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World's First Jail Sentence for BitTorrent Piracy

Posted by Zonk on from the ouch-three-months-for-miss-congeniality dept.

Rob T Firefly writes "Hong Kong newspaper The Standard reports on what seems to be the world's first case of a BitTorrent movie pirate being sent to jail. (Others have been jailed for related crimes.) After losing his appeal against a November 2005 conviction, Chan Nai-ming, a 38-year-old BitTorrent user known as 'Big Crook,' has begun serving a prison sentence for making the films 'Daredevil,' 'Miss Congeniality,' and 'Red Planet' available for download via BitTorrent. His appeal was based on the fact that he did not profit from the piracy." From the article: "[Appeals Judge] Beeson noted [convicting magistrate] MacIntosh, in handing out the sentence, was fully aware of the noncommercial nature of the case, but measured the seriousness of the case by the harm done to the moviemakers — not by the gain made by the offender. Chan, and those in the chatroom, 'were aware of the possible criminal implications of uploading films to the system,' Beeson wrote. She also noted the sentence was already drastically reduced, from a maximum of four years, to three months, in order 'to reflect the novelty of the conviction.'

3 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Vomit Inducing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    What a sick and twisted world we live in where someone goes to jail for sharing.

    FIX COPYRIGHT LAW NOW!

  2. Harm? by Chas · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    "by the harm done to the moviemakers -- not by the gain made by the offender."

    What harm?

    Can they actually prove that anyone who downloaded the movie would have actually bought the fucking things on tape or DVD in the first place?
    Can they actually prove that some of the poor, taste-free bastards DIDN'T go out and buy afterwards?

    Oh wait. This is America. You don't need proof anymore. Unprovable accusations will suffice.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  3. 4 years for sharing 3 movies !!!??? by JustNiz · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I know it was actually reduced from 4 years to 3 months because of the 'novelty' of the conviction but what happens when someone else gets caught and it isn't novel any more?

    4 years is lunacy. Some murderers and rapists serve less that. It just goes to show how biassed/corrupted the US legal system can be by corporate power.