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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."
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).