless our lovely country with its non-elected politicians making a mess of things on a daily basis!
Jack booted fekkers.
Police are no longer looking to help anyone, they’re looking for an excuse to get you. Anything! Really, if you give them the chance they’ll do everything they can possibly think of to try and get you. You don’t have to actually have done anything, but woe to you should you cause them to look your way. I’m a relatively honest person, with good morals and a sense of right and wrong. Yet I fear the police and they’re ever growing powers over us. They should be careful, because you know what happens when people get real scared, they start to fight back.
I’m saddened by this news.
outrageous ! Find it hard to believe – thank you for publishing !
Geeker, if you’re reading this, file a complaint with the IPCC asap – you have a very strong case with the denied phone call aspect. Keep pushing up on the police force, sue for damages if necessary. The UK is quite litigation-friendly, use this to your advantage. I’d also consider suing FACT – remember that they’re a private industry group and have no legal authority.
Honest to god, how the fuck are the police and the FACT representatives allowed to get away with shit like this.
It really is outrageous, and sickens me to read that crap like this is being pulled here.
Sorry about the language but things like this really piss me off.
Haven’t they got better things to be concentrating on, like murderers, missing children etc.
thats sad filesoup had great forums.
It’s time to go for darknets
Hi there Geeker if your reading this sorry to hear of your problems ???
AS you know you and me live in same area of the UK and operate sites along same lines …
Contact me if you can on TBDev or via DDT…so we can have a talk and see whats going on a little better as things getting a little closer to my front door LOL
Dave
Poor dog :-(
i agree with 15, fire with fire, sounds like you have a case. Might be an idea to contact the rspca as and lodge a complaint with them too.
Does UK have a EFF/EFA equivalent?
AS to the filing a complaint i dont think he will get that far.
The reasons for no contact will have been given before the raid and due to the fact of being able to destory the site and any other data they may well go looking for.
If they have access to his systems and passwords and such are kept in plan text or in cache may well mean the damage has been done and backup’s of database and site servers already carried out….
Geeker realy needs to eaither take offline or remove and data if he knows for sure they could not have already accessed it before.
Checking site server logs for IP’s used to access the server admin area’s ect ect ect..
All the best Geeker and get in touch m8…
If you still believe that there is still a country in this world where the statement “Innocent until proven guilty” is true then you’ve got another thing coming.
Nazis. UK and the EU are sliding towards fascism once again.
I’m not too well versed in british law, but this seems like a golden opertunity for suing the police and especially FACT.
If you’re not up to it Geeker, and no one is saying you should be, I really hope you’ll be able to hand it over to other “activists” in Britain.
Much love, respect and sadness from mrLobster, Norway.
Guys, check the info here
http://tinyurl.com/l3rqdj
Why Did UK Anti-Piracy Group FACT Get Computers From A Criminal Investigation… And Keep Them?
It seems troubling enough that private industry reps were allowed to be so closely involved in a criminal investigation where they have clear bias, but it gets worse. The police seized various computers and equipment as part of arresting the Vickerman’s, and then allowed FACT employees to inspect the computers and the information found on them — which, again seems to be granting way too much access to a private group. Then things got even more bizarre: the police gave a bunch of the equipment to FACT to allow FACT to continue to examine the equipment.
Considering it was simply a video search engine and pointed to content that was both authorized and unauthorized, we wondered how FACT could tell a legit search engine from an illegal one. However, more details on the case are coming to light, and the whole thing seems questionable. Someone, who prefers to remain anonymous, sent along the news that the lawyers for Scopelight have now won the first battle against FACT, and the full decision reveals some rather troubling details about how closely FACT — a private industry group — collaborated with the police in the initial investigation, and then FACT’s own actions after the police investigation concluded.
It’s already troubling enough that a private industry group, involved solely in activities designed to protect a business model, was allowed to work so closely with police in a criminal investigation. FACT alerted the police to potential illegality at Scopelight, which is fine, but from then on FACT was intimately involved in the criminalinvestigation. When the owners of Scopelight, Anton Benjamin Vickerman and his wife Kelly-Anne Vickerman, had their home raided by the police… FACT came along for the investigation. Not only that, but they had their own private investigator copy information from the Vickerman’s computers (exactly what and how much was copied is apparently in dispute).
When the Vickerman’s were questioned by the police, FACT members took part in the questioning.
It seems troubling enough that private industry reps were allowed to be so closely involved in a criminal investigation where they have clear bias, but it gets worse.
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/24702
http://twitter.com/surfthechanneI
Just be happy you don’t live in the US, home of the money happy laws system. It doesn’t matter who you are, if your middle class, because if the riaa sues you, your screwed.
The police were obviously hard balled, and told what to do by someone who could get them fired. Sorry to say this kind of shit can happen a lot of places, even in the US, the difference is the cops would cover it up here.
would have thought that the police were the ones that had to sign for items taken from the house, provided they had warrant in the first place allowing them to take things. however, surely to pass those items, whatever they are on to a private, interested party, who could then plant anything they liked on to those items, was completely illegal. if those items were then to be used in some sort of action taken against the alleged owner, i would have thought that the items would be deemed contaminated evidence? am still trying to figure out what rights third party company representative(s) have to accompany police on a ‘raid’ in the first place? then to deny a person their basic rights of contact etc, is appalling, but then, i am trying to bring some common sense and impartiality into this discussion. goes to show who is running the uk now. brown is proving to be an even bigger wanker than i thought!
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2181/coolstory.png
Kinda Copyright Terrorists…
Once again, the police joins the cancer in an obvious shape of corruption.
On wikipedia one can read that “FACT has been accepted as a prosecution authority and engages in criminal prosecutions in its own right”.
So is FACT a private organisation that has gained some kind of official accreditation? Anybody who can enlighten me? Anyway, it seems very strange that they’d get access to seized computers.
Reminds me of how a Swedish prosecutor gave the anti-piracy agency here access to a private person’s computer in 2006 – a computer that also contained private files unrelated to the case. The prosecutor who had given them access later said in an interview that: “- They are the experts and know what material on the disks is copyright-protected and owned by the companies they represent. It’s not easy for somebody else to know.”
(http://www.dn.se/ekonomi/musikindustrin-gjorde-polisens-jobb-1.623357)
Aren’t evidences acquired illegally not admissible in court in UK? If no one signed on the list of seized items except FACT and the police, how do they think they are going to admit it in court as evidence. Moreover, why hasn’t anyone in UK entered litigation for FACT aided raids being unconstitutional.
Isn’t there any thing like public lnterest litigation?
Bla bla bla, yawn.
Anti-Piracy groups should’ve taken TPB’s advice years ago, that is, to sodomize themselves with a retractable baton.
What a great country we live in, where your assets can be siezed by a third-party who carry no legal weight, have your house turned upside down by said third-party, be treated like a criminal for what is a civil issue and denied basic rights because you run a search engine.
Yeah. God save the f**king queen.
-1 for the Bobstapos and FACT Brittain for recycling STASI Germany.
