EliteTorrents admin faces 10 years in jail

janobi

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26yo Daniel Dove has become the first person ever to be convicted by a jury for using BitTorrent to illegally distribute copyrighted material. It was on May 25th, 2005 that federal authorities first busted the famed EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker site following the pre-release leak of a “Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith” workprint. Called Operation D-Elite, it was part of a nationwide federal crackdown against the illegal distribution of copyrighted movies, software, games and music over P2P networks. So far it’s resulted in the convictions of seven former leading members of EliteTorrents. Fellow admins, Scott McCausland, Grant Stanley, Sam Kuonen, and Scott Harvanek, all pleaded guilty to similar charges rather than take their cases to trial. Now Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich has announced that 26yo Daniel Dove has become the eighth person to have been successfully targeted by the Department of Justice and the first person ever to be convicted after a trial by jury in the US for using BitTorrent to engage in criminal copyright infringement.

The jury was presented with evidence that Dove was an administrator of the site’s “Uploaders,” who were responsible for supplying pirated content to the group. The evidence showed that Dove recruited members who had very high-speed Internet connections, usually at least 50 times faster than a typical high-speed residential Internet connection, to become Uploaders. The evidence also showed that Dove operated a high-speed server, which he used to distribute pirated content to the Uploaders. Dove’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 9, 2008 where he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. At its height, EliteTorrents attracted more than 125,000 members and distributed about 700 movies, which were downloaded a total of 1.1 million times.

Source: USDOJ, Zeropaid
 
Shoot someone but don't dare hit them in the pocket, thats far more serious.
 
I think EliteTorrents were one of the smaller bittorrent tracker sites, if they approached say PirateBay or Mininova, nothing could or can happen to the admins there...
 
I think EliteTorrents were one of the smaller bittorrent tracker sites, if they approached say PirateBay or Mininova, nothing could or can happen to the admins there...

They have raided the pirate bay servers and HQ many times, but swedish laws are different, so always gotten away with it. Just thought it made interesting reading.
 
where do you come up with this stuff countryboy?

and back on topic, both Pirate Bay and Mininova are based in Sweden, as Janobi has pointed out. The system in place there makes it legal for anyone in Sweden to download whatever they like from the internet - all royalties etc are paid by them as a lump sum in their ISP bill etc.

I read on the BBC recently that this may very well happen in the UK soon when it comes to music, we should be able to download whatever music we like from where ever we like as they royalties will be paid as a flat fee. I dont know how this affects things like iTunes, would everything all of a sudden become free in there? You would imagine so, especially if you can jump on piratebay and get it there for free after all....
 
where is the link to this shocking story?

Many attempts have been made to shutdown piratebay, often they are linked with crime gangs or illegal internet porn, but for some reason the charges never stick. They have also tried to buy sealand before, but gave up as it was pointless.

I think at the present time, they are saving up for their very own island somewhere.
 
I never said it was a torrent in the first place? I fully understand it was a court case, I wanted to see the story to see if it was a product of your imagination.
 
i wasnt hijacking anoher thread but showing the law up for what it is an ass
when torrent site can be hammered like this given 10 year sentences becuse the companies have money behind them . yet the law gives out sentences like this for rape . hell i think its all wrong .
 
He has got a fair point to be honest, and opinions like that should be heard of by the backwards idiots who work in law
 
Shoot or stab some one and get 5 years....

Drive a car uninsured get a year

Host a website and get 10 years

Yeah, This country and the usa have got there proriteys right dont they.
 
It's been a fact in this country for centuries that property is more important than life in the law.
 
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