BitTorrent Piracy Group Leader Jailed

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Is illegal file sharing really worth doing more than three years in prison, followed by three years probation and a $15,000 fine?

Following a tip from the MPAA the feds arrested four members of the prominent BitTorrent release group IMAGiNE in 2011. All pleaded guilty earlier this year and yesterday one of the group’s leaders was sentenced to a 40 month prison term, the largest file-sharing punishment in U.S. history. A fifth member of the IMAGiNE group, not included in the indictment, pleaded guilty on the same day and will be sentenced next year.
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A better question is it worth approximately $300,000 dollars to keep them in prison for 3 years minus $15,000? I get that prisoners are valuable commodity for the privatized prison market and for call centers and manufacturing, but wouldn't giving them a larger fine and community service better serve society and more aptly suit the crime?
 
EchtoGammut said:
A better question is it worth approximately $300,000 dollars to keep them in prison for 3 years minus $15,000? I get that prisoners are valuable commodity for the privatized prison market and for call centers and manufacturing, but wouldn't giving them a larger fine and community service better serve society and more aptly suit the crime?
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Since when is it about the crime? The private prison CEOs have a new yacht to buy, after all.
 
Software, movie and music piracy lands you in deep water, but bending the law as a bank CEO and destroying a country in the process gets you a slap on the wrist. I think the court system needs to revisit their corporate crime department and stop turning blind eyes on activities in the name of profit.
 
These guys weren't just hosting bit torrents ... they were filming movies in the theaters and posting these videos on their torrent site ... they also continued to do this after they knew the feds were on to them ... for extremely blatant copy right violations like that you can expect to see harsher penalties ... this isn't just a couple of college students or housewives posting a ripped mp3 on a torrent site ;)
 
kbrickley said:
These guys weren't just hosting bit torrents ... they were filming movies in the theaters and posting these videos on their torrent site ... they also continued to do this after they knew the feds were on to them ... for extremely blatant copy right violations like that you can expect to see harsher penalties ... this isn't just a couple of college students or housewives posting a ripped mp3 on a torrent site ;)
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Yea, but I'd say the 3 years probation and $15,000+ fine are reasonable. I'm not too keen on the 3 years in jail.
 
I caveat all this with the fact that the MPAA and RIAA are sorely out of touch with technology though. I have zero sympthay for them, simply for the fact that they refuse to acknowledge dispersal/logistics changes that need to be made. I'm sorry, most people I know, do not go to the movies very often any longer. The ticket prices are just too inflated. It's nice to see that special show on the big screen but almost all movies don't fall into that category. If they would start to fund home releases with movie releases possibly, people will pay for it.

Simply put the MPAA/RIAA is going about this all wrong. What's going to happen is at some point, if you listen to them, is they won't be able to make big budget movies b/c they are losing SO much money to piracy (not true) and pirates will be blamed for it in the end, when in fact it's their own dang faults. I do agree these guys needed to get in trouble for camming shows in the theatre, but this is just racketeering right now that the MPAA/RIAA are instituting.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
I'm not too keen on the 3 years in jail.
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/sarcasm on

Why not? You don't think these guys belong in jail with the rapists/violent offenders/murderers? They broke a FEDERAL law so they are really bad!

/sarcasm off
 
Called this 3 years ago when IMAGINE first went from a half-decent average piracy group to trying to start their own Torrenting site, getting members to pay-to-pirate, and becoming attention whores.


This gentlemen, is what happens when your ego grows larger than your penis.
 
I don't know all of the movies these guys filmed ... and I certainly have no desire to become an MPAA apologist ... but there are some logistical issues that prevent studios from releasing movies in every location at the same time ... not all of these are on the MPAAs side or in their control ... if all theaters were digital and all countries would agree to a common censorship standard (and to take their films in the native language of the film not the country) ... highly unlikely to occur in my lifetime ... without those things it is difficult to do worldwide releases and that opens the window for violators like these

That said, studios need to release to digital streaming or disc faster ... they might need to stop releasing in problematic countries to permit this ... they could also be more realistic in their online rental pricing sometimes ... the RIAA is a different animal completely and I have no desire to try and defend them ;)
 
ravx25 said:
Simply put the MPAA/RIAA is going about this all wrong. What's going to happen is at some point, if you listen to them, is they won't be able to make big budget movies b/c they are losing SO much money to piracy (not true) and pirates will be blamed for it in the end, when in fact it's their own dang faults. I do agree these guys needed to get in trouble for camming shows in the theatre, but this is just racketeering right now that the MPAA/RIAA are instituting.
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Some of the best movies I've seen in the past few years have been low budget flicks. I wonder how they'd spin that.
 
LOL 4 year sentence and state only makes you server 1/3 before release but with money as they have can get out sooner. So max about 1 year and more than likely 6 months then they will pay off the probation fees and be off probation in 2 months. They still makeing millions and laughing all the way to the bank. I like the guys more power to them.
 
Also my 2 cent's input if the gameing and business developers of software would allow people to try out the software and be able to return it if it is not good they would make alot more money. Heck most of them don't even put out demos anymore. So instead of makeing more money they loose money cuz they are fools. I myself promote torrents in every fashion and the day they get back to not screwing over the legit buyers with bs injected into the programs and allow returns if your not satisfied is the day they can get my money. As of now they get nothing but I get anything I want whenever I want so FFFFF them
 
Globox said:
its a weird phenomenon
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Amazing what can be done with a "how can we maximize what can be done with the amount of money we have" vs a "how can we maximize the amount of money we can throw at this thing" train of thought.
 
EchtoGammut said:
A better question is it worth approximately $300,000 dollars to keep them in prison for 3 years minus $15,000? I get that prisoners are valuable commodity for the privatized prison market and for call centers and manufacturing, but wouldn't giving them a larger fine and community service better serve society and more aptly suit the crime?
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Much better to have government run prisons, so it cast twice as much, the guards can bring home 150K+, and the union bosses get to buy the yachts.
 
Maybe we need more creative punishments more suited to their crimes ... how about we sentence them to watch every Pauli Shore and Carrot Top movie in a continuous loop for say 6 months ... if they don't die from the blood loss once their eyes start to bleed from the horror, we let them go after ... unfortunately the SCOTUS would probably consider that cruel and unusual punishment :D
 
kbrickley said:
Maybe we need more creative punishments more suited to their crimes ... how about we sentence them to watch every Pauli Shore and Carrot Top movie in a continuous loop for say 6 months ... if they don't die from the blood loss once their eyes start to bleed from the horror, we let them go after ... unfortunately the SCOTUS would probably consider that cruel and unusual punishment :D
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Cruel and unusual punishment? All for it. Better yet, lets sit them down in front of reality TV show reruns and see which show melts their brain faster. My money is on the Kardashians show.
 
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