BitTorrent Tracker Admin Jailed for 18 Months

[HardOCP News]

A 26 year old man was jailed for 18 months today for his work on the site EliteTorrents. The former admin for the BitTorrent site took his case to trial where he was found guilty and received the following sentence:

The jury believed this version of events and found Dove guilty on one count each of conspiracy and felony copyright infringement. Today, Dove has was sentenced to 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release and a $20,000 fine.

 

[AtkinS]

WTF?

Being an admin for a search site...

That wudnt be possible over here..

 

[gaspah]

this is just crazy... almost nobody isn't guilty of piracy in some shape or form.. nobody can say they've never viewed a burnt disc anywhere... at a friends house... or you can't say you don't know a few people close to you indulges in piracy... hey you amish shussshh.. what are you doing on the internet anyways...

and its not even a good excuse for banning something harmless... i mean at least with banning marijuana you got to bash mexicans

 

[inotocracy]

This is pretty extreme, it wasn't like he was hosting content, the users were doing that. Thats like putting a traffic cop in jail for directing cars one way or another.

 

[NYCmedicineman]

why are my tax dollars funding the mpaa and riaa's agenda through the FBI? Aren't there things of much more importance in times like these that deerve the FBI's attention? I am not an advocate of piracy, but I do not think the music and movie industry losing money warrants the time and resources of federal agencies at the cost of the american tax payer. do you own investigation and bring those involved to court. why do i have to foot your bill?

 

[gaspah]

Thats like putting a traffic cop in jail for directing cars one way or another.

lol.. uh no.. not quite... XD

 

[gaspah]

nah its more like arresting a pimp... he doesnt actually accept cash for sucking co.... but he directs you to it

 

[BinarySynapse]

why are my tax dollars funding the mpaa and riaa's agenda through the FBI? Aren't there things of much more importance in times like these that deerve the FBI's attention? I am not an advocate of piracy, but I do not think the music and movie industry losing money warrants the time and resources of federal agencies at the cost of the american tax payer. do you own investigation and bring those involved to court. why do i have to foot your bill?

Does that line of thinking go along with shoplifters and eBay scammers as well?

 

[gaspah]

Does that line of thinking go along with shoplifters and eBay scammers as well?

i shed no tears for theft from the largest corporations in the world.... but actual individual victims.. thats different.... shoplifters.. meh... depends on the store... wal-mart.. like i give a rats ass... small store with 4 or 5 people... bit different...

 

[BinarySynapse]

i shed no tears for theft from the largest corporations in the world.... but actual individual victims.. thats different.... shoplifters.. meh... depends on the store... wal-mart.. like i give a rats ass... small store with 4 or 5 people... bit different...

So theft isn't a crime unless it causes someone considerable financial duress? Nice bit or relative morality you got going on there.

 

[Ockie]

i shed no tears for theft from the largest corporations in the world.... but actual individual victims.. thats different.... shoplifters.. meh... depends on the store... wal-mart.. like i give a rats ass... small store with 4 or 5 people... bit different...

Odd logic, it's like steal from the rich and give to the poor concept. Stealing is stealing, doesn't matter who it's from.

 

[MrLonghair]

Google does the same thing but it's like one or two clicks farther away. Hurm.

 

[Draax]

Theft is wrong, that much cannot be argued. However I do have a problem with the legal system and its pandering to corporations. It's an awfully slippery slope we are on and its not going to take much more to fall.

 

[Rampage1329]

Can any one cut and paste? This article is blocked for me.

 

[gaspah]

ahh.. boo hoo.. theft from most of these huge corporations is justice... you worry so much about a small theft of a shoplifter.. you forget these corporations are responsible for the most massive global thievery there is... unfair trade with poor nations...

but i suppose you think it's justified for the rich to steal from the poor. but god forbid the poor steal from the rich...

i don't steal myself.. i live comfortably enough to not bother wasting time getting myself locked up..

 

[gaspah]

yeah i was off on a tangent there the MPAA isnt responsible for theft in the 3rd world... oh wait.. ANGELINA JOLIE!!! she's stealin up all the 3rd world babies!!

 

[MrGuvernment]

i am sure they made sure the jury they picked was full of people who know NOTHING about torrents or the internet, a bunch of 80 year old grannies, who the lawyers told was "well he didnt pay for it, is that right?' and so the jury decided he was stealing.

 

[Lebowski]

why are my tax dollars funding the mpaa and riaa's agenda through the FBI? Aren't there things of much more importance in times like these that deerve the FBI's attention? I am not an advocate of piracy, but I do not think the music and movie industry losing money warrants the time and resources of federal agencies at the cost of the american tax payer. do you own investigation and bring those involved to court. why do i have to foot your bill?

Why is the FBI bothering with this??? Don't they have more important things to do like CATCH TERRORISTS???

 

[MrGuvernment]

good point about google.......... they provide results the same as a torrent site does.. what makes them any differnt, except that google does not host any .tor files...