I sense a FACT DDOS coming on soon, that or police.uk :P
@34
Don’t forget, that this is the country where someone breaking into your house has more rights to be there than you do. You fight back, you go to prison, or like a couple of years ago, the stupid burgler fell down the stairs and won his accident claims case against the home owner.
http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/ – nothing in their news feed thus far.
If we have enough details of what happened and location ANY British Citizen on here can file a complaint to the IPCC. This body is COMPLETELY independant to the Police Force. I therefore suggest we all submit a report.
This behaviour is absoloutely disgusting no matter what the crime. The Police should be ashamed.
Rights holders on both sides of this ideological divide deserve to have those rights recognized and respected as we sort this out. Just because pirates sneak and hide and take whatever they want and routinely demonstrate they have no respect for the legal rights of others, that doesn’t mean that the cartels or law enforcement should take a page from their playbook. The only way this is justly resolved is when both sides are held accountable to their trespasses.
Then again, the exposure Geeker is receiving here is priceless and he’d be wise to graciously accept it and build upon the attention law enforcement giving him.
He should be on FaceBook and MySpace building his fanbase. Besides, law enforcement would simply say “you can’t stop us.”
I suggest Geeker monetizes his newfound fanbase by making and selling a tshirt. Perhaps law enforcement should even send him a bill for the vast PR value of getting the word out on his behalf. We all want this to be as fair as we can make it.
We don’t know anything about the character of TheGeeker, but he may not have the right sort of personality to fight this.
If he is strong, he may actually be able to get himself publicity and get interviews on TV news reports. That way he can report on live TV about illegal police behaviour.
He also needs to write to his MP and get himself a good lawyer.
The world is becoming more and more dangerous and frightening to live in not because of criminals but because of those who handle law, govern countries, dictate economy – we´re back into the Middle Age times diguised by modernity!
@31
“am still trying to figure out what rights third party company representative(s) have to accompany police on a ‘raid’ in the first place”
I suppose they’ll claim ‘Expert witness’ or something
Never going to Britain now, what with that Digg article about the CCTV cameras in private homes, too 1984 sounding for me.
Great.
Raped a girl? Killed a person? Stole a car? = Leave them alone
Shared a 1980 tv show = KILL
lolwut?
How they come to know about his address. were geeker not using offshore hosting?
If you still believe that there is still a country in this world where the statement “Innocent until proven guilty” is true then you’ve got another thing coming.
Knowing whatthe Police are like down here in Somerset / Taunton they would be well out of there depth and would be easy lead by others.
Sombody down here tried to report a Western Money transfer con they had been had on via ebay at Tauton and though he was onto a good thing when the police officer said they had just the person he needed to talk to -PMSL.
Turns out they meant he had fallen for the same Con some days earlyer himself and wanted to compare notes on it….
And that is why I don’t buy music, films or go to the theater anymore LoL
When you buy stuff from this people you only embolden them to do more.
Sites for torrents would be perfect clients for the Tor Hidden Services and the Osiris serverless portal.
I would seriously check legality of such actions. From this article does not sound as legal actions at all.
Do they have a right to have lawyer representative when they search your home?
thats it. no more money for any of you ever again. you guys [maffia and the industry] can rot somewere. ill give the money to the people who really deserve it.
Thank you for bringing my story to the publics attention Enigmax. This type of abuse and corrupt antics needs to be shouted out loud for everyone to be outraged about.
I appreciate the kind words of support I have received from the comments here, on Filesoup and indeed from everyone who knows me.
@DDT-DIDIDave, I’ve sent you an email m8
Kind regards
Geeker
That is UK, where police offers can execute legal immigrants at a subway station under the unfounded presumption he is a terrorist and walk off unharmed.
If you doubt that, search for the Jean Carlos de Menezes history.
to geeker
How they come to know about your address?
Wow @luizhk follow me
This international campaign with arrests, raids, trials and verdicts formulated way before the trials even start are clearly a sign that people have to mobilize. Besides the long list of police mistakes in handling these Geeker, the thing that i find outrageous but typical for this international campaign against “piracy” is that FACT is a private group that seized, searched and stored items from an individual. A private entity searching another private entity under the cover of police action is very disturbing. We also should worry about fact that even if someone considers “piracy” equal to theft, the list of laws broken in order to get the pirates is way larger and more dangerous than the theft itself. This phenomenon is usual to 3rd world countries or former communist countries. This “war” is not actually about piracy, is about proving that someone people are in charge and the rest of us slaves should obey.
One more thing: if all these “pirates” can be raided in such manner, why don’t pirates start raiding the MPAA/RIAA/ and their associates?
Those FACT guys are just like orgainzed crime, the dutch Brein are bcoming just like them, please help.
We in the Netherlands have started a petition against the maffia working methods of “Stichting Brein”, Please sign it:
http://www.petities.nl/petitie/stop_stichting_brein/
GREED is always the answer and guess what? A pirate is always greedy.
much like anything that goes on in the UK… that’s shit :P
Police do this shit in the US all the time, I think its a trend in the Western World.
Whois?
To Geeker
Three simple pieces of advice.
1: Get a lawyer, a competent one that understands modern day technology and one who also understands what the police did wrongly and how you can file against them.
2: Don’t worry you see everything the police handed to the FACT people is now inadmissible(check this with your lawyer) because its evidence that has now been outside the control of the police service and as such can not be trusted in a court of law now. Fact is not an official organisation, and has not been given the power to hold evidence for the police. and they can not be said to be EXPERTS for the police as all experts investigating for the police has to be ok’d by the courts.(Check all this with your lawyer)
3: Contact the IPCC and file a complaint for each breach of the law or policy that the police has done, the ipcc has to investigate every complaint they get.
Other than that follow the advise of your lawyer, and please do the above don’t stick your head into the sand and hope it will go away it will not happen.
Good luck and hope you read this advise.
-Jay
This is getting beyond a fucking joke these bastards really need there ass kicked bunch of money grabbing molesters.
First off EVERY ONE is guilty of sharing wither it be from old meatheads like browning something to a friend, just because we use a a more modern and efficient meathead that dose it on a global scale were called bad people hey not my fault I have a lot of friends..
WHAT THE HELL IS THE DIFFRENCE BETWEEN USING A SHAREING SYSTEM LIKE P2P OR BIT TORRENT THAN BOROWING BOOK TO FRIEND.
NOTHING
The only criminals here fact and there bent police friends who have no marols at all. For petty sake it’s a civil issue anyway NOT a criminal. This shows that even the police don’t understand the law (not that we did not know that seem that most police are heavy handed bullies who never want to be held responsible for there actions whilst judging everybody else, FUCKERS). What the hell are we meant to do when the police employ people with attitude problems ? mind you not that haven’t been wrong before remember when it was always the welsh and Irish’s fault. What about when it was the homosexuals fault or the blacks remember that ?
Second why do fact have any authority in this anyway there NOT a govment (just a scummy leach taking industry charity.
Even the bbc can’t get right with there wrongful quoting illegal file downloading.
THE WORLD HAS CHANGED GET OVER IT.
With a failing economy now we can expect more of this bullshit. I suppose this is there so called ip economy that there biased and fascist broadband Briton (see how they hid it in there) was all about.
