Portugal Hands Jail Sentence to First Convicted File-Sharer
Written by enigmax on June 28, 2008In the first conviction of a file-sharer in the country, Portuguese authorities have handed down a harsh sentence of 90 days imprisonment in order to “set an example”. The unnamed individual faced court after the Portuguese version of the RIAA issued a complaint about unauthorized uploading.
It seems that every country around Europe has its own ways of dealing with file-sharers. In the UK these days it’s customary to send out educational warnings, but in the past borderline extortion letters seemed in order, depending on the mood of the day. Downloading has been tolerated in the Netherlands but France would like to disconnect persistent file-sharers from the Internet.
Another day sees another country’s interpretation of the law when it comes to dealing with file-sharers, this time from sunny Portugal. Following a complaint from the Portuguese version of the RIAA, a court in Portimão has handed down a severe sentence in the country’s first ever case involving a file-sharer. One incredibly unlucky individual has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for uploading music on P2P networks, with the severity of punishment decided upon “to set an example”.
The individual was investigated after a complaint from the Portuguese Phonographic Association (AFP), which was confirmed by João Teixeira, an association member and director-general of EMI in Portugal. News reports suggest the conviction was related to ‘downloading’ music but this is a common mistake. The individual was accused and found guilty of ‘uploading’ or distribution of copyright works and is just one of more than a hundred other complaints under investigation right now.
Mr Teixeira said that although he was pleased with the sentence (calling it a “necessary evil”) he noted that there are other methods that can be employed to stop file-sharers, such as the recent “3 strikes” law in France. However, it seems he will settle for a jail sentence sending the message to the masses: “The problem is people know they are doing something illegal, but they also know there are no consequences, at least until this week,” he said.
Fortunately, it seems that the jail sentence handed down can be replaced by the individual paying fines to the court plus some compensation, although there is no indication of the amounts involved at this stage.
Taking the same stance as some of his associates in the UK, João Teixeira lays the blame for file-sharing at the door of the ISPs, claiming that they encourage people to do so.
Previously: OiNK’s Bail Date Extended for the 4th Time
Next: Coming Soon: Pirate TV Show
72 Responses
Poor soul… Guess not just the RIAA need to be shot… but all *versions* of the RIAA need to be shot.
It’s insane to send someone to jail for any amount of time for file-sharing.
Oh my God.
WTF!?
This is really screwed up!
Locking people up for file sharing is ridiculous!
guess im lucky to live in croatia. here p2p is legal for personal use. or its not ilegal. anyway, we dont have any laws against it (yet). even our isp (t-com) once advertised flat-rate with unlimited movie and music downloads :)
hope it remains like that for a long long time
Browse and download anonymously and securely. Cover your tracks, be discreet, use port blocking.
Do the above and AFAIK there;s nowhere in the world that you can be prosecuted for filesharing.
What if more people begin to blame the ISP for encouraging people to download, where are we heading then? Back to the 56kb/s age? It’s cowardly of them to blame the ISP when they can use the speed to download legal stuff as well.
They are doing this to scare people. It would be better if they kill3d torrentsites and convict those who are behind the torrentsites instead of having a single convition.
Just wonder why you FOOLS deleted my link to new Dutch law … pathetuc censorism …
well, Mr. Doctorow asked the question when it’s time to declare war on musicindustry!
It is probably about time when “they” managed to get a corrupt system of politicians that give them the laws they demand and judges that sentence people that do fileuploading -downloading without that they demand/pay money for that “service”!
They send filesharers to prison and like to call filesharers Pirates, maybe its about time to act like “real” pirates:
get rid of those “content” guys once and for all!
Jun 28, 2008 at 20:21 by WakuWaku
relax, it is probably just stuck in the MOD clearing chan and will surface once a MOD checked that it is not stupid spam
Relaxe and smoke some weed in case you are from the country that law you linked too ;-)
Nobody wants some unity here …
thats clear.
I try to inform people here and comments are getting deleted.
Go figure.