 

[BinarySynapse]

Why is the FBI bothering with this??? Don't they have more important things to do like CATCH TERRORISTS???

Yeah because the FBI is only one person that is completely incapable of pursuing multiple cases at the same time.

 

[Ockie]

ahh.. boo hoo.. theft from most of these huge corporations is justice... you worry so much about a small theft of a shoplifter.. you forget these corporations are responsible for the most massive global thievery there is... unfair trade with poor nations...

but i suppose you think it's justified for the rich to steal from the poor. but god forbid the poor steal from the rich...

i don't steal myself.. i live comfortably enough to not bother wasting time getting myself locked up..

Stealing is wrong no matter who it is, if you steal millions or if you steal thousands, it's both wrong and it's both stealing.

Don't try to twist the words, I said it the same before, stealing is stealing.

 

[stoney_titan]

Yeah because the FBI is only one person that is completely incapable of pursuing multiple cases at the same time.

Reminds me of EA. Were not good at anything so we'll do everything.

But to the topic, this was too extreme. He should of at least gotten probation.

 

[TechLarry]

Sometimes I think it's because of this...

They can't find/stop the virus writers. They can't find/stop the hackers. They can't find/stop the spyware writers. They can't stop/find the phishers.

So, to make it look like they are doing something with the billions our tax dollars pay, they do this simply little piddly stuff that they CAN do.

Thus an Admin goes to jail for a year and a half, and all the hackers, virus writers and other real cybercriminals have a BBQ.

"See. SEE! We are doing out job!!!"

why are my tax dollars funding the mpaa and riaa's agenda through the FBI? Aren't there things of much more importance in times like these that deerve the FBI's attention? I am not an advocate of piracy, but I do not think the music and movie industry losing money warrants the time and resources of federal agencies at the cost of the american tax payer. do you own investigation and bring those involved to court. why do i have to foot your bill?

 

[wiseoracle]

Stealing is wrong no matter who it is, if you steal millions or if you steal thousands, it's both wrong and it's both stealing.

Don't try to twist the words, I said it the same before, stealing is stealing.

I don't see it as that way, more like sharing. The original copyright holders are not losing any actual money. Their bullshit potential over inflated claims of losing out millions of dollars is bull. Now if it was a physical product that actually cost them money in distributing it being stolen, yes they are losing money. The mp3 files are being sorted by people who pay for the bandwidth, not the record companies. It certainly doesn't hurt the artist, as they make literally no money off of it. Only off merchandising/concerts they make actual profits.

There has been proven proof that mp3 downloading has increased in legitimate cases of people buying the CD/Concert DVD/Merch/legit mp3 sites.

It's free advertising and they should embrace the technology and use it.

What is worse? Gaining 1 fan, which will dedicate money to the artist or Not ever hearing who they are and gaining absolutely nothing.

 

[bonsai]

Being an admin for a search site...

He was a seeder as well. That's copyright infringement. He had thousands of dollars worth of software on servers that were seized from his home. He was also found guilty of conspiracy for trying to cover up the operation. EliteTorrent at the time was said to have brought in a few hundred thousand dollars. He could have faced up to 10 years in jail.

 

[-PK-]

This is pretty extreme, it wasn't like he was hosting content, the users were doing that. Thats like putting a traffic cop in jail for directing cars one way or another.

It is very possible that could have hosted content, but if so and how much is unknown. However it is very liekly that he was also charged for several conspiracies under twisted ideaology of anti-p2p groups.

 

[LurkerLito]

I just can't agree to the ruling. It's like the police asked you where are all the drug dealers around the neighborhood are, you pointing them out, then the police saying no I am not arresting them, I am arresting you because you know where they are and you told us when we asked you. WTF is up with that?

 

[bonsai]

It's like the police asked you where are all the drug dealers around the neighborhood are, you pointing them out, then the police saying no I am not arresting them, I am arresting you because you know where they are and you told us when we asked you.

Except it's more like you give out some of your weed plants to people in the neighboorhood and they start growing their own weed to sell, all the while you're still growing your original weed, giving it out to more people, and making a ton of money off of it. The police trace it all back to you and raid your house to arrest you. Then you try to cover it up by burning all the weed. Yeah nothing wrong with that at all...

 

[Ockie]

I don't see it as that way, more like sharing. The original copyright holders are not losing any actual money. Their bullshit potential over inflated claims of losing out millions of dollars is bull. Now if it was a physical product that actually cost them money in distributing it being stolen, yes they are losing money. The mp3 files are being sorted by people who pay for the bandwidth, not the record companies. It certainly doesn't hurt the artist, as they make literally no money off of it. Only off merchandising/concerts they make actual profits.

There has been proven proof that mp3 downloading has increased in legitimate cases of people buying the CD/Concert DVD/Merch/legit mp3 sites.

It's free advertising and they should embrace the technology and use it.

What is worse? Gaining 1 fan, which will dedicate money to the artist or Not ever hearing who they are and gaining absolutely nothing.

