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Patriot Act Used to Enforce Copyright Law?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the no-big-shocker-there dept.

iter8 writes " The Stargate SG-1 Information Archive is reporting that the Feds filed charges against Adam McGaughey, creator of SG1Archive.com. The website is a fan site for the television show Stargate SG-1. The charges allege that Adam used the website to engage in Criminal Copyright Infringement and Trafficking in Counterfeit Services. Two interesting things about the charges are that they were apparently set in motion by a complaint by our friends at the MPAA and the FBI invoked a provision of the USA Patriot Act to obtain financial records from his ISP. Is copyright infringment now a terrorist act?"

4 of 725 comments (clear)

  1. Very Interesting, But Quite Old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Did anyone notice this bit on the SG-1 Archives forum post about this:

    Posted: Mar 30 2004, 11:46 PM

    Surely this is interesting and all, but VERY outdated. I would think there is quite likely some more current information available. What has happened in the last four months?

  2. Funding a terrorist organization by dykofone · · Score: 5, Interesting
    If you would like to contribute to the SG1Archive.com Legal Defense Fund, please make a paypal donation by clicking the button below.

    The FBI claimed that SG1Archive was part of an international conspiracy, raided his home, and used the Patriot Act to obtain his financial records. Man, I'd hate to see what they do to the people that fund this kind of site...

    Kidding aside, I'm kind of curious as to what happened. This is definitely a biased article, but what were the official charges brought against him, where do the chargest stand now, and why did the MPAA get the feds instead of just sue?

  3. YOU are FUDding here! (mod me up) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Check out the DATE on that archive snapshot!

    The guy was asked KINDLY by the MPAA to take down the episodes (which were of very crappy quality to begin with) and he DID so. That was in 2002, if I remember correctly. I've followed the site's development over the years and they haven't done anything illegal since then. Apart from posting a few spoilers here and there for overseas fans.

    So it's you who's spreading FUD here.

  4. Re:FUD ALERT by rpg25 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, I don't agree with this claim; whining on /. about this case may be very important. Here's why:

    If we're going to write to our Representatives and Senators about problems with the Patriot Act, we need to have a good understanding of the issues.

    I haven't been able to discern the details yet, but if it is true that the Patriot Act was used to bust this guy, then it's an important thing for us to know about. Why? Because it gives us a concrete example to cite when we write our Senators and Representatives to say that the Patriot Act is being abused for non-counterterrorism purposes.

    Note that there are a load of "if's" in the above! All we have so far is one person's assertion that the Patriot Act was abused to bust him. We need to get some kind of corroboration before using this example in letters. Letters citing this case could blow up in our faces if it turns out there was no Patriot Act abuse.