Man I am rally am pissed with to say am from the united kingdom.
I’ll leave you with this
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Blacks,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Blacks
Then they came for the Homosexual,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Homosexual
When they came for the filesharers,
there was no one left to speak out for me.
WELL DONE FACIST BRITAN HITTLER WHOULD BE PROUD
Live Free or DIE
But fear not friend these idiots are well in to middle age it wont be long till power will sway and we see these fuckers in front of human right court explaining there selves an then there will be hell to pay just as there was for the Nazis were for there crimes.
Free Liberal Open Source
http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/ Will love this.
a light year is a distance measure…
*sighs*
btw, how can The Geeker’s property has been given by the police to a non-assermented party ?
No doubt that all was transfered to the copyright-gestap0 will have a 0 value in a court.
And The Geeker could sue the police for this, and the “fact” group for keeping stolen goods.
here’s a full list of items they took this list was provided by the guy himself.
> 01. Nokia mobile phone
> 02. Large brown package containing several large padded envelopes
> 03. Western digital hard drive
> 03. Realistic telephone answering machine
> 04. 18 mini discs
> 05. Sharp video camera in grey carry case
> 06. 8 blank cd’s
> 07. Tandy laptop & bag
> 08. Black media device
> 09. Grey mitac laptop computer
> 10. 10 mini discs
> 11. eMechanics computer hard drive
> 12. Box containing venus hard drives
> 13. 10 blank jvc cd’s
> 14. Memory stick from rear of eMachines computer tower
> 15. Box containing 10 traxdata cd’s
> 16. Box containing 10 samsung cd’s
> 17. Large computer tower
> 18. 2 cd’s 1 floppy disc and misc papers containing invoices
> 19. Advent computer tower and external drives
> 20. Wharfdale rewritable dvd player
> 21. 5 x hard drives
> 22. Grey phillips receiver
> 23. 3 x memory sticks
> 24. Misc cd’s and mini discs
> 25. Hard drives
> 26. 1 x hard drive
> 27. Various cd’s & dvd’s
> 28. Computer base unit
> 29. Computer drive & lead
> 30. Asda bag containing computer drive & discs
> 31. Sat nav in black case
> 32. Paperwork containg details of addresses in Scotland
> 33. Documents seized from desk
@41 — Proof or it didn’t happen.
sounds like someone can file a human right violations law suit :), I smell someone loosing there job over this :P
if it was not the illegal pirate broadcasters on the seas in the 60,s cb radio of the late 70,s and 80,s or pirate radio fm broadcasts of today its file sharing the authorities and internet regulartors can go fuck Themselves
Btw http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4097602514885833865 it should still apply to the police here in the uk as well k
-Jay
wow wtf.
HAlL HlTLER, UK!
WTF it sucks so hard -_-
As well as talking to a solicitor and having a person told about your arrest you will usually be allowed to make one phone call. Ask the police if you would like to make a phone call.
But the police can refuse wtf !
Seriously, how can this be going on in a country that calls itself supposedly democratic and respecting human rights?
Now I know that suspected(read: a youth with a backpack in the tube, true story) terrorists got the sharp end of the stick in the UK several times already, ignoring 100% their actual rights, but that it’s now anyone they choose to raep is just proof of a very sad state of affairs of what we ALL have come to.
How can we allow this to happen to 100% ordinary people? This is not civilized behavior, this is OUR authorities being more cruel than the people from which they SUPPOSEDLY protect us.
All you dimwits who are talking about the UK like it’s nazi Germany really are stupid, I bet you’ve never even left your little hill billy towns.
This sht is unfortunate but it could happen anywhere. I’ve seen worse cases than this all over the world yet you ‘tards jump on any chance to bash. The UK is more free and safe than anywhere else in the world. I’m glad none of you dumb fcks will ever visit.
Yeah it is time to chase someone down and hand them their collective asses. Refusing to give someone legal council when it has been requested is enough to get charges thrown out in most countries. It is a violation of your rights, asking you to sign stuff when a lawyer has been requested is also a nono. All question my halt until council is present. Also how the hell is FACT able to retain evidence in a criminal trial. They are a private outfit with an agenda in regards to infringement. You can’t tell me that law enforcement isn’t equipped for this they deal with child porn, fraud, hackers and any number of computers crimes but they can’t recognized the latest R5 on someones PC? Computer forensics still applies.
If your able geeker take these clowns apart I find it hard to have sympathy for a group that does everything in such a shady manner. They call the pirates criminals, thanks for blurring that line for us.
thank god these gestapo stormtrooper acts dont take place in america…lol
good luck geeker…you just made yourself some new friends here.
England has fucked up law enforcement. And they wonder why they get terrorists trying to blow things up.
How the f*ck does a private organization exclusively handle “criminal” evidence in a democracy? Can’t someone do something about these injustices?
@70 – sadly I wouldn’t be so sure, FACT have set themselves as experts (not sure how but anyway) the police can pass seized material(s) off to another third party to carry out the expensive part of the investigation. I’m sure if Geeker does more digging he’ll find an agreement between FACT and Police force. Oh FACT use third party companies to carry out the test so non of the “I call bias” or “data tampering” stands up in court!
what nailed the police is handing him a sheet of rights he has once he’s been detained then when he’s seen it he’s asked for them rights to then be refused.. if they was going to refusing him why give him a letter stating his rights in the first place talk about backwards
The worst part about this whole mess now is the uk judges and what not they are all above 60 years old and they don’t have a clue about technology or how it works half of them don’t even have or use the internet or own a computer
and these people are making a really important choice and decisions on something they know nothing about.
it’s like the oink case all over again police arresting for a crime they dont even know or understand anything about.
then having the person who is guilty of the crime trying to explain to them who knows nothing about the crime of the supposed crime and afterward they are still none the wiser as they dont understand a damn thing lol
apparently the world is going to end on 2012 i’m all for it wipe everyone out and start all over again without corrupt riaa/mpaa,fact, brien, lawyers and a corrupt and underhanded government
if doomsday is what we need to clean this whole mess out then i cannot wait, there’s no fun or reason to live in this life anymore
no jobs no money corrupt governments, big brother, monitored everything we do, then we get people coming into our homes who’s not even authorized to do so, we get sued, the law only works when they want it too we have no rights.
i’m glad i dont have any kids it would be a sheer crime to bring a child up into the new world were moving towards its just criminal
OMG, how can this “private anti-piracy group FACT” have the right to do any of that themselves?
Those music/movie industry groups are terrorists.
sorry to hear about this case, hope you beat + sue them stupid.
A few precautionary tips for others in such situations:
1. it is ALWAYS better to SAY NOTHING to the pigs in an initial interview, even or particularly if accompanied by a lawyer you do not know and who possibly was selected by them for his generally excellent compliance, not fighting spirit.
2. it’s a certain bet that any room in a cop-shop where you will be invited to consult ‘in private’ with your lawyer is efficiently bugged for audio pickup, simply because there is no law against it.
3. There is nothing to say in that situation which can help, so let it wait and only give the enemy information under solid legal advice after a good night’s sleep, if at all.
