Last August the Department of Justice (DoJ) issued search warrants on 5 homes and offices of an ISP on the group known as the "Underground Network". Now the DoJ has issued its first ever criminal convictions for copyright infringement over Peer-to-Peer (P2P) when William R. Towbridge aged 50 from Johnson City, New York and Michael Chicoine aged 47 from San Antonio both arrested last August pleaded guilty. Both face up to a maximum penalty of five years jail time, $250,000 fine and providing compensation for the victims. Both of them are required to destroy all the equipment used for the infringing copies as well as all media containing infringing content.
The Underground Network involved five P2P networks which required a user to share at least 1GB to 100GB of content just to gain access to the network. Apart from the NeoModus Direct Connect software, no other requirement such as membership fees was necessary to join or access the hubs. The content shared on the hubs included millions of dollars worth of music, movies, games and software. Government agents investigated the network last August by downloading over 70 copyrighted works from Towbridge's hub and 35 from Chicoine's hub before the search warrants were given the go-ahead.
As a result of this conviction, the Department of Justice is making it clear that they are committed to investigating and bringing to justice those that commit copyright theft. They claim that the illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted work costs the US industries $19 billion each year. GristyMcFisty and brantdk both used our news submit to let us know about the following news:
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William R. Towbridge, 50, of Johnson City, N.Y., and Michael Chicoine, 47, of San Antonio each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit felony criminal copyright infringement. The maximum penalties for a first-time offender are five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and restitution to the victims. In addition, Towbridge and Chicoine will be required to destroy all infringing copies and all equipment used to make the infringing copies. Sentencing is scheduled for April 29. The operation targeted the illegal file sharing of copyrighted materials over five P2P networks that belonged to a group known as the Underground Network. According to the DoJ, the networks required users to share a minimum of 1GB to 100GB of computer files with other users on the network. "Like the defendants who pleaded guilty today, those who steal the work of others over the Internet stand to face serious consequences," Kenneth L. Wainstein, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement. Read the full article here. |
As the Underground Network required at least 1GB of content to be shared before allowing a user to gain access to the network, it is pretty clear the network was encouraging large scale copyright infringement, unlike other P2P networks were users can share at their will.
However, even though the Underground Network may be eliminated, the members sharing content on the network would likely have been those who would never purchase content anyway. As users required a 1GB or more content shared to access the network, they would have had to obtained it from somewhere else first or produce it themselves by ripping their DVDs and software packages. As a result, they are likely off to other network to continue downloading where they left off.
Feel free to discuss and find out more about file sharing and relating legal issues on our Music Downloads, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) & Legal Issues Forum.
Source: internetnews
