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First Guilty Verdict In Criminal Copyright Case

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "A Brooklyn man has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement by a federal jury in Virginia. He now faces up to five years in prison, a quarter-million-dollar fine, and three years of parole, not to mention the 'full restitution' he has to make to the RIAA. The charges against him stem from his role as 'Dextro,' the administrator of one of the Apocalypse Production Crew's file servers — APC being one of the release groups that specialize in pre-release music. While he's the 15th member of APC to be charged under the US DOJ's Operation Fastlink, he's the first to be convicted. He will be sentenced on August 8th. For those wondering when infringement became a criminal matter, you can thank the NET Act, which was signed into law in 1997 by Bill Clinton."

4 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. signed into law in 1997 by Bill Clinton... by FurryOne · · Score: 1, Troll

    This law was nothing of Bill Clinton's doing, except that he signed it instead of vetoing it (which would have been pointless because... In 1996, Republicans grabbed majority control of both Houses, with veto override power. This bill was introduced as part of their "Contract ON America", where they proceeded to run roughshod over the Constitution and most Americans for the sake of Big Business, which paid their real salaries until sex and greed finally loosened their grip in 2006. HR2265 was sponsored by Representative Goodlatte (Republican-Virginia).

  2. Re:Cry me a river... please. by IgnoramusMaximus · · Score: 0, Troll

    This "imaginary" property generates very real tax income.

    So do casinos, astrologists and various legalized Ponzi schemes.

    Welcome to the Grown-up world.
    Your point? That foolish people will part with real money in exchange for nothing? That has been going on the "grown-up world" for millenia, ever since the first priest donned his robes.
  3. Re:Cry me a river... please. by IgnoramusMaximus · · Score: 0, Troll

    It the future, as the perceived value of intellectual property grows it is bound to receive ever more legal protection, possibly even more than the tangible (clay and metal) kind.

    I am not so sure about that. As things are presently, this whole make-believe world of imaginary property is about to receive a rather substantial non-imaginary kick in its balls from the rather material rest of the economy. It will make all the other "bursting economic bubbles" look something out of your soap tray. Hold on to your (imaginary or otherwise) hats, for it is going to be one hell of a ride.

    Which is actually our luck, in the long term, because the only way in which the imaginary property can receive "more legal protections .. then the tangible kind" is in a wholly totalitarian state where all information transmissions are inspected for subversive content. I for one will willingly go there.

  4. Go Barak Go! by eiapoce · · Score: 0, Troll

    > which was signed into law in 1997 by Bill Clinton. Go Barak Go!

    On a sidenote that year the entertainment founds where $1,048,341 to democrats and $1,140,021 to repubblicans, maybe this is not counting the money given directly as founding for Hillary's governor campain, which I think was around 2000.

    Politically correct note: Mr Barak Obama Hussein has taken for sure less money given the lesser time he's runnin in politics
    Just a note: What's up with this guy anyway? Could'nt democrats find a candidate with a less intimidating name? This one has a mix of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein . I can't imagine even in a movie a character with this name ;)
    Useless stunt: What about a new terrorist threat under the name Basak? I mean don't tell me 2 out of three is a coincidence, this is obviously a marketing plot laid to subliminally promote this candidate.