4. Get a lawyer based on trusted recommendation from someone with experience and only speak to him in person in his office about your case.
Remember, 90% of people you meet in prison talked themselves into it … you choose “;0)
Yes, GrX, I hear you. It’s a sad, sad day for Democracy when a renegade group can do whatever they want, take whatever they want, utterly disrespect the legal rights of others and dare anyone involved to even try to do anything about it.
Oh, wait. You meant the police.
Well this case is going nowhere.. FACT\Police have violated human rights and various other laws.. A good lawyer will end this case quickly with countersuits to follow.. Next time FACT and the Police want to prosecute somebody they should do it properly.. Poor job on their part.. Evidence collected is now worth nothing in a court of law.. If FACT has been given anything they are now in possession of stolen property.. SUE them.. File complaints everywhere.. Write letters.. Get interviews.. Re-send your emails to all news outlets.. ETC..
@Reasoned Mind: No problem. You are here to save Democracy.
see common sense says the evidence and what not wont be worth anything due to the way the conducted it.
yes legally and common sense wise this is the case.
reality it will be a judge who’s paid by the industry or FACT to take the case or they will be in the same anti-piracy organization as the pirate bay judge was lol
he would of been better saying nothing what so ever let the police get it totally wrong get it all confussed go to court and show them the reverse of how it really all works.
btw a real court not a paid court or judge should throw this out because from previous experiences with myself over supposed threats to kill when i was arrested the police failed to identify themselves on the door step with legal ID’s warrants and a signed court order about the warrant.
that is their first mistake which makes the arrest nulled anything after that is also nulled because they did not follow the correct procedure
also it was proved my supposed threats was fabrications from the other person so it all got through out of court but it took 5 visits to court before this mess was squished.
So if you do decide to read comments on this site you might want to speak to a solicitor about the way they arrested you.
Enigmax keep us updated on the story..
Thanks!.
Bloody hell!
This is insane. I’ve seen people in the past saying to never buy CDs again, but to support your favourite artists by going to concerts and buying merchandise from them.
What the hell do I do with movies? I’m getting more and more tempted to stop buying CDs at any rate (not that I buy many now anyway)!
This is just getting crazier and crazier… Removing civil liberties without reason… 0_o
Before all the trolls and senseless brains jump in saying that copying is stealing, do take a read at THIS : http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/to-a-mother-concerned-about-music-piracy-david-j-hahn
There is probably a name for the interview technique where the investigators (the Police in this case) pretend to know absolutely nothing about the subject at hand. Don’t think that they are idiots – its just a usefull way of getting information out of you (or getting you to incriminate yourself).
..and now we know Reasoned Mind is a paid-for fashist that supports the abolition of human rights and sacrificing ethics over money.
Well done, scum.
Why am I not surprised at all?
The people siding with the oh-so just cause of the “copyright holders” (which, it has to be STRONGLY emphasized, are in several cases not even the actual CREATORS of the intellectual property in question) are all very consistent in one thing: they will diminish you as a human being into something that obstructs them from maximizing their profit, in order to sleep well when they treat you like an animal without rights and have you hunted down in the same way.
Goebbels could not have created more devoted mind-enslaved peons than “big money” did.
All for the cause!
All for us!
Unser Volk braucht copyright! Jawohl!
Cash heil!
Vernichtet den P2P-Volksfeind!
That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever herd. But, not as much as Private organizations sueing TBP across countries. If I were in his shoes, the first thing I would do is sue FACT and eventually the police
It’s nice to see that “FACT” has the right to destroy someones life with the help of the police. It’s also nice that they can contaminate evidence at will where they can plant as much evidence that they like and they can also browse through any of your personal belongings including private information such as medical records and e-mails to love ones and lawyers.
It’s nice to know that they have evolved in to this powerful organization can trample the rights of anyone they choose.
I personally enjoy using Google for finding shared content. It’s amazingly easy and brings together the best of all torrent worlds. They too don’t host content, but they host links to torrent files as well as many other sources where one can find practically everything.
I’m amazed that Google can get away with it. They are the largest purveyors of pirate content than all of the torrent sites combined.
I also use Youtube to preview content before I download my music or movies.
Google and Youtube are a pirates best friend. :)
I can understand such a thing happen in any other country, and yes, including US, but in UK?! Come on! And police is not in charge of seized property? I mean, i read that happening on other cases, but still, it must be illegal, in all countries.
These anti-piracy groups are turning all countries into police-states! Where are we, in the old Germany?
Allowing FACT to have access to the computers seized surely has to be a breach of the Data Protection Act.
I bet some of the referenced offices burn. Might want to look into that.
Boycott
They may have won this battle, but they have not won the war. for every site that gets taken down, 10 more will appear in its place.the MPAA is dying because they have alienated and oppressed too many people. their desperate and abusive behavior is the last breath of a dying species. keep pirating because soon, they will learn the error of their ways.
UK police killed Jean Charles, an innocent and NO ONE was considered guilt. What could we expect from this shit?
@ 62
1 UP
Bests thing to do with this vicious over-the-top thuggery is to keep exposing it. The copyright industry is losing the PR battle using these kind of tactics. Real dumb approach.
Ah, England… the country that wants to put cameras in your home… how I don’t like thee anymore.
“That’s the Gestapo for you. They come and seize his property then give it away to a third party. I hate the police, nothing but a bunch of psychopathic punks, who get their jollies off from pushing people around, and pretending to be little gods.”
Couldnt have put it better myself.
This is where knowing a little bit about UK law comes in handy. You see anyone who gets arrested in the uk and is charged at the desk at the police station is given a single sheet of white paper labled P.A.C.E, this stands for Police And Criminal Evidence. Now what a lot of people don’t know is that the police station MUST be able to provide any detaine with a FULL copy of p.a.c.e this book is huge and in it is all your rights as a prisoner and all the rights for the police. Whenever someone gets “nicked” in the UK and you request it you have to by law be provided with it within minutes of your charge at the desk. There is no law or rights that state that a person charged with a criminal offence must have a lawyer and a phone call as soon as they request it. That is why if you are arrested on a night time then you are usually not given a lawyer until the following morning. As for “trashing” his house if he gets found not guilty on these charges then ANY and ALL property that has been broken destroyed or is missing has to be paid for by the police force, however if he is found guilty then there is no way for him to claim any damages. As for those of you saying that this is a breach of the confidential data act, your wrong. This was set up so mr and mrs private defective can’t walk into a police office and demand to see charges or papers on certain people it’s also there to stop places like the department of social security and housing benefit giving out infomation. This does not count for criminal procedings. Also as the tape machine was malfunctioning he can request that the interview be re-done and he should also make sure his lawyer gets a copy of the first initial interview with the broken machine. This will help him in the long run as both he and police can claim they said things that were not recorded.
Also as a small bit of advise I would give is if this is going to go to trial make sure he finds out if it is going to be magistrate or crown. A lot of the time most cases are sent to magistrate court first there they will discuss the case listen to both sides and decide if they should go to crown. Also seek out 2 different lawyers who specialize in copyright law. As for bitching about the way he was treated there, the police didn’t break any laws themselves as long as the warrent said search and sezuire there is nothing wrong with what they did.
