Former Leader of Film Piracy Group Sentenced To Five Years In Prison

colinneagle writes "The acknowledged leader of once prolific movie piracy group IMAGiNE was sent to prison this week for five years, one of the longest sentences ever handed down for criminal copyright infringement. In addition to his prison term, Jeramiah Perkins, 40, of Portsmouth, Va., was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution. On Aug. 29, 2012, Perkins pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. According to the Department of Justice, Perkins was indicted along with three other defendants on April 18, 2012, for their roles in the IMAGiNE Group, an organized online piracy ring that sought to become the premier group to first release Internet copies of movies only showing in theaters. According to court documents, Perkins directed and participated in using receivers and recording devices in movie theaters to secretly capture the audio sound tracks of copyrighted movies. They then synchronized the audio files with illegally recorded video files to create completed movie files suitable for sharing over the Internet via BitTorrent file sharing technology."

Comments

U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

worst than China.

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi, there. I lived in China about half of my life. I assure you that isn't the case. Not even close. If you are rich, China is great. If you are 99.999% of the population, China is very unpleasant in ways that you do not understand in the west.

Re:U$A

[0111 1110]

So you hate China so much that you would prefer to live in a US prison? Being poor in the US is also quite unpleasant even if you are not one of the unlucky ones snared by the ubiquitous prison system.

Re:U$A

[Rockoon]

Being poor in the US is also quite unpleasant...

Compared to what?

People like you have no damn clue what being poor means. Subsistence farming. Look it up.

Re:U$A

[Uberbah]

Hi, there. I lived in China about half of my life. I assure you that isn't the case

Then I assure you that you didn't glance at prison populations. The United States has more prisoners than China, both per-capita and in raw numbers.

If you are rich, China is great.

Just like in Amurica. If you are rich, and especially if you're a rich banker or defense contractor, the rule of law simply doesn't apply to you. That's for us plebes....

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

Compared to not being poor?

People like you have no clue. Yeah, it's a big fucking pile of laughs, living on the street, panhandling so you can hopefully buy something off the McDonald's dollar menu sometime this week.

But ohmygod, China has it worse, WE'RE NUMBER ONE, MURRICA FUCK YEAH

Re:U$A

[ranton]

I am sure he would rather live in the US and follow our very straight forward laws. And from my conversations with people from China, I would much rather be poor in the US than live like 99% of Chinese citizens.

Re:U$A

[CohibaVancouver]

I assure you that isn't the case

I'm sorry, but one of the rules of /. is that no poster may state that somewhere in the world is worse than the USA. Starving children in a North Korean Stalinist gulag are way better off than any American child eating Doritos and watching Honey Boo Boo. Oddly enough, it seems like none of the Slashdotters who have this opinion seem willing to move away from the USA to somewhere 'better' like China.

...and no, I'm not an American and I don't live in the USA.

Re:U$A

[ranton]

But it isn't like many people in prison are there for crimes they didn't know they were committing. It is pretty easy to stay out of prison. Even of you don't agree with the laws, it isn't hard to follow them.

Re:U$A

[ranton]

You have got to be trolling at this point. Using homeless people to represent what life is like for most people in the US. Get a clue.

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

You are so bizarrely out of touch with the world outside of the US, American style tourism, and the American news media. Poor in the US doesn't mean the same thing as poor in most of the world, aside from the homeless which is certainly tragic.

I'm proud to be an American, also proud not to be born here and have a little bit more prospective. I'm far from rich in America, in fact I'm on the lower end of middle class. The opportunities we have... really makes me shake my head when people think life in China is somehow better, equal, remotely similar.

Re:U$A

[lgw]

being poor in the US is also quite unpleasant

"Daddy bought me the wrong BMW. Life is Pain!"

âoeI have to get dressed so that I donâ(TM)t look too lazy when I go out to pay the gardener. Woe is me!â

"There's nothing to drink at home except an unlimited supply of clean water from the tap. Pity me!"

I grew up poor in the US. I didn't know a single person who starved to death. I didn't know a single person who was "disappeared" by the government. I didn't know a single person who died from parasites, or lost a limb in the factory they worked in as a child.

Your "White Whine" is appalling.

Re:U$A

[lgw]

"My favorite blog still doen't have UTF8 support after all these years. My life sucks!"

Re:U$A

[lgw]

Would you listen to yourself for a minute? You're seriously comparing the minor corruption we have here in the States with life in a Communist Dictatorship?

Think for just a moment why china might not have so many people in prison!

Specially equipped âoeexecution trucksâ should be used nationwide by courts to execute criminals immediately after sentencing, the countryâ(TM)s highest court has recommended, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.

The Beijing News daily said the high court of China's Liaoning province had recently bought such a vehicle for 400,000 yuan (48,300 dollars). "Many large cities have permanent execution grounds, but in smaller cities it is difficult to carry out death sentences, so this is why we have these mobile execution units,â a government official was quoted.

A non-wikipedia cite, even, though you can find it there too.

Re:U$A

[Rockoon]

You have got to be trolling at this point. Using homeless people to represent what life is like for most people in the US. Get a clue.

Not only that, he cited panhandling, an activity that when conducted in the western world nets more in a week than many in the 3rd and 2nd world earn in an entire year.

These people really have no clue what its like outside the western world.

India, population 1.2 billion.
32.7% of Indians live on less than $1.25 per day.
68.7% of Indians live on less than $2.00 per day.

Thats more than 2.6 times the entire population of the United States, in one single country, that lives on less than $2 per day.

Poor is relative. On a global scale, nobody at all in the United States is poor.

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

If your idea of growing up poor is having a BMW and a gardener, I think our definitions of poor are very different.

I don't know anyone who's starving to death you're quite right. I do however know people who can't afford much more than bread and processed 'ham' when they also have to pay for the bus to get to work to afford that bread.

I also don't know anyone who has starved to death in the third world, where i have spent several years overall. I do know plenty of people in the third world and in the first world who get sick through the poor diet they have, which is all they can afford or find.

The difference is, in the third world you don't always need to buy food as the undeveloped nature of the environment often means there is still food growing naturally. Not so much in the urban centers of the US.

Re:U$A

[amiga3D]

My local food bank doesn't have any caviar. Life sucks hard!

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

Our government just supplies impoverished communities with crack, heroin and firearms and allows the population to kill themselves.

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

>Even of you don't agree with the laws, it isn't hard to follow them.

You do realize the average American commits three felonies a day, right?