* Takes beer and walks to Lenny Kravitz concert … (3 min. walk) … *
Hey there, I live in Portugal and I must say that this is f**cking ridiculous, these lawsuits started about 2/3 years ago when the portuguese RIAA started sending letters, trying to blackmail portuguese citzens. The letters asked for money or they would go for a real lawsuit.
This is blackmail, yet, the AFP has more money then the average John or Jane, so they can commit crimes and nothing appens to them, yet if you share music online…
Just a thought.
PS: Sorry if anything doesn’t make sense, justice isn’t teh only thing here that sucks…schools do so aswell.
Set an example … In World War I it was called “por encoureger les autres” and they shot them at dawn.
This is where they depart from a ‘moral’ cause and simple prove what an evil organisation they are.
Sure, in the US it’s a fine and bankruptcy, in Portugal it’s jail time, what happens when they extend operations to China or the Middle East- Hhands chopped off? Executions?
It’s time to go to the mattresses against the MAFIAA.
OMFG…
Why someone hasn’t slaughtered those anti-pirate terrorists is beyond me, sure, the murderers might get life but they will free the world from these a$$holes!
use one-click hosting sites, bittorrent is long gone for me! much more safer.
Said by Lipe das Couves:
“Hey there, I live in Portugal and I must say that this is f**cking ridiculous, these lawsuits started about 2/3 years ago when the portuguese RIAA started sending letters, trying to blackmail portuguese citzens. The letters asked for money or they would go for a real lawsuit.”
Reminds me of a certain law firm named
Davenport Lyons, who send threatening letters to people they’ve
claimed to have downloaded games like Call Of Juarez, Dream Pinball 3D, and Colin McRae Dirt.
@17, LOL! One-click hosts are not safe. Imagine if they gave IP logs to authorities, also there are no encryption on one-click hosts.
Torrents are much much safer, espesically when they are using SSL encapsulation on all sessions.
However, I prefer FTP (file transger protocol).
Actions like these sure do “set an example”. Thanks. :)
THIS NEWS IS FALSE !
No one has been sentence until today.
Not even a bit-torrent tracker (www.btuga.pt) owner, whose site was shutdown by the portuguese authorities.
So, Enigmax, double-check your information before post it.
90 days , they want to give us up to
1million in fines and 5 years in jail OR BOTH
and when you cant pay the fine
the max becomes
100,000Days for the fine and 5 years OR both
essentially over 270 years in prison for the max.
YUP
go for it, see you all on da flip side,
free cable , 3 square meals , cost taxpayers that are left 40K/year
woot screw da taxpayer hollywood yaaaaaaaa
gt even beat up an actor. at least then when yur doing time its for a real crime called assualt….
and ill say it
“1st one you pay the second one is free”
anyone from prison knows exactly what that means……
All my best to this poor bastard… Just shows it could be anyone of us next if the public rather than the torrent sites.
We can’t really blaim the ISPs, the trackers, even the music industry (there trying to milk the cash cow after all, we’re all capable of it). It’s politians who are taking the side of the music industry and forcing the hands of ISPs and consumers that is the problem.
And can we honestly say we’re doing enough to fight it?
The internet was made to be used by everyone, who has the right to really disconnect them?? Artists really aren’t making money today are they? Make some decent music then people will buy it… seriously if most of lil waynes songs can be so popular any idiot that can pronounce the words money and hoes should be able to land higher than him on the boards and people will by your cd’s. If it isn’t about the music get the F*** out of the industy and make money another way… as for file sharing, if you have it and want to share it, you should do so… It should be your free will, not someone else forcing you to decide what to do….
90 days? Holy shit. I would rather be convicted of file-sharing there than here (the US).
what next MAFIAA
i think with all this rebel attitude responses here i fear the gov might deem this site to be insiting terrorism…
just a sarcastic remark in how ridiculous this world order has become… impressing their fascist ways upon the masses…
trust me this is only the beginning…
Know how to set a example? Guillotine the next convicted file-sharer
we should start executing filesharers. ahahaha
15: “It’s time to go to the mattresses against the MAFIAA.”