You took my quote way out of context. I was responding to someone else who said it would be fine to steal from corporations, big money, and businesses like walmart.

I just can't agree to the ruling. It's like the police asked you where are all the drug dealers around the neighborhood are, you pointing them out, then the police saying no I am not arresting them, I am arresting you because you know where they are and you told us when we asked you. WTF is up with that?

Well being an accomplice does make you responsible. I see it more as in, you show the cops where the drug dealers are, but if it wasn't for you, those drug dealers wouldn't be possible. Think of yourself as the transporter, you didn't do the drugs, but you made it possible to be distributed.

 

[hellokeith]

Good for the FBI.

Piracy, copyright infringement, and dissemination of intellectual property have no place in IT. Illegal and highly unethical activities such as these give IT a bad name. Along with their prison times, I hope the admins now with felony marks on their criminal record never pass another background check for an IT job. People like this do not need to be in positions of authority/security in any IT organization.

 

[albert6719]

Sometimes I think it's because of this...

They can't find/stop the virus writers. They can't find/stop the hackers. They can't find/stop the spyware writers. They can't stop/find the phishers.

So, to make it look like they are doing something with the billions our tax dollars pay, they do this simply little piddly stuff that they CAN do.

Thus an Admin goes to jail for a year and a half, and all the hackers, virus writers and other real cybercriminals have a BBQ.

"See. SEE! We are doing out job!!!"

Yeah this makes a LOT of sense. I mean stopping the real CRIMINALS is HARD so lets go do something that we CAN control: Internet torrent admins.

This is just a measure of what this country is becoming where the real problems poverty, crime, rapes, murders, bank robberies, drug trafficking all have to take a back seat to the problem of cybercriminals stealing stuff on the Internet. Wow this is real justice at its FINEST.

 

[MrGuvernment]

He was a seeder as well. That's copyright infringement. He had thousands of dollars worth of software on servers that were seized from his home. He was also found guilty of conspiracy for trying to cover up the operation. EliteTorrent at the time was said to have brought in a few hundred thousand dollars. He could have faced up to 10 years in jail.

AHh, that makes allot more sense, i know alot of these private sites ask for donations to help cover costs and i am sure allot of them are raking in mad cash for it!

 

[ciggy50]

stealing is stealing

so if i stole something from a thief that stole it originally from the owner , am i as guilty as the first thief? or am i less guilty because the original thief doesn't rightly own the stolen property in the first place ?

dont bother to answer that


i think the problem in our western soceities today is that

1) there are WAY, WAY too many lawyers without sufficient moral fortitude
2) judges should be held directly responsible for thier decisions by the general public
3) we should be embracing the "spirit" of the law , not the "letter"

 

[MrGuvernment]

i want to see google admins locked away then,. their search engine leads me to torrents

 

[__hollywood|meow]

you guys are all arguing semantics, and while thats all well and good.. and im not about to get into the "ethics" behind copyright infringement.. but honestly, is the allocation of so much time, resources, manpower, and money to find, charge, process, convict, and fine/imprison torrent seeders and website admins REALLY worth it? i mean, dont we have real problems to attend to? prioritize, people.


+ if anybody says "but but but stealing is a real problem" i will punch you in the eye.

 

[Stardusted]

Theft is wrong, that much cannot be argued. However I do have a problem with the legal system and its pandering to corporations. It's an awfully slippery slope we are on and its not going to take much more to fall.

Each and every case is different. You are saying you would gladly crucify a guy who steals a loaf of bread to eat, and a guy who steals money from a small shop, and a guy who steals 100$ from a multibillion-making insanely rich company ? the list can go on and on and on, the examples many and they all differ.

Yes theft is wrong. But just because we can't bother to try and understand each and every case individually doesnt make it right to put them all in the same bag. Cause that would be an even bigger crime than the act of theft itself.

 

[DeadSkull]

I want my good PC single player games back! If this is the way to do it then go for it. Until then consoles are where the money is if you make a great game.

 

[UnlimitedMP]

Question since my googling gives me irrelevant answers:

Who pays for home arrest if the guy runs out of money for food, rent/morgage, etc? Tax payers?

The guy who pleaded guilty got 5 months H.A. which isn't a long time but what if it were longer..

 

[Ockie]

This is pretty extreme, it wasn't like he was hosting content, the users were doing that. Thats like putting a traffic cop in jail for directing cars one way or another.

Thats like saying the drug runner shouldn't be arrested, he simply made sure that the logistics and the content was carried through.....

 

[jimmyb]

Odd logic, it's like steal from the rich and give to the poor concept. Stealing is stealing, doesn't matter who it's from.

It's not odd at all. Some of us are more concerned with the pragmatic effect an action will have on other human beings. Law and morality are two disjoint sets; it is a fallacy to equate the two.

Copyright infringement from a large corporation, while not something I encourage, is not going to be significantly detrimental to anyone. Going to prison for 18 months on the other hand, will.

I like to call this "compassion".