It's more like it's hard to get caught for a lot of the crimes you do accidentally commit.

Re:U$A

[Trepidity]

There are a reasonable number of subsistence farmers in the US. Visit Appalachia or the Mississippi valley along the MS/AL border sometime.

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

Do any of you wonder WHY those countries are shitholes? Could it possibly be because of the PEOPLE who live there, and more specifically, because of their RACE?

THAT is why China is a giant gulag - the so-called 'Chinese' are the descendants of the WHITE people who used to inhabit ALL of what is now called 'China', before they were invaded and raped by Mongol hoardes, who killed all the white men, and raped all the white women - producing the scum who are known today as the 'Chinese'.

That is why Africa is a giant shithole which nobody wants to live in, the same goes for India.

Those countries are vile places to live because MOST of the people who live there are scum, who couldn't care less about anybody else.

Re:U$A

[aaaaaaargh!]

Poor is relative. On a global scale, nobody at all in the United States is poor.

It's not clear what point you're trying to make, because you seem to be contradicting yourself. Poverty is always relative. If you want to compare levels of poverty you cannot take into account values like "32.7% of Indians live on less then $1.25 per day" but need to consider the goods people can actually buy for the given amount of money in their country.

People who are about to starve to death in the US might fare well with the same amount of money in some rural part of India and, vice versa, an amount of money that might allow you to survive without problems in some part of the world would not allow you to survive at all in the US without the help of some charity. Such comparisons are completely pointless, because people have to survive where they are living, of course.

Re:U$A

[Rockoon]

It's not clear what point you're trying to make, because you seem to be contradicting yourself. Poverty is always relative. If you want to compare levels of poverty you cannot take into account values like "32.7% of Indians live on less then $1.25 per day" but need to consider the goods people can actually buy for the given amount of money in their country.

That $1.25 is adjusted for purchasing power.

In other words, other people arent the idiots you think that they are just because what they are telling you doesnt jive with the shit that you yourself cannot back up with facts. Its your view of the world that is wrong.

Re:U$A

[Mikkeles]

...one of the rules of /. is that no poster may state that somewhere in the world is worse than the USA.

The other rule seems to be:no poster may state that somewhere in the world is better than the USA:)

Re:U$A

[ohnocitizen]

Why the hell is this marked insightful? What poor person has their daddy buy them a BMW? Some idiot on the internet doesn't personally know a person who starved to death so it didn't happen. Why do you research how many people in the US die annually from starvation? No one is arguing that there are worse places in the world to be poor and powerless, but to claim that "being poor in the US is also quite unpleasant" is mere "white whine" and false is remarkably ignorant. It supposes, among other things, that the kind of suffering the poor endure in other countries are the only valid measures of pain for the poor in the US. Dying because you can't afford cancer treatment, living in a shelter with your family, going to bed hungry, growing up on a street where you've witnessed a shooting, knowing you could be attacked by the police for the color of your skin... all of these things are possible in the US, and I bet you wouldn't want to experience them yourself. Poverty is a problem we need to band together to solve. Not a pissing contest.

Re:U$A

[dryeo]

Do you honestly think everyone in prison is guilty?

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, prison is why America is worse than China. Good thing we don't have mass starvation, organ harvesting, people being killed for peaceful protest, bribery on a scale that make 'bankers and defense contractors' seem like saints... But yea, Glenn Beck probably told you Obama is an evil communist ruining the country so... yea China seems lovely, why don't you move there?

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

Buy something from McDonalds? Are you fucked in the head?

He'll be some alcoholic cunt who stinks like shit and drinks away all his money - then spits and swears at you, and starts masturbating in public.

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

Buy something from McDonalds? Are you fucked in the head?

He'll be some alcoholic cunt who stinks like shit and drinks away all his money - then spits and swears at you, and starts masturbating in public.

Which is somewhat ironic, because that pretty much defines a large amount of our millionaire celebrities.

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't know a single person who starved to death. I didn't know a single person who was "disappeared" by the government. I didn't know a single person who died from parasites, or lost a limb in the factory they worked in as a child.

Oh, YOU didn't know anyone, so everything's fine.

Re:U$A

[__aablib8664]

this entire thread is an example of how much of a joke slashdot moderation has become..... who the f* are you people anyways....OFFTOPIC

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it must be just pure MAGIC that white countries are successful, and nothing at all to do with nicer, more intelligent people... LOL.

Re:U$A

[0111 1110]

Well I've never been to Africa, but I've spent quite a bit of time in Cuba and Laos. The average Cuban made around $10-$15 per month. The average Lao made around $70-$100 per month for working 60-100 hours per week. So, yes, I do think I have some understanding of what third world poverty is like.

Re:U$A

[0111 1110]

When you mention these third world maladies are you speaking from personal experience? I have actually lived in poor third world countries for years. I speak from personal experience. Have you lived in poor third world countries?

Re:U$A

[Nyder]

So you hate China so much that you would prefer to live in a US prison? Being poor in the US is also quite unpleasant even if you are not one of the unlucky ones snared by the ubiquitous prison system.

WTF? I am poor. I live on $10k a year. I live check to check. I have no savings. I do have a place to live, I do have enough food to survive decently.

I am living decently. I can't complain. If i don't have enough food, there is food banks, places I can get meals. If I need clothes and don't want to use any of my own money on them, I can go to various places to get clothes free, or cheap.

I am poor and it is not unpleasant. Sure, sometimes it sucks, like i wish i could upgrade my video card, love to get a Wii U. Sheesh, even a Raspberry Pi is a big decision for me to buy (I'm planning on getting one), since I have to cut something out to put the money together.

I have never been in prison, but i have spend a little time in the local jail and I would rather be homeless on the streets then in jail/prison. I bet you'll find that over 90% of the people in prison would agree with me on that. (Yes, I am making that stat up, but it's based on that fact that jail sucks and no one really wants to be there.)

Re:U$A

[0111 1110]

Agreed. I have lived in some very poor countries even by world standards and I never personally met or even heard of anyone locally actually starving to death. Being poor is unpleasant no matter what country you are in. By "poor" I mean that you only make enough money to just barely survive in whatever country you are living in. In the US that might mean $5000/year, even though that would be the equivalent of about 28 years of income for the average Cuban when I lived there. The cost of living varies by country. In the third world countries where I have lived the cost of living was very, very low compared to most first world countries.