I admire your intrepid effort to pick up filesharing chicks, but I’m not sure this form of protest will be terribly effective.
Then again… I’m not sure any form of protest will be effective, when law is a whore to the highest bidder. So f— away, young man. Screw the RIAA.
Hello there.
If you want to know more about this case,read these two articles translated from Portuguese to English by Google Translator:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fremixtures.com%2F2008%2F06%2Fpartilhador-portugues-condenado-por-disponibilizar-146-musicas-atraves-do-kazaa-e-limewire%2F&hl=pt-PT&ie=UTF8&sl=pt&tl=en
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fremixtures.com%2F2008%2F06%2Fprocura-se-partilhador-portugues-condenado-a-pena-de-prisao-de-90-dias%2F&hl=pt-PT&ie=UTF8&sl=pt&tl=en
The European Parliament has said that copyright-infringing music and film file-sharing should not be criminalised. The Parliament has said that file-sharers should not be prosecuted as criminal offenders unless they seek to profit from the sharing.
The Parliament has adopted a report on Europe’s cultural industries which rejects the idea of criminalising non-profit making file-sharers.
“Criminalising consumers who are not seeking to make a profit is not the right solution to combat digital piracy,” said a motion passed by the Parliament.
there is a site called basslineaddiction.co.uk that need a ddos or taking offline its a blending rasist,communist and kiddi porn site deep within its blendin as a music site take it down its a matter of urgency
Im speechless, but im just going to download more.
Someone has to make up for his place.
João Teixeira is a famous Brazilian “faith-healer” known in the English-speaking world as “John of God”. He “cures” people by using shockingly dangerous practices like slicing deep wounds in a person’s flesh and then rubbing his bare unwashed hands in the wounds.
EMI’s João Teixeira seems an equally awful person, if not worse.
Filesharing that is not for personal gain or profit has become illegal in many countries, and the number of countries is increasing.
The use of survilance of private conversations via phones, email, chatt, sms and more is also spreading through our governments at an increasing rate.
Rumors has it, that a proposition about a new law is forming here in sweden, stating that those who publish blogs has to be registered, so that no anonymity is allowed or possible without the threat of legal action taken upon them.
I for one am beginning to get really annoyed. Is there no one left in our governments that arent bought, fooled or right out stupid? Where the hell did all intelligent and curagouse people go that used to hold sivil rights, freedom of speach and human liberties close at heart?
im disgusted at anyone who supports and buys music from the assholes who are behind cases like this, downloading for me is not about getting something for free its about morals
“”Fortunately, it seems that the jail sentence handed down can be replaced by the individual paying fines to the court plus some compensation, although there is no indication of the amounts involved at this stage.”"
Hey, another thousand or so album income from portimão…
See? There ARE alternate means to survive in the music distribution business after all… At least in Portugal…
kudos mafiaa.pt
They can’t arrest us all. Keep downloading and sharing. SEND THEM THE MESSAGE!
They will only destroy society by further punishment.
Nobody can be free if they do not act. For those who do not use their might, either in voting or in other means, they will forever live in a dictatorship. Only those who take action are the ones who matter; only those who take action can truly be free.
As a form of protest, people can utilize civil disobedience by file-sharing in the public eye. Parades of people can walk in the streets distributing software (in CDs, or some other medium) amongst themselves and/or to any passer-bys as a form of protest.
It will be a way to show the public, and as a sign of strength. If the police acts, there can only be more such protests, as it shows the public of the wrongs that the industry commits.
Indeed, in order to truly defy the RIAA and other such organizations, you must defy them in public, and only in that way can people truly rise up against them.
“Indeed, in order to truly defy the RIAA and other such organizations, you must defy them in public, and only in that way can people truly rise up against them.”