I knew this had to be England when I read about it. Its the worst country in the world to live in now that big brother is coming strong. They will be the worst.
Putting the legal part aside Fact are complete fucktards. They try to enforce something they know nothing about. Having to explain to them what the tehnical aspects are is just plain retarded, it’s upon this they have the police involved so how the fuck they think they are going to convice a judge that ive no idea.
Just another scare tatic to get the guy to just cave in.
@105 – This copyright issue has nothing to do with the killing of some tard who thought it would be a good idea to run from the police. #care.
Soo.. That Fact group who acts as prosecutor has the right to mess someones home looking for “Evidence” while destroying anything that might have been used as “Evidence” by the defence ?
Yeah.. where the fucking hell is the “Justice” in Justice system ?
“Upon leaving, Geeker was informed that in common with other cases in the UK such as that against TV Links, the private anti-piracy group FACT was in charge of his seized property, not the police.”
WTF? Property seized by the police is turned over and placed in the custody of a private corporate trade group with no legal authority? Has the legal system in the UK really sunk to such low depths? Absolutely shameful.
And yet they call us criminals.
The cops are not our friends. They serve those in power, not the public good. Rise up, people.
I have not bought a music album since LP’s were replaced by CDs and I never will buy a friggin’ CD, LP, mp3. Too expensive to go to a movie theatre here and waste a couple hours watching tripe. I had the cable TV taken out a little over 15 years ago.
Do not support these industries.
Our power is our money, don’t give them any.
No matter what your view on piracy and copyright laws is this should disgust you.
The police were detaining this man as if he was a terrorist and hadn’t even researched what they were arresting him for.
And those dirty pigs wonder why people hate them.
I HAVE OVER 20,000 BURNT DVD’S….COME AND GET ME…..
@114 you should read and understand some laws in the uk. They are allowed to do this, forensics in the UK are privatised and not run by the police force anymore. Therefore it comes under private agency. Unfortunately its a pretty shitty thing to happen.
Support MAFIAA victims and don’t buy music, movies, games, tv-shows. Download those free from net. Cut MAFIAA money supply don’t ever buy always download free.
It is common place and increasingly so that UK Police will do what is called “delay rights” to prevent communication between arrested and accomplices. It is a disgrace but is common.
As for his dog the Police are disgusting for doing that. As a former police officer on 2 occassions i offered to feed a persons dog that i had arrested…it only takes a passing patrol car to pop in or for the arresting officer to do it while waiting for a solicitor.
My advice is to document IN DETAIL the trauma you and your dog have suffered, the embarrassment it has caused you and every single little thing and when you finally NFA’d after a few months of being rebailed then sue the arses off them. Thats of course if you are reading this TheGeeker!!
Fight this one!!! FACT are scum.
@110 You do not have to be “charged” to receive your rights and entitlements booklet…only booked in mate. Just so you know for future value.
@Reasoned Mind
you almost got me….not many trolls can do that
@123 yeah you are right i know this i just worded it that way so those not living in the UK could kind of get the point of not needing their rights straight away compaired to the likes of the US where you can request a lawyer at anytime and recieve one in a timely manner otherwise face trouble themselves.
also pinshot being a ex cop you should know what i mean when i say TheGeekster needs a letter in the mail saying NFA from your lot :)
You can whine all you want but the best for you is not to operate a site like this
otherwise when the trouble comes the only thing what will matter is how much cash u have.
I bet this guy wouldn’t even have money for a lawyer.
Coming here and crying won’t help ya or him. Simply if you want to stay away from the police
you shouldn’t operate warez servers or bittorrent sites at all. All those people who got raided
over things like this was full of in it. Who knows how many terrabytes of materials they
own/pushed out so far. These were not just 1 timer movie downloaders.
And btw this is one of the reasons I never went to work to the UK. And even if I would go there
and want to dl lets say movie torrents by knowing they push shit laws there so hard I would get a
fcking vpn from other country.
This and other actions like it remind me a lot of the hacker crackdown of the 80’s and 90’s.
1.Policemen seem uninformed of the most basic concepts that are subject to their investigation.
2.The arrests are more violent and criminal than the crime investigated.
3.Corporations are running the show behind the scenes, seizing property, running investigations and presenting evidence.
4.Courts are ignorant of what they are dealing with, all is done by the corporations lawyers.
5.Legislation used is passed under pressure from the corporations without open debate.
Is it just me or do we really need to take our governments back?
These twat police don’t care about dogs: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/8160753.stm
I think it’s time to “accidentally” lock them in a hot car, shoot them, rape them cut up their bodies eat them shit them out onto a silver platter & win the Turner Prize with it.
this is pure brutality and abuse of authority.
http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/
finaly a political movement in the uk!
I can’t see why he could not be present during the search of his house.
This guy’s rights were a small price to pay compared to all the damages his site has done. Time to start accepting responsibility for your actions.
It’s getting very close to commandos storming houses now.
Any day now there will be news I’m sure off it LoL
It is sad to see that private organizations can have such legal, and hence destructive powers. Not being given even a simple phone call is a blatant violation of a basic human right of communication.
How evidence from a potential crime scene can be turned over to a private organization is mind-boggling and shameful in the extreme.
It would be prudent and advisable to start the litigation process against FACT and possibly even the police department, since they did not adhere to their own policies.
I hope everyone learns from this that GnuPG is an important tool to encrypt hard drives with.
I wish Geeker the best in his defence against unethical police practices.
Time to download more crap and then delete it and download it again.
Just get ready FACT, when you come to my house, I will have a .357 ready and you will be shot on sight for trespassing.
The UK and Most Brits SUCK anyway. Now U wanna talk shit about the US. Bloody Brits.
Sorry to hear about the site and owner though. Good Luck Geeker. The rest of you can Suck It.
@135
Stop impersonating me jackass. Your trolling is annoying, what they did to him was complete BS and they should be fired immediately.
Once again a one sided story. FACT can’t initiate a raid on it’s own, they have to have the police present. That works the same way in many countries. As for the phone call, it depends on the persons behavior. if someone’s being a pain in the ass it’s not uncommon to hang out in jail awhile waiting for that phone call. Judging by the whinning I’m reading here I’d say this was probably the case. There’s only a handful of guilty people in jail. If you go to one and ask the inmates who’s guilty only a couple are going to own up to it. Something tells me there’s more to this then what Geeker’ s telling people. Remember there’s two sides to a story, your only reading one side of it. Did anyone talk to FACT for a comment? The police? No. I guess everyone was too choked up about the emotional scars left on the dog to proceed further.
Stupid cops, must be a shortage of REAL crime in the area!
RT
http://www.anon-web-tools.us.tc
Looks to me like they are not actually going after the site, they are going after the person who runs it.
I’m not totally sure how they can seize personal property for a civil matter of copyright.
They said that he was being charged with “Suspicion of downloading copyrighted movies” not even distributing so WTF?
I would have made a complaint to the police themselves about that as it is totaly over the top for a civil matter.