Re:U$A

[0111 1110]

Nicer? I'm guessing you've never actually left your cushy first world paradise to discover that life in other countries is actually quite nice, and it can require less hours as a wage slave worker drone to survive. Immigrants who come here are often very surprised at how depressing life here actually is. Some are willing to grin and bare it because they have dollar signs in their eyes. Some work here for a year in very unpleasant conditions and then go back to their home country with great relief to get out of here. Others cannot take it even that long and return in just a month or two. Not everyone cares only about money. The ones who think life is mostly about how much money you make. Those are the immigrants who stay. If you have been very poor for most of your life it is an understandable attitude, but greed is still greed.

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, I'm way too lazy^H^H^H^Hunderprivileged to hit the preview button.

Re:U$A

[mcgrew]

32.7% of Indians live on less than $1.25 per day.
68.7% of Indians live on less than $2.00 per day.

That's meaningless without knowing the cost of living there. If rent is $1 per week and food is likewise cheap, that's good money. See, I was in a third world country in 1974 and saw how it works.

Poor is indeed relative. If you can't afford to not be hungry, cold, and/or sick, you're poor. Meaning that people who work in WalMart and McDonalds are poor.

Re:U$A

[aaaaaaargh!]

That $1.25 is adjusted for purchasing power.

I doubt that, but anyway you should have said so from the start. Giving us the source of your figures wouldn't have harmed either.

In other words, other people arent the idiots you think that they are just because what they are telling you doesnt jive with the shit that you yourself cannot back up with facts.

I generally don't think other people are idiots but regarding you I am willing to make an exception.

By the way, measures of poverty have nothing to do with ones world view.

Re:U$A

[Doctor_Jest]

If our government supplied crack, heroin, and firearms there'd be no deficit. If the government was a drug dealer, you'd certainly know it. Peddle your conspiracy theories to someone else. The government of the United States is many things... incompetent, lazy, self-serving, pedantic, and misguided... but it's not a criminal organization that sells illegal substances to people.

Re:U$A

[Doctor_Jest]

I think it depends on what time of day you're reading /. :) heheh.

Re:U$A

[aaaaaaargh!]

For general interest, here are the figures:

poverty under purchase power parity

Re:U$A

[Skal Tura]

Earnings and value of money is also relative, 2$ in India buys hell of a lot more than in the US, nevermind in Finland you can't even get a decent cup of coffee with 2$

So living on less than 2$ per day doesn't tell anything if not put into context of the local economy. For example how much does carton of milk cost? What's the cost of rice per kilo in those areas?

I'm quite sure that 2$ buys at least a kilo of rice in that area and some soybeans to go with it. But how about in US?
I know here in Finland you can barely get a kilo of rice with that.

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

The number quoted is adjusted for purchasing power. Just that OP didn't bother to mention that.

I have difficulties understanding what that means in practice though.

In Finland, earning that little after all welfare being included would mean pretty much freezing to death. Unless you stuffed ten adults to small apartment, in which case they'd have to spend all their combined income to the rent and would instead starve to death. Of course, India has rarely that problem. Poor people can just live outside.

So let's pick another metric. If you went to the woods and picked mushrooms and berries, you could have more than $2 of income (well, at least during summer) in easily consumable form instead of money. Of course you'd still be starving that way, since $2 doesn't buy you much of them.

Re:U$A

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.quickmeme.com/First-World-Problems/

Re:U$A

[Rockoon]

I doubt that, but anyway you should have said so from the start.

You doubt it, but then provide a citation to it being adjusted in another post.

Also, you should have assumed that it was adjusted because you shouldnt assume that people are idiots just because what they are telling you doesnt jive with the shit that you yourself cannot back up with facts.

Note that this is the second time that I am telling you the boldfaced part.

The problem isnt that I didnt provide a citation. The problem is that you were never in a position to stand firm on your beliefs because that sort of thing requires examining the data, something that you had not done.

Why do you stand firm on beliefs that cannot be supported, where there isnt even contradictory data that might have confused you?

You are the problem with America. You act like you know what you are talking about when even you yourself knows that you don't. You are harmful to society.

Re:U$A

[strikethree]

That $1.25 is adjusted for purchasing power.

Then they are dead. $1.25 will absolutely not buy you enough water to stay alive in America. Food? ROFLMAO.

Lies. Adjusted purchasing power my ass.

Re:U$A

[strikethree]

Your "White Whine" is appalling.

Your characterization of the average American is appalling. Most families can not afford a BMW for a parent, much less a kid. Just about the wealthiest person in the world lives in India. Why not make the same claim about Indians whining about their parents not buying them a BMW?

Get a sense of perspective. Try living amongst the people you criticize before you criticize them. Just because YOU happen to be surrounded by very healthy economic circumstances, that does not mean most are.

Re:U$A

[lgw]

I grew up about as poor as it gets in America. I have frieds who grew up poor in less developed parts of the world. We had it great here compared to most of the world! And most of the whiners on /. are suburbanites who have never known any kind of poverty, and are so ill-informed that they weigh stuff-they've-read about poverty in America against stuff-they've-read about other places and come up with this sort of BS.

U$A =

[Anonymous Coward]

Hollywood's little b1tch.

15k in fines?

[Anonymous Coward]

Surely someone has forgotten a bunch of zeros?

Re:15k in fines?

[Joce640k]

"pleaded guilty"...

Somebody cut a deal.

Re:15k in fines?

[guises]

Yeah, the fine is surprisingly sensible compared to the prison sentence and the usual monetary penalties sought by the copyright industry. I can only assume that the terrible prison sentence was intended to be the bulk of the penalty and without that the fine would have been much much higher.

Re:15k in fines?

[Kjella]

Unless that was just the criminal legal system and the studios have yet to file civil lawsuit for a couple hundred billions. I think this guy can forget about owning anything ever again.

IMAGiNE - general population

[Anonymous Coward]

IMAGiNE: biting the pillow every night at lights out
IMAGiNE: a new found friend with a crowbar for a penis
IMAGiNE: your anus constantly in pain
IMAGiNE: learning to smoke cock like a king snake
IMAGiNE: gang bangers who demand $$
IMAGiNE: being carried around like a toy dog
IMAGiNE....

I don't know, I can IMAGiNE a lot!

Re:IMAGiNE - general population

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't have the first clue about prison.

All you can do is make smarts remarks which reveal how profoundly
afraid you are of life in general.

I doubt your tiny little mind can conceive of how pathetic you really are.

Re:IMAGiNE - general population

[murder_face]

I can't say it's a bad thing, but the only thing the general public know about prison is what they see in the movies. IMHO the worst thing about prison is the fact that it allows you to branch out in your criminal enterprises.