To elaborate further on this idea, the fact is, the Internet is not public, nor is BitTorrent. When it comes to real-life, it has the potential to be seen by other people who previously would never have heard of what the RIAA and other such organizations are doing. Also, it has the additional advantage of actually showing the people who are doing the file-sharing: not criminal monsters, but ordinary good people. The internet is a place where nobody actually sees anybody else, and people can see what others are doing only with intent; in order to do things in public, one must do things outside of the internet. This means file-sharing - file share in public.
It’s funny cause many of the local artists i know do rather well without any help from the dino industry that is the RIAA. They can record there own music now, burn it over and over and sell it at local gigs bypassing the leeching labels all together. Do they care about people ripping it and uploading it so there crowds grow? Thats a negative there bucko, sadly music is now in the hands of the artists and they can create as they see fit now.
I almost feel sorry for the music industry but since they have screwed over pretty much everyone in one way or another i really don’t.
Sigh, the last throws of an angry dinosaur industry that is breaking down with old age. Willing to beat attack and devour the artists and hands that feed it.
Heck as for myself i have outgrown music(less important when there is less expendable income) when kazza became the bloated p2p app of choice. Thanks to BT TV shows are where it is at >< screw tivos. The really sad part is the music industry is only pushing people away to other forms of content. They can no longer live off of the creations of artists for long long periods of time now that there is 100000000x more content and choice out there now.
Sadly they adopted the sue em and screw em policy of dooming themself… Music lives forever, corporations that leech off them will most likely not… Welcome to the age of the internetz.
PS: does the fact that itunes the legit source for music/etc pays more to the labels and itself then to the content creators bother anyone else?
What a screwed up world, where gangland criminals walk around like untouched angels, and someone who unknowingly breaks some minor technicality will be dealt with severely to set an example. While serving that time he could be raped, killed or maimed, or get permanent psychological damage. Is this in lieu of bankrupting fines, or in addition to?
As grossly obscene as that is, and a travesty of justice, if that is the law it can’t be opposed. However, shouldn’t many involved in the music industry get life for ripping off artists, to make an example of them too?
“The problem is people know they are doing something illegal, but they also know there are no consequences, at least until this week”
that’s total BS coz I don’t know I’m doing something illegal. In fact I’m very sure I’m not. The law here is still unclear about it, and thus its not illegal and is no different to making taped copies like we’ve always done
Notice EMI is involved? Big multinational corporation?
They probably sell lots of stuff in record stores in your city. I guess when you buy their products you know what you’re supporting now, imprisoning people for file-sharing.
EMI probably has offices in your country too. Maybe it’s time to let them know your views as well.
“Portugal Hands Jail Sentence to First Convicted File-Sharer”
Not in Portugal, for sure!
“Fortunately, it seems that the jail sentence handed down can be replaced by the individual paying fines to the court plus some compensation, although there is no indication of the amounts involved at this stage.”
In Portugal, no jail sentence can be replaced by the individual paying fines!
This is a LIE, this is a product of an ignorant mind.
“no jail sentence can be replaced by the individual paying fines!”
WHO GIVES A FLYING F***!?
the guy’s in jail for downloading is he not? No one, NO ONE! deserves jail for defying the copyright of old.
Bring Action, Bring Change.
If you want to know more about this case, just use google translator to translate these articles that I wrote from Portuguese to English:
remixtures.com/2008/06/partilhador-portugues-condenado-por-disponibilizar-146-musicas-atraves-do-kazaa-e-limewire
remixtures.com/2008/06/procura-se-partilhador-portugues-condenado-a-pena-de-prisao-de-90-dias
you know what they should do?
try and stop me….
Wow, that is pretty steep. People are taking this file sharing nonsense WAY too seriously. What a joke.
JT
http://www.FireMe.to/udi
@53
I don’t know who are those “people” but when people get jailed, it is a very serious matter.
Got what he deserved for uploading copyright material. All these dumb commentators here saying how bad it is, wait til someone upload your shit when it’s copyright.
#55 is the prime example of those people who got deluded by the RIAA propaganda. We need to resist this kind of propaganda here and now, or nothing will begin and the injustice will continue.
@#55 - you are the one who is the dumb commentator here. You are the one who is stealing from everyone else. You should be the one going to jail. But it’s no use to talk to your deluded mind - you are too thoroughly brainwashed, but the change will come.
@55
Are you stupid or something? If someone uploads anything I made, it would be a good thing to spread it to everyone. The purpose of making something is to show it to as many people as possible. File-sharing is the best way and most cost-effective way of spreading it to everyone.
@55
I don’t need to slag you off more than others have already.
I’m an up and comming programmer, I’d rather give my work out for free or use a business model like MySQL or RedHat’s.
And obviously you didn’t learn from your parents… YOUR MUM LOVES TO GIVE AWAY ;)
@58
Indeed, when one gives things out for free, it contributes something far more valuable than money: progress. The purpose of making software or art is for progress, and it helps others continue on in the advancements of software, or the advancements of the arts.
90 days! LOL, I can do that standing on my head. Shit, thats a vacation.
I also live in Portugal, and this is a false one.
It’s one of those fake news that appeared by a supposed journalist on a sensacionalist newspaper, with no specific names and data.
Intimidatory only.
poor guy. another country has joined the shit league
This story is false, just a news reported by a local business newspaper and it was given by a “source in the industry” (AFP) and not by the law as it should be.
This is just a scare tactic used by the big companies. If this indeed true I would like to see the actual court transcript because I want to see with my own eyes how did they prove their claims. What proof they presented, because it’s not that easy here to just claim something without actual proof. Even with phone taps and transcripts local business man go free in corruption charges!
Lol at all the people getting touchy at my comment. I’m well aware of RIAA tactics and I despise them as much as anyone else, but the fact remains the material uploaded was not authorized by the author, and therefore broke copyright law. Pretty simple eh?
@57, 58 & 59: Sure, it’s your stuff to give it out freely if you want. You might find that a good business model, but if the author hasn’t given you permission, it’s the simple matter that you have taken without permission.
Now, before people reply to my comment, let me make my opinion clear: I am pro p2p, I would love to see the end of the RIAA/MPAA, etc, but I don’t see why someone who clearly took work without the author’s permission be defended in this way. The fact remains he broke the law, and faced the consequences.
@64 laws have always been broken, wasnt it against the law of the british who was incomand/boss of the US when first settled to fight back for example, should people be able to select who hears what in a crowded place and sue the ones that they didnt want to hear what they said or sang ?
@65, I don’t agree with that policy at all (suing ppl who listen/play music in public play), but people shouldn’t be so quick to blindly defend someone who is taking work and spreading it without permission. Also, your analogy makes no sense, there is a big difference between occupation and uploading files.
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Ignore the dickhead that says basslineaddiction.co.uk is a kiddie porn site etc cus it aint! It was a bassline site obviously :S lol But yeah it got hacked by some moron.
What about the Asian people walking around selling CD’s & DVD copys? They walk around with $1000’s of dollars worth and never get caught here in NY. What about the days of making a cassette copy? That was legal.
It’s ALL bullshit!! We the consumers need to wake up and not let the biz people take avantage of us anymore. We’ve been lied to for many years and it’s still happening to us. WAKE UP!!
the problem of portugal is they are shit people shit goverment
everything in portugal they want money for all they do
even for walk on st portuguese people has to pay for it
now comes a new law of downloading from interent goverment run a new law for make more money for people dowloading files its all business
portuguese people should give up from internet and use internet coffe will be better
ISP will shut down doors
portuguese people makes salary 400 euros monthly one dvd cost at leasr 20 euros
internet cost over 40 euros month
how can this portuguese people survive with 400 euros
what a shit goverment portugal has in it they kill inocent people in middle east
why this portuguese gov still alive they should be death
Portugal rich people still miions of euros they pay for others to kill and they never get jail
a poor guy has no job do download from interent get jail
what a country
when some country will start bomb this goverment shit from portugal
goverment politics each one makes over 35 000 euros a month thats why they make this rules for poor portuguese people
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