If they get away with this then they can pretty much go after anyone and take their stuff.
I’m wondering what proof they actually had that he downloaded copyrighted films to get a search warrant?
You shouldn’t assume they know nothing about p2p just because they seem to be idiots. this is a interrogation technique.
@Karl Rosenqvist
‘
3.Corporations are running the show behind the scenes, seizing property, running investigations and presenting evidence.
4.Courts are ignorant of what they are dealing with, all is done by the corporations lawyers.
‘
If you can be bothered to go and check you will find that you are more correct than you actually realise. Your local police force is a registered Corporation and is run for profit.Your local court is also a registered Corporation. This is true in all countries.In Britain you can check it out by going to companies house.
“#135 Aug 05, 2009 at 00:08 by .neo.styles|nvDX
This guy’s rights were a small price to pay compared to all the damages his site has done. ”
..aaand another prick joins the ranks of value(money) > value(people).
Similiar bedfollows include slave owners, those cute folks that gassed jews after they exhausted their phyiscal energy in form of forced free labor and the friendly hosts of gulags.
Yeeeeepp, that’s the beloved folks you stand with when you put cash over the value of a human being.
You are all sad and pathetic beings you industry apologists, and despite being 100% agnostic, for the sake of a greater justice I really do hope I am wrong and there is such a thing as karma and you get to suffer the harm you wish upon others a thousandfold yourselves.
How sick in the head is someone who says a person’s rights are alienable and negligible in the face of money?…scum..scum..scum.
You should be deported from any country that has a human ethics clause in it’s constitution and banned from mingling with normal people henceforth.
Light Years measure distance, nerds
What the people need to do is start pushing back and start taking the wind out of F.A.C.T.’s sails. Get dirty, get dirt, as much dirt on the fuckin Pay-Fores as possible and put it out there. Take humour to a whole new level. Bitching after the fact is a loser’s game. We have them out numbered a million to one and they’re chasing you down the street with a piece of fuckin paper. If you want your freedom, you’ll have to fight for it. Been that way since the beginning of time.
Haha I find it ironic. In the end Nazi Germany has won! well at least their ideals.
this is pathetic. my thoughts go out to filesoup and its founder. i hate it when the police feel they can refuse legal representation and overstep their jurisdiction. Nice of them to take it out on his defenceless dog too. fucken bastards.
I haven’t given any money to the entertainment industry for at least 10 years, I have downloaded thousands of games, movies, music and software and freely supply a copy to anyone who wants anything for free :) even better, I encourage friends, family and coworkers to use bit torrent, creating more and more pirates. Come and get us, for every one who gets taken out, 5 more spring up.
What a bunch of greedy bastards. Revoking a mans rights because of supposed copyright infringement. We waste more money in the world trying to catch people stealing software/media than we do trying to catch drug dealers and murders.
hang in there Geeker…
WE ARE BEHIND YOU!!!
You know, every time I hear anything about the UK anymore its about police corruption, government corruption, suppression of speech and the right to dissent.
We gave the US alot of slack for the George Bush years – but one thing that was evident was that the upswell of protest in that country was deafening.
And in the UK? Not even a whimper. Well guys, you know what they say, “People don’t get the government they want, they get the government they deserve.”
Man crazy stories or “events” like this are getting more frequent, can’t believe big corporations can just do anything they want. I thought when you lobby some people and in return those people should be somewhat lenient to that group but not “totally for” the group. I’ve lost my faith in the government on this type of corruption. hell to them
Too much privatization anymore. There are some things that shouldn’t be handed over to private interest. First the utilities and then the prisons, now the forensic investigators. There isn’t enough oversight on privatized areas, and it allows unfair abuse and exploitation.
We should never have given up public control over these areas.
So, if he is cleared of all charges do you think he can sue FACT for damages?
This is why I don’t buy music, rent films, go to the theatre or buy software.
I refuse to fund these terrorist assholes.
The movies suck, the games usually don’t work until patch #2 or #3 comes out and I only want to listen to one song off the album.
The entertainment industry has the balls to say I’m ripping them off?!
$10 for a crappy movie, screw that. GTA IV for PC great, wanted to play it, didn’t work until the 2nd patch. The arses in the music industry make me sick to the point I can’t listen to music anymore. I work in the music industry. Egos and mega-excess, that’s what’s going on here – not protecting artist’s rights or enforcing copyright law.
FACT should have had nothing to do with a police investigation. When this goes to court the judge SHOULD throw it out of court right away due to the faintest hint of impropriety on the part of law enforcement and breach of the guy’s rights – unless the judge is on the take and corrupt.
Guess what? I predict it won’t get thrown out of court just like TPB trial where the prosecutors and judge didn’t understand the technology & process involved.
In my part of the world convicted child rapists get much less jail time and fines, any punishment really, than “copyright infringers”
WTF is going on? WTF is going on with the governments, judges and police?
We had better straighten this stuff out now before it goes any further. Fight for your rights.
oh no, I knew this guy when I hanged around the community :( noooooooo
Come here in INDIA and every thing will be fine.
“It seems troubling enough that private industry reps were allowed to be so closely involved in a criminal investigation where they have clear bias, but it gets worse. The police seized various computers and equipment as part of arresting the Vickerman’s, and then allowed FACT employees to inspect the computers and the information found on them — which, again seems to be granting way too much access to a private group. Then things got even more bizarre: the police gave a bunch of the equipment to FACT to allow FACT to continue to examine the equipment.”
^^^ THIS ^^^
As usual over a hundred comments talking crap about what was obviously a perfectly legal operation (at least from the facts presented in this article).
No where in any law does is say a person that has been arrested is entitled to a phone call, it is a courtesy that officers can choose to give you or not.
He was in no way denied legal representation 8 hours is not very long to wait to see a lawyer, people regularly have to wait over 24 hours before they get to see a lawyer.
When cops raid your house they don’t do it nicely, it sucks to have to clean everything up after but it’s a fact of life. I doubt there has ever been a raid in history where the cops came in and just carefully looked around.
I come to this site to get real bittorrent news, why do you guys keep posting these one sided piece of garbage stories.
Hitler is not dead.
Agreed.
You are absolutely right, Nutman…too much stupid comments like comparing Britain with the Nazi Germany, wow…just wow…
This is not a special case, and you shouldn’t treat it like it would be so inhuman, just because it was a step against file sharing…
I disagree the U.K. and the U.S. have some of the most brutal police forces in the world. Compare that to the actions of the Japanese police that not only search every inch off the house but it when it leaves you don’t even know their where there and they do follow protocol to the letter this gain them respect, they are not allowed to even talk back to angry people.
You see people see this kind of thing and think it is normal.
- First the guy is not guilty yet he may be guilty of some crime and very possibly is because with a body of law that can literally go to the roof when printed out chances are every single person on the world is a criminal. So without the certainty of guilty you could make a mistake and trash some normal dudes home and the animal was negated care surely the dog is a hardened criminal too.
- Secondly no where says that the police needs to be obnoxious to do their work is there any law saying that they need to be rude or something that proves that trashing peoples homes in searches is normal and it is effective?
Even if the guy is a criminal there is no excuse for the behavior of the U.K. police, if these actions and conduct are not illegal then is time to have the laws changed and ask more from the men and women in uniform, the standards in the U.K. and U.S. are very low and a shame.
The guy should document how his house was left after they have go through and go see how much it would cost to pay someone else to clean it up and then charge the police for it and on top of that he should sue the police for animal cruelty.
Maybe even look for anything else that can be done, but that is for a lawyer(solicitor) to say.
uk sucks
Encrypt everything. Leave no evidence. No evidence, no case
Its more likley they want this guys cached password to his site etc obtained from his machine so they can rape his database, we all know the cartel do this activity and thus this guy should also complain to the data protection commisioner that the police have aided and abetted a breach of the data protection act by handing over information to a third party without any agreement to safeguard any data obtained, there is a legal framework that stses any data holder has a legal duty to inform everyone whos data is accessed/stored regarding what it is being stored for and how it is to be used, also folks have the legal right to correct incorrect information, perhaps now is a good time to make use of that right ..
the real terrorists are the police the army the state the religion the capital
let’s start a revolution before we all end up feeding the worse than nazi capitalist criminals who rule the world
Contact information for anyone that needs it:
http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/
contact@fact-uk.org.uk
+44 (0)2085 686646
I hate all this bullying talk about racketeering…
I refuse to buy anything pirate till the end…
Guys i think more people need to understand political agenda. If enough media companies have paid off the right politicians then every case they want will get through. simple.
The same thing happened with TPB. The law there as a guidline only if you have enough money, those with both money and power can bend the outcome of any trial to their will and it happens most in the UK.
This will be another site closure and another massive life ruining fine.
The Geeker can still hope i am wrong and follow my earlier advice hoping he is not being targetted to the headline grabbing extent that most are now but he should also consider “selling” anything of value he has to close friends and family with a view to filing for bankruptcy as soon as he is handed a fine.
6…years later…not a penny paid…get all your stuff signed back over. aaahhh loopholes, gotta luv em.
“Upon leaving, Geeker was informed that in common with other cases in the UK such as that against TV Links, the private anti-piracy group FACT was in charge of his seized property, not the police. ”
So if i want to frame someone… i get the cops to get the victims pc and then hand it over to me… so i can load it With illegal stuff and…
Damn!
This is what makes me HATE ignorant and idiotic policemen!!
WW III on authority.
That’s a good protest sign. ^_^
the worst bit is whats happened to the dog
WTF? where those guys doing in there what did they expect to find in things like drawers etc. ? were they hunting for the door to the basement with servers filled with every pirated material?
anyone who may get into trouble with or come into contact with the police should watch this video – so thats everyone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGOBqo68IpE&feature=PlayList&p=90651185E67B7E6C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=24
britain is the most watched country in the world – there are cctv camera absolutly everywhere and now there are though police coming into peoples houses to take them away, check this link and read on so you will know how you sell putting cctv into peoples homes to the public whilst sounding like your “doing them a favour”
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/08/britain-to-put-cctv-cameras-inside-private-homes/
i leaving this country as soon as i have ripped the system for all it’s worth and going to live in a van with all the rest of my people hidden in the country side around the world in a mobile village and free of worries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teknival
fuck the system good and watch it rot, dont get a mortage, take all your money out of the bank, work to live dont life to work, be free, do what you like and dont feel guilty about it. start the revolution of freedom in your own home and dont take no for an answer.
peace and love non violence and empathy to all you wonderful people.
FACT should pay for this…. maybe storm FACT office and they their equipment ?
Read this
Why Did UK Anti-Piracy Group FACT Get Computers From A Criminal Investigation… And Keep Them?
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090706/1713445461.shtml
Surely not allowing him access to legal representation or even a phone call is in breach of his fundamental human rights? He needs proper legal representation, he CANNOT let them get away with this!
I work with the police on street daily…they walk around oblivious to what is really moral or right and all they do is follow orders…its a joke…the worse ones are pcso’s.They dont care any of them…to them they are doing a job.They are totally brain dead as to right and wrong.Plus the rules can be bent no matter what the reasoning behind the offence.The police dont need warrants and if you have money then you can buy anyone even them.The court system is the same but with a nice veneer that makes people think that justic is still available to all….BULLSHIT….i pity this guy hes not got a chance
COPYRIGHT, DESIGNS AND PATENTS ACT 1988
(as amended at Jan 1st 2005)
Sections relating to definitions of infringement:
16. The acts restricted by copyright in a work.
17. Infringement of copyright by copying.
18. Infringement by issue of copies to the public.
18A. Infringement by rental or lending of work to the public
19. Infringement by performance, showing or playing of work in public.
20. Infringement by broadcasting or inclusion in a cable programme service.
21. Infringement by making adaptation or act done in relation to adaptation.
Secondary infringement of copyright.
22. Secondary infringement: importing infringing copy.
23. Secondary infringement: possessing or dealing with infringing copy. ,.
24. Secondary infringement: providing means for making infringing copies.
25. Secondary infringement: permitting use of premises for infringing performance.
26. Secondary infringement: provision of apparatus for infringing performance, &c.
—————–
The only thing they could sting him for is:
Section 26: Secondary infringement: provision of apparatus for infringing performance, &c.
26.-(1) Where copyright in a work is infringed by a public performance of the work, or by the playing or showing of the work in public, by means of apparatus for-
(a) playing sound recordings,
(b) showing films, or
(c) receiving visual images or sounds conveyed by electronic means,
the following persons are also liable for the infringement.
(2) A person who supplied the apparatus, or any substantial part of it, is liable for the infringement if when he supplied the apparatus or part-
(a) he knew or had reason to believe that the apparatus was likely to be so used as to infringe copyright, or
(b) in the case of apparatus whose normal use involves a public performance, playing or showing, he did not believe on reasonable grounds that it would not be so used as to infringe copyright.
(3) An occupier of premises who gave permission for the apparatus to be brought onto the premises is liable for the infringement if when he gave permission he knew or had reason to believe that the apparatus was likely to be so used as to infringe copyright.
(4)A person who supplied a copy of a sound recording or film used to infringe copyright is liable for the infringement if when he supplied it he knew or had reason to believe that what he supplied, or a copy made directly or indirectly from it, was likely to be so used as to infringe copyright.
…and… (for some reason I could post the whole lot in one go)
Section 24: Secondary infringement: providing means for making infringing copies.
24.-(1) Copyright in a work is infringed by a person who, without the licence of the copyright owner-
(a) makes,
(b) imports into the United Kingdom,
(c) possesses in the course of a business, or
(d) sells or lets for hire, or offers or exposes for sale or hire,
an article specifically designed or adapted for making copies of that work, knowing or having reason to believe that it is to be used to make infringing copies.
The reason I’m posting the above is to demonstrate why…
You can legally run a torrent indexing and hosting site in the UK as long as you do not include tracker addresses in your torrents.
If you do not facilitate a link to copyright infringing materials (and simply act as a “file validation service”) you will not be infringing or aiding infringement of copyright, not providing apparatus or providing the means to copy anything. The data you provide will ONLY allow a BT client to VERIFY the data it receives.
You would be hosting meta-data that does not resemble copyrighted work, you would not host copyrighted work, would not transmit copyrighted work and would not link to copyrighted work…
Thus… not providing any level of access to the copyrighted material whatsoever.
With opentrackers… people would soon realize what they need to do to take your legal .torrent files and use them through their own initiative to obtain the files you index.
I feel like the regular “trolls” are all impersonators.
I mean come on, if the copyright industry wants to make its case, it shouldn’t have to resort to measures from the actual Gestapo.
You’re only convincing more people to go off your side, FACT. It’s time you faced that FACT. Unless you want to create an Orwellian society in England and perhaps in the whole world… that would help your side lots.
@89: The police aren’t a renegade group.
And downloading files is a crime. Reminds me of TPB guys suing that BREIN ceo or whatever for violating human rights (no chance of defense b4 the ruling?)… Not to mention the court left the responsibility of warning TPB crew to… BREIN, the ones that were most interested in winning the case. Now, I don’t check Twitter or Facebook everyday and for the TPB crew, world famous stars, it would be hard for them to lose a notice to appear in the court along some hundreds or thousands of messages they must receive everyday. Ahem..
I’m not concerned for the dog although the poor thing must be taken into account in the case, I’m concerned for the clear violation of the country laws and human rights. Being cut form the world and any defense for hours is clearly wrong. Now, they wish people to follow copyright laws if they don’t follow more basic laws? Well, at least they sent us a message we don’t need to worry with their copyright laws since they don’t care about civil and human laws and rights.
A lightyear meeasures distance, not time…
the horror! the horror!
ROFL
that is a great idea! and you’re right, he probably owes FACT some publicity fees. he’s going to make so much money on t-shirt sales it’s RIDICULOUS! welcome to web 2.0 t-shirt revolution filesoup! you got what you wanted!
Well ninja, in the UK, sections 28-76 deal with “ACTS PERMITTED IN RELATION TO COPYRIGHT WORKS”.
These fall under fair use or “fair dealing” and almost no proof on suspected infringements is provided to prove that anybody was downloading for purposes outside of these permitted acts.
Again, the police, FACT, the courts, everyone assumes guilty until proven innocent in such cases because they’ve been poorly instructed on where they are misinterpreting law at the behest of a copyright-cartel lawyer.
You can download for research and private study… but that’s the tip of the iceberg…
http://tinyurl.com/ukcopyrightlaw
the police are civil servants. they do what they are told. the police are blameless
THIS is the UK. you cannot take the piss out of the police, you cannot take the piss out of the courts. FACT your days are numbered
in the UK it is a criminal offense to use the law “frivolously” cynically exploiting the process of the law to prejudice your targets
in the UK we are PROUD of our tradition of being “right”
in the UK we are FAMOUS for our fight for justice
FACT is you are making mortal enemies in the Judiciary, the Police Force and the ordinary man
FACT is your days are numbered, you puppets
Geeker, do the right thing, get a good lawyer and sue them all to hell
http://www.h33t.com owned and operated by a Scot who is itching for the opportunity to blow you assholes away you fuktards
All this comparison of the UK in this case with Nazi Germany is off base. Though the Stasi are pretty close in nature, UK society is becoming more and more like George Orwell’s 1984, or the government (also UK) as depicted in the 2006 film, V for Vendetta (the inspiration for the 4 chan/Anonymous protest against Scientology).
@ 192, Jeff
Theres already 2000 Ministry of Love cameras installed in “unruly familys” house’s in Britain today as it stands.
I wonder if TheGeeker will be classed as unruly and will have one installed.
Maybe they’ll put a mic on his PC so they can warn him that he’s looking at the wrong kind of webpage……
Murder the Government!
IF you wish to complain about how the police handled working with FACT, you can use the official on-line complaint forms…
http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/index/complaints/forms/form_complaint.htm
Northumbria police will be receiving an FOIA request in relation to all communications they’ve had with FACT on the previous incident but for this one… Geeker… which police authority was involved?
I don’t understand why the populations put up with this. This is a civil issue and not a truly “criminal” act. This isn’t assault and battery, murder, fencing, etc. The activity he’s accused of here is equivalent to a civil contract. Say, between you and your movie rental store or cell phone provider. Imagine if your cell phone provider could just have the police arrest you and imprison you because you violated or broke your cell phone contract? This isn’t much different.
I had about $40,000 worth of stuff stolen from my apartment awhile back and the cops never did anything. In fact, they kept making snide remarks that I probably did it to myself. Then they closed the case 90 days later after doing nothing. I guess I should have claimed that the burglar downloaded one movie off the internet and then they would have sent half of the FBI and every SWAT team around to deal with it for me, huh?
you have 40k worth of stuff in your apartment and you pirate things? and here i thought it was only poor people pirating…
No anonymous, even wealthy people who are aware of their rights in relation to fair use can exercise those rights, those “permitted acts”.
Two simple examples:
If I download something and publicly state that it’s good, it sucks or even it’s just “okay”… I’ll have legimitately downloaded a copy for the purpose of review.
If I’m studying an artist, a genre, etc. for whatever reason, again, obtaining copies of copyrighted content can be perfectly legal without any need to get consent from the author(s).
Somerset police complaint form.
https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/contact/general_enquiries/complaint_form.aspx
Remember the complaint is about FACT mis-leading the police and being intimately involved in a criminal investigation and about them (as a private organisation) retaining the seized goods. Also, about how they’ve raided him as an individual on the grounds of downloading copyrighted content even though it is legal to do so under the “permitted acts” and released him on a charge of articles of infringement (which doesn’t apply to an individual, but instead relates to a business, and taking donations to support the hosting costs is not a “business” per se.
Be respectful and polite, just express your concerns about the influence and association between FACT and the police.
Listen everyone. Pirating is illegal Bu for the wrong reasons. When any issue like this occurs its over money and power. Never under estimate the police. be careful. I know the industry and this has become their new way of keeping their lawyers busy. But its more than that. These days only a few people are really making money on distributions and to be frank they are making more money than ever. pirating has become a form of free advertisement. They dont give two shit about people downloading because of losing profits they are trying to make as much money as they can. fight them. united we are strong and can over time win this battle of free speech over content. its with in our right to download and watch movies, listen to music, and read novel we cannot afford to own. Educational value of pirating is under estimated and the fight is placed in the wrong place. how many of you have wanted to become a musician because of listening to music you don’t own. refrain from distributing it for profit, bu dont allow any government tell you what you can and cannot learn from. especially art. i left out program but they serve the same purpose. it helps the economy world wide when people learn how to use over priced software at home and then are able to apply it to their jobs. please think about what i have said. the benefit of this kind of information exchange is crucial to our development as a culture. we need to fight those who stop us from doing so. trust me when you have billions your not hurting. almost every person whom has created the stuff that has been pirated has done so themselves at one point. maxing a mix tape is a perfect example. why are he heads of these company not arrested for the same crime that they have broken in their past? i leave everyone to ponder this statement of mine.
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