Re:IMAGiNE - general population

[ColdWetDog]

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"
And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench
there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand,
and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
bench...

Overkill much?

[Anonymous Coward]

I realize that this group went out of their way to break the laws here (whether you agree with them or not) but hard core prison time for this? I can see the conversation now, "What are you in for? I recorded crappy movies and put them online. What are you in for? Rape." I would imagine (no pun intended) there are far more creative punishments that would actually apply to this crime that has the added benefit of having an empty bed in prison to get another rapist/murderer off the street.

Re:Overkill much?

[devleopard]

Most rapists are convicted at the state level, not the federal level, where this conviction occurred.

Re:Overkill much?

[MysteriousPreacher]

I agree, they broke the law and should be dealt with. Five years though? Seems to be something that really should be dealt with through financial punishments, and perhaps a pretty light custodial/supervisory sentence. Five years in prison, followed by three years of supervision, seems way over the top for even wilful copyright infringement of the kind they were engaged in.

Any idea what the motive was here? Were they making money out of this, or was it just for bragging rights?

Re:Overkill much?

[the eric conspiracy]

Yes, they were making money out of this. They were selling the pirated movies.

IMHO there is a big difference between copyright infringement for personal use and for the purpose of making a profit. The latter is a common activity of criminal organizations aka the Mafia.

It is very likely this person was running a criminal organization engaging in a variety of illegal activities, and copped a plea to this one charge.

Slashdot of course is incapable of making such an in depth analysis of a story and reacts only to the internet equivalent of a sound bite.

 

Re:Overkill much?

[91degrees]

These guys will be in a low security prison with people who committed fraud and tax evasion, rather than the violent criminals such as rapists and armed robbers.

Re:Overkill much?

[pieterh]

They weren't selling the movies. They were putting them onto Bittorrent. This was more a political act than anything; certainly not a for-profit crime.

Re:Overkill much?

[mug funky]

you confuse "analysis" with "speculation". i think you need to stop watching the news.

So...

[Anonymous Coward]

Financial ruin for life ($1.92M fine), or 5 years (probably less with good behavior), parole, and $15k fine.

I guess I would much rather be the leader of a tele-stink ring, and suffer those consequences than share 6 songs on KaZaa. Seems like masquerading around like a spy might be more fun than clicking "add to queue", as well as a much less harsh penalty.

Would you like the death penalty, life or 5 years.

[Anonymous Coward]

The US legal system at its best. When cutting a deal still results in a long sentence and big fine.

gotta keep the prison system full

[0111 1110]

The guy didn't harm anyone and we're locking him up in a cage for 5 years. Well I guess it serves him right for living in this stupid country. Being born here was the dumbest thing I've ever done and remaining here when I could leave is even dumber.

Re:gotta keep the prison system full

[lgw]

Well, leave then. Plenty of places will accept you if you have a degree. Don't let the door hit you where the dog should have bit you.

Re:gotta keep the prison system full

[jd2112]

No one harmed? Somewhere there is a movie exec still driving a 2012 S-class Mercedes because he can't afford a new one. How can people live in such utter poverty?

Re:gotta keep the prison system full

[davester666]

Oh, I doubt it was that much money. He probably had to just settle for a reach-around instead of a blow-job from the tranny.

Re:gotta keep the prison system full

[Nyder]

... Being born here was the dumbest thing I've ever done and remaining here when I could leave is even dumber.

Wow, it was your choice to be born here? I didn't get a choice, I was you know, born where my parents were.

Don't worry about remaining here being dumb, it's obvious that you are pretty stupid already.

Re:gotta keep the prison system full

[0111 1110]

Actually I do plan to escape from this fascist 'paradise' at some point. Perhaps if you didn't take every phrase 100% literally you might learn to understand what smarter people are actually saying. Just a tip that may serve you later in life.

Re:gotta keep the prison system full

[jd2112]

No one harmed? Somewhere there is a movie exec still driving a 2012 S-class Mercedes because he can't afford a new one. How can people live in such utter poverty?

Actually I messed this up. What I meant to say was "Somewhere there is a mistress of a movie exec still driving a 2012 S-class Mercedes because he can't afford a new one." The movie exec is still driving a Bentley.

Re:gotta keep the prison system full

[elashish14]

Leave to where? Is there somewhere that the Global Police Force doesn't give itself jurisdiction?

Re:gotta keep the prison system full

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a small problem with that. If smart people were to leave America, what's gonna be left there? Whatever it is, it ends with "..and guns" and that worries me.

Re:gotta keep the prison system full

[ncberns]

Wait a sec there. I make movies for a living. Not big ones, surely not zillion dollar blockbusters. I live on my salary (when there's a salary to live on) and count on a few extra bucks that come in from royalties. Jeramiah Perkins stole my money. He stole my children's money. He is a common thief. His crime is not victimless and it's not about copyright infringement. What he - and everyone who gleefully walked off with a free movie - did is not different than robbing me on the street.

Re:gotta keep the prison system full

[dave.haku]

You know the drill: "They probably wouldn't have payed for your movie anyway, if they absolutely had to pay for it".

Also, I've been robbed on the street, and I don't recommend it. I'd rather be pirated on the web as long as I still make money.

Outrageous

[betterunixthanunix]

Prison time for copyright infringement? Really?

Just another sign of how completely out of control the copyright system has become.

Re:Outrageous

[devleopard]

Prison time for conspiracy, not infringement.

Re:Outrageous

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but if this guy hadn't been pirating then the movie industry wouldn't have lost out on billions of dollars of revenue and this recession thing might not have been so bad. After all, half the people without jobs lost them because of him.

Re:Outrageous

[Internal Modem]

Maybe it's just the fact that a physical structure (the movie theater) has been compromised in a way similar to breaking and entering, but I honestly think there's a difference between copying a DVD and setting up receivers in a movie theater to capture a proprietary audio broadcast.

He made more than $400,000 in profits from his illegal wiretapping. I think part of the defendant's actions do cross the line between intellectual property theft and criminal theft, especially because he set up PayPal accounts to accept payment for IMAGINE's releases.

Why should he feel free to profit off the expenses paid by the movie theater for retail space, electricity, equipment, and movie fees? At a certain point, even if the theater still has the item that is claimed to have been stolen, the defendant is stealing his for-profit content from the movie theater.

Re:Outrageous

[drinkypoo]

Maybe it's just the fact that a physical structure (the movie theater) has been compromised in a way similar to breaking and entering, but I honestly think there's a difference between copying a DVD and setting up receivers in a movie theater to capture a proprietary audio broadcast.

I don't. I think the dividing line is the commercial benefit. Nobody should ever see jail time for downloading copyrighted materials. But selling them without permission? How else are we supposed to provide them an incentive not to do this? On one hand, copyright has been distended all out of proportion, on the other hand these guys were selling current media and the more current the better. I have limited sympathy for them. The only sympathy I do have for them is that nobody should be placed into our prison system.

Re:Outrageous

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed. He should have just illegally looted billions from homeowners and he would have gotten off scott-free.

Re:Outrageous

[CharmElCheikh]

"setting up receivers"? "wiretapping"? Why do you think you need to make it sound like he was a spy to justify the sentence?

Re:Outrageous

[Internal Modem]

Because I read the article?

Re:Outrageous

[amiga3D]

Who did that?

Re:Outrageous

[Kjella]

I don't really see it, maybe if it was an unique theme park ride that lost a lot of its "uniqueness" when people could see it without going there but the movie theater he recorded it in didn't suffer any particular negative effects - not any more than any other movie theater trying to show the same movie at least. Sure it's probably a violation of the cinema's rules like not bringing your own food and drinks, but we don't put people in prison for 5 years because of that. The clash is between this guy and the owners of the copyright, just like with DVDs.

I think part of the defendant's actions do cross the line between intellectual property theft and criminal theft

From something that it wasn't to something that it wasn't? It passed the boundary between copyright infringement and criminal copyright infringement, but nothing left their possession so nothing was stolen. Why does it have to be stolen to be "serious"? Espionage is serious. Leaking top secret documents or your medical records is serious. Comparing it to something entirely different instead only shows a lack of merits for why copying information should be wrong in this case.

Re:Outrageous

[Internal Modem]

He did make over $400,000 in profits. It's hard to argue he didn't take that money from theaters that were paying for the rights to show the movie. He didn't do this for altruistic reasons. He set up a business that was based on ripping off others content.

Re:Outrageous

[kawabago]

The fact that he could make such a profit tells us the content is over priced to begin with. That he could pay for technology to capture the content, deliver it and still make a profit tells the whole story. The entertainment industry creates copyright infringers by demanding far too much for content. Lower the price, you'll eliminate the infringers. Of course, you can't tell anyone that they are asking too much for something they own, even if it's incredibly easy to steal, like content. The war on drugs suffers the same problem. When drug laws are strengthened, illicit drugs increase in price due to increased risk. That increases profits, which attracts more violent criminals, so drug violence increases. The converse is also true, decreasing drug penalties decreases drug profits and drives violent criminals out of the market. Violence can't be maintained without plenty of money for people to fight over.

Re:Outrageous

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

One gets to set the price on the products one labors to produce, from film maker to car maker to farmer to bicycle shop.

That's what separates civilization from a hunter-gatherer society -- it protects the product of peoples' effort from the hunter-gathering impulse to just take it like it is a fruit on a wild tree somewhere.

Re:Outrageous

[betterunixthanunix]

One gets to set the price on the products one labors to produce

Since when? Oh, right, never, because someone has to be willing to pay the price you demand; the whole idea in capitalism is that no single person or entity gets to decide these things. The movie industry gets to inflate its prices because the government gives them assistance, and apparently that assistance now includes the use of prisons (which are supposed to exist to keep us safe from dangerous people, not to keep obsolete business models alive).

Copyright makes no sense in an age where people have the methods and apparatus needed to distribute information on a global scale in their house. Throwing people in prison for it does not change the simple reality that copyright is hopelessly dated and is in desperate need of reform (or simple elimination).

Re:Outrageous

[Anonymous Coward]

So if the movie industry lost even ONE billion dollars at about $10 per movie, that means this guy's group distributed about 100,000,000 copies of movies? I don't think so.

Re:Outrageous

[Anonymous Coward]

They do lower the price eventually, it's called Netflix (and other similar products).

Re:Outrageous

[mcgrew]

One gets to set the price on the products one labors to produce

Since when?

Since forever, with the exception of communist countries and Nixon's wage-price freeze in the seventies, and imminent domain. I can charge what I want. That doesn't mean you'll pay it, though.

Copyright makes no sense in an age where people have the methods and apparatus needed to distribute information on a global scale in their house.

US copyright law once said a work had to be "affixed to a tangible medium". You didn't buy a novel, you bought a book. Tyou didn't buy a song, you bought a record. When you "buy" a song from iTunes you own nothing. Meanwhile I own hundreds of books that I would never have bought had I not read the authors' works for free at the library. It works for Corey Doctorow, who credits posting his books at boingboing for his status as a NYT Best Seller. Content should sell product, it should not be the product.

Information should be free. The container should not.

Re:Outrageous

[carnalforge]

Amen. No mod points unfortunately.

-- Carnalforge

Re:Outrageous

[Artifakt]

"Since forever, with the exception of communist countries and Nixon's wage-price freeze in the seventies, and imminent domain. I can charge what I want. That doesn't mean you'll pay it, though."

Depending on the personal opinion, it may or may not be ethical to charge whatever you want, but doing so's not a property of the Adam Smith style "Free market", particularly in this case. (And a lot of people seem to be assuming it is - I'm not sure if you are, but since you mention communism in your counter-argument...). Smith included parity of knowledge in defining the free market. That means you can charge what you want under a lot of systems that aren't pure capitalism, but in capitalism, if I'm one of your customers, I can find out what you paid your subcontractors, your materials costs, and a whole bunch of other information before I choose to accept or decline your offer.
              In an abstract 'perfect' model I can find out a trivial or zero cost - in a more realistic model, the cost of gaining information gets defined, for just one example often found in economics texts, as low enough that it doesn't serve as a barrier to me entering your market as a competitor. There are plenty of other definitions, but they all set the limit on information exchange pretty low - and definitions that allow unlimited secrecy and such tend to be part of non-capitalist theories of economics (although to be fair not all of those are "socialist").
            The Film industry is well known for being particularly anti-capitalist in their use of creative accounting. If they try to bend the whole system more and more towards something that isn't even close to that theoretical 'perfect' free market, and yet they think that being able to set the price they want is part of a free market, isn't that pretty much like throwing a bowling ball straight up at that aggrievating spider on the ceiling, and then complaining that the spider is solely responsible for your headaches? Someone "pirating" the industry's work may be partly to blame for lower profits, but lack of transparency inspires people to pirate who otherwise wouldn't. In fact, Adam Smith wrote as though lack of cost information exchange was metaphorically like frictional inefficiency in a machine, when it came to his free market.

Re:Outrageous

[1u3hr]

He did make over $400,000 in profits. It's hard to argue he didn't take that money from theaters that were paying for the rights to show the movie

Actually, it's very easy. He paid for entry to the cinemas. He never took a cent from the cinemas. He didn't prevent them from showing the movie. No one contemplating going to a cinema would stay at home and watch a lousy cam rip instead if you imply he reduced their market. Though if the movies were complete crap maybe some downloaded it as a preview and decided to skip it. But in that case, they probably would have just gone to another film and the cinemas still sold the same number of tickets on average.

Re:Outrageous

[mug funky]

wall st apparently.

Re:Outrageous

[ultranova]

Since forever, with the exception of communist countries and Nixon's wage-price freeze in the seventies, and imminent domain. I can charge what I want. That doesn't mean you'll pay it, though.

Actually, you could simply refuse to work in communist countries too. You would then starve, just like you do in capitalist countries too, but you could.

Information should be free. The container should not.

Perhaps "information should be free, while the container may or may not be"? Because the Internet is full of content released for free by their authors, and because of Sturgeon's law's reverse quite a bit of them are quite epic.

Re:Outrageous

[strikethree]

He made more than $400,000 in profits from his illegal wiretapping.

Bingo! We have a winner here. 5 years for stealing (yes, stealing) $400k is not terribly unreasonable. That works out to about $80k a year. Definitely a reasonable salary.

Re:Outrageous

[mcgrew]

Depending on the personal opinion, it may or may not be ethical to charge whatever you want, but doing so's not a property of the Adam Smith style "Free market", particularly in this case.

I have no respect for Adam Smith or any other economist. Economics is the astrology of the 21st century. There isn't an economist who ever lived that there wasn't another economist calling him a gold-studded liar.

As I said, just because I demand a million dollars for a 1972 Ford Pinto doesn't mean anyone has to or is willing to pay it. As to "free market," the markets for music, books, and movies is hardly free considering that these works' authors have been granted monopolies.

I personally don't think digital works should be covered by copyright; only the publication of those works in an affixed medium, like a book, DVD, or CD.

If they try to bend the whole system more and more towards something that isn't even close to that theoretical 'perfect' free market, and yet they think that being able to set the price they want is part of a free market, isn't that pretty much like throwing a bowling ball straight up at that aggrievating spider on the ceiling, and then complaining that the spider is solely responsible for your headaches?

I'm in no way siding with the media, I'm saying they can charge what they want, even if it means they shoot themselves in the feet.

Someone "pirating" the industry's work may be partly to blame for lower profits

Studies all show the opposite, that free sells. Because of reading Asimov for free in the library I now have two dozen of his books on my shelf. I would never have bought Are You Experienced as a teenager if my friend Tom hadn't given me a cassette of it, because that album got no airplay. As Doctorow notes, nobody ever lost money because of piracy (not to be confused with counterfeit goods, which do cost the legit producer) but many an artist has starved because of obscurity.

Re:Outrageous

[mcgrew]

Perhaps "information should be free, while the container may or may not be"? Because the Internet is full of content released for free by their authors

Content on the internet has no container, which was my point -- sell give your novels away and sell books. Give your songs away and sell CDs. The only downside to a producer for "free" is if your wares suck, nobody's going to buy them, unlike how it is now, where I may hear a nice 30 second snippt of a song that sucks donkey balls.

Re:Outrageous

[Anonymous Coward]

Sarcasm anyone?

now we can be safe

[amoeba1911]

I am so glad our Justice Department is busy locking up such horrible and dangerous criminals. Thank goodness the Department of Justice is hard at work locking up these criminal masterminds. Now we can all feel safer.

They go to great lengths to ensure the content industry fat cats don't lose any money, because how else could they afford their eight figure salaries if a few people get their disgusting hands on their content without paying? They might have to go down to ... *gasp* seven figure salaries, ugh just saying it brings chill to my spine. That's unimaginable cruelty! Thank you Department of Justice for using my money to protect the interests of a select few that I don't give a crap about. Thank you, very much.

In the mean while, identity theft is at an all time high. Bravo, Department of Justice! Bravo!

Re:now we can be safe

[Dopefish_1]

At least here, they're going after someone who was systematically and deliberately distributing copyrighted content, rather than just some poor kid running bittorrent.

Re:now we can be safe

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd say it's extremely unlikely that Mr. Perkins paid taxes on all the money he made from his IMAGiNE endeavours. So your basic stance is who cares about content owners rights...who cares about tax evasion...identity theft is the only thing that matters right now. Good job genius.

Re:now we can be safe

[amiga3D]

You do know these corporations are publicly owned? That people who work for a living have 401K retirement programs that share in the profits of these films? Unlike so many that simply downloaded films for their own use this dude had a business going where he was making hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit. He is the type of pirate who the criminal copyright laws were written for originally. He belongs in prison.

Re:now we can be safe

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey moron, guess what? This asshole raking in six figures from copyright infringement IS one of the fat cats...and he didn't even pay any of the expenses of creating the movie. And I'm pretty sure that the Intellectual Property division of the DOJ doesn't have shit to do with identity theft.

Re:now we can be safe

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, he was making money. How awful. He copied/allowed others to copy data. Truly terrible!

Re:now we can be safe

[mcgrew]

Although I agree that commercial infringement like this deserves the slammer, I don't agree that anyone lost any money. The only way copyright infringement costs sales is if the book or movie sucks and people are warned that it sucks. On the other hand, there are many fine books and films that will lose money because nobody heard of them. Nobody but bad authors ever lost money from copyright infringement (in this case I'd say the money the guy made belongs to the studios) but many artists starve from obscurity.

Re:now we can be safe

[carnalforge]

At least is the keyword.

Who's lost what in all of this?

Re:now we can be safe

[amiga3D]

That's the catch. If you copy a movie you aren't stealing it you are violating copyright. If you make money from it though then the money you made is considered stolen since you don't own the copyright to the movie you sold. Get it?

Re:now we can be safe

[amiga3D]

It's really hard to say but the way I always look at it is that if someone downloads a movie from someplace like a torrent then you can't say if they would have paid for it or not. On the other hand here we have people that did pay for it and the money did not go to the studios. You can't really say they didn't lose money because technically any money he made was lost to the studios.

Re:now we can be safe

[mcgrew]

In this case I agree, folks were paying for these downloads. I mentioned in another comment that this was in fact wrong, that the money paid should have gone to the studios. TPB is entirely different; studies all show that piracy sells content, although counterfeiting does not. Piracy and counterfeiting are two didfferent things.

Oh Good...

[Anonymous Coward]

I feel safer already.

IMAGiNE

[Anonymous Coward]

Noo! They had quality rips!

What utter crap ...

[Crafty Spiker]

Until some bankers are in jail along side the "pirates" our justice system is just a sick joke.

Re:What utter crap ...

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as they don't start locking up Ohio State football players just because they like to rape young women.

Re:What utter crap ...

[the eric conspiracy]

Some bankers are in jail.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120612/ARTICLE/120619859

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/walker-365061-theft-farmers.html

http://www.fbi.gov/tampa/press-releases/2012/tampa-man-and-maryland-banker-sentenced-for-bank-fraud-and-other-offenses

It isn't that unusual.

Re:What utter crap ...

[houghi]

http://thechive.com/2011/07/21/wtf-mate-30-photos/wtf-funny-18-5/

That's right.

[Anonymous Coward]

In many parts of the World, a US prison would be living like a prince: 3 meals, shelter, clothing, TV and other recreation.

Which makes it quite sad, actually. To think that a US prison is better living than what over a billion people in this World have.

Re:That's right.

[jedidiah]

You're overlooking the part where you're kept in a cage with animals.

Re:That's right.

[Nidi62]

For a lot of the people he's talking about, they live with literal animals, in a room about the size of a cell.

Re:That's right.

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be an American to write such an arrogant and ignorant statement. But that's okay, you get modded up by your fellow countrymen. USA #1, USA #1, Freedom, Freedom, Better in a US prison that in one of them foreign mudhuts. Freedom Freeeeeeeeedom.

Re:That's right.

[Anonymous Coward]

But the goats and sheep and cows rarely try and assrape.

Re:That's right.

[Trepidity]

To most civilized parts of the world U.S. prisons look positively barbaric, though. Most first-world countries have managed to figure out how to run a prison system without high levels of rape, for one thing.

Re:That's right.

[flimflammer]

You're an idiot.

Re:That's right.

[fustakrakich]

...3 meals, shelter, clothing, TV and other recreation...

And don't forget, cheaper medical care than you get on the outside.

Re:That's right.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think its all relative, in mubai you can do well as a panhandler too. There is no constant measure or bar for success anywhere, 2$ there will net you a mercedes while 2$ here will net you a big mac etc...

With 20$ there you might be able to open up and make a small living selling pirated CD's, here you'd just wind up in prison, and have abou the same quality of life, with less freedom.

Re:That's right.

[Jafafa Hots]

It's not that we in the US can't run a prison without rape, it's that as a society we don't WANT to.

We LIKE it that prisoners are raped - we joke about it.

Prison officials like it too. They have hundreds of inmates for each guard. Bad odds. So you encourage racism in prison so the prisoners are fighting and killing each other based on racial hatreds instead of fighting and killing the people holding them captive.

Same way we run our government.

Re:That's right.

[Nyder]

You must be an American to write such an arrogant and ignorant statement. But that's okay, you get modded up by your fellow countrymen. USA #1, USA #1, Freedom, Freedom, Better in a US prison that in one of them foreign mudhuts. Freedom Freeeeeeeeedom.

You must be some other country that blames the US because you are too lazy to get your own shit in gear and find blaming others makes it seem like it's not your fault your country sucks.

Re:That's right.

[Anonymous Coward]

Talk about BS from someone who's never been to prison.

Re:That's right.

[Anonymous Coward]

maybe you could throw in the realistically-quite-minimal-and-touted-moreso-as-a-scare-technique that is prison rape

Re:That's right.

[Anonymous Coward]

much like the whole of prison-life. scared-straight at its finest, folks.

Re:That's right.

[klingers48]

And in many other parts of the world, a US prison would look like an overcrowded, mis-managed and dangerous endeavor run by a for-profit company somewhat akin to a meat-grinder. Fairly tame petty offenders go in one end, hardened criminals created through exposure to unsupervised hardened gang culture come out the other end...

...And keep coming back for more due to choices they wouldn't have made if they hadn't gotten wrapped up in the prison gang culture as a matter of survival. Conditions in US prisons, staffing levels and overcrowding mean people from low socioeconomic areas with low educations aren't offered protection by the prison system itself... So they get wrapped up in the gang culture. Snitch and you'll get shanked. Don't join a gang and be a target. If there was appropriate numbers of guards and properly enforced segregation of dangerous criminals then this wouldn't happen as much.

Re:That's right.

[Anonymous Coward]

So what?
Animals are cuddly and family ties (in rural areas, cities are most stressful) makes living together enjoyable.

Nothing like Animal Factory...

Should have gone into sports.

[Anonymous Coward]

Meanwhile, this guy and his friends are protected by local authorities.

Thank goodness is wasn't music

[turp182]

The fine would be in the billions no doubt.

Re:Thank goodness is wasn't music

[Anonymous Coward]

the 'low' amount was a criminal fine.. the civil action is sure to follow.. that's where the big awards come from in these movie/music cases.

Sad

[murder_face]

I got busted with other peoples mail, credit cards,fake ids, and a duffel bag full of people's credit reports. 2 years prison and no restitution. How is what the guy did worse?

Re:Sad

[jjetson]

How does your anus feel loser? lol what kind of dumbass would keep all of that in a duffel bag and have it in their possession. You should be on the worlds dumbest criminals.

Re:Sad

[amiga3D]

He made 6 figure profit is most likely the reason. Big money usually means big time.

Re:Sad

[murder_face]

Actually my anus made it through unscathed, the minimum security California prison system is fairly nice. Three hot meals and satellite TV.. What can I say, I was EXTREMELY unemployable at the time and needed to eat. Better than mooching off of Mommy (Dad's dead) right?

Re:Sad

[jjetson]

The fact that you have mail, cards, ids and reports contradicts "needed to eat". You could maybe use that with a single stolen card you got caught using at mcdonalds. But the fact that you had all these different types of material for multiple people...that consequently are all used for identity theft And no stealing from people or stealing their identities isn't better than mooching of your mother. Maybe you need to spend some more time in jail so you understand that.

Re:Sad

[murder_face]

Actually the time I spent in there was enough to figure it out. It's starting to seem like you are one of those fascist "Once a criminal..." people or you had your identity stolen. Obviously if I was dumb enough to even consider it once then I wasn't very bright at the time. Did you actually hear the *WHOOSH* when you read my comment or was your head so far up your ass that you couldn't tell the forest from the trees?

Re:Sad

[jjetson]

I didn't hear the "WHOOSH". Maybe one of Perkins associates stole it and is planning on releasing it on the net ;). - See what I did there. The ;) implies a joke or sarcasm. If you want people to understand your subtle sarcasm I suggest using it. I'm not at all a person that believes "Once a criminal..." and haven't had my identity stolen. But when someone admits getting caught with all that and then tries to feed me some BS about "needing to eat" (Which who knows if it was a joke or not) I don't give there words much credit thereafter.

Re:U$A where i live

[Anonymous Coward]

in san diego county the "authorities" find dead people every day in the desert , people from mexico trying to cross into the usa will literally risk thier lives by dying of exposure in the desert so that they can live here in a cardboard box down in the canyons ,trying to hussle work mowing lawns or whatever crappy day work that they can get, many people (employers)here exploit these people EVERYway that they can be exploited.
i know that we think its fucked up; here but, really is it so bad that you or your uncles or aunts will literally risk your life and maybe die just to come to the "land of opportunity"i talking to them they laff like hell at the gringos bitching about thier goverment problems---we dont have many problems at all ---only answers--too many fucking answers
cb

No sympathy here

[jjetson]

Perkins isn't gonna get a single ounce of sympathy from me. Whether you agree with the law or not doesn't matter. You can sit here and compare it to other criminal activity all you want. Complain all day and night about how police should be investing time in other things, blah, blah, blah. We've heard it all before every time a piracy topic comes up and guess what, it's still against the law. Perkins 100% broke the law knowingly, so it's time to pay the piper Jeramiah Perkins, of Portsmouth, Va. He knew there was a chance he could get caught and end up in jail, there is a history of movie pirates getting jail time. But he didn't take the necessary precautions to avoid getting caught, and all of a sudden. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK...bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do... Bend over Jeramiah, Bubba is now going to stick his junk inside you. Learn how to be a better criminal or don't be one at all.

Re:No sympathy here

[Anonymous Coward]

A little over compensating here aren't we. Would love to have access to your machine(s) and see what you get up to.

Re:No sympathy here

[jjetson]

Over compensating? 1. He broke the law 2. He knew he was doing it 3. He got caught How do acknowledging and agreeing with the facts become over compensation, and what do my machines have to do with Perkins getting caught and sent to jail. You're trying to somehow redirect this idiots criminal activity and subsequent punishment on to me? lol, grow up. There's no debate going on here.

Re:No sympathy here

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, and blacks in the US in the 1800s knew it was illegal to be black *and* free. They deserved the penalties they got when they tried to vote. Jim Crow FTW!

Re:No sympathy here

[jjetson]

AHAHAHAHAHA, OMG. Did you just compare selling copyrighted goods to slavery. FFS give your head a shake. And P.S. that was the 1800's welcome to 2013. Take your time and come up with an analogy that involves dinosaurs next time.

Re:No sympathy here

[Anonymous Coward]

You seem to be relishing the idea someone who committed copyright infringement is going to be the victim of rape.

Re:No sympathy here

[Anonymous Coward]

He compared a notoriously unjust law to another unjust law. I don't see the difference here.

Re:No sympathy here

[carnalforge]

So do you truly believe that 5 years prison are fair for what that poor peon did?

Re:U$A where i live

[murder_face]

Don't forget the "river rats" down by Qualcomm. I had a buddy from down there and he told me that place is a third world country itself...

He'll have sex again...

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry, He'll have sex again.... in PRISON! It won't be with a woman, hell, he might even be the WOMAN!.... Butt he'll have sex again. I promise!

Seriously, people should really consider the consequences of engaging in criminal activity and behavior. Keep it up and you will eventually get caught. If YOU are a criminal engaging in such activities, I suggest you seek professional help from a psychologist or psychiatrist. If you don't, you may end up with an orange jump suit and a pair of shiny ankle bracelets!

Cheers Homey!

He pirated movies

[Anonymous Coward]

And now his butt is going to be pirated in jail!

Good luck!

[Errtu76]

I remember getting quite a few releases from IMAGiNE back in the days where I still had lots of FTP accounts. Nowadays I don't really know/care who releases it as I just grab it from usenet.

Re:Good luck!

[Anonymous Coward]

IMAGiNE weren't a scene group.

deserved longer

[julian67]

IMAGiNE made telesync cam copies. If that wasn't bad enough they then encoded the already shitty video using xvid thus guaranteeing it would be soft and blocky with muddy colours.

I'd give them another couple of months.

Re:deserved longer

[StormReaver]

I'd give them another couple of months.

You remind me of a joke my wife told me:

A retired couple was on their porch swing watching the neighborhood when the wife leans over and suddenly slaps her husband. "That's for forty years of bad sex!".

They continue sitting still for a few minutes when the husband leans over and suddenly slaps her back. "That's for knowing the difference!"

Did he?

[SmallFurryCreature]

That is what I find missing from the story, what I remember from the group name is that they were into cams and telesyncs, not proper DVD/Blu-Ray copies. Beyond the novelty value these things are only salable in the most primitive regions of the world where people still have CRT's.

AND if he made such a huge amount of money out of it, why isn't the fine hire? The criminal justice system (this is NOT a civil case like most other cases we hear about) doesn't have high fines BUT it does like to strip criminals of their illgotten gaines since it has long become clear that doing a few years in jail while keeping your millions isn't always such a bad deal. So... where is the confescation of his fortune?

He also admitted he registered domain names for use by the IMAGiNE, and opened e-mail and PayPal accounts to receive donations and payments from persons downloading or buying IMAGiNE releases of pirated copies of motion pictures and other copyrighted works.

That doesn't sound like a pure for financial gain job to me but most groups stay well clear of any financial arrangement whatsoever precisely to avoid being seen as career criminals.

5 years with good behavior really isn't all that long, depending on what he actually did. For profit stealing to me is a whole other kettle of fish then people ripping movies and it costing them money. But I see no evidence that this guy made 6 figure profit. I know lots of companies that don't run 6 figure PROFIT. That is a LOT of money the OP claims that apparently the police missed out on on figured that the guy they are sending to jail for half a decade deserves to keep his ill-gotten gains.

Questions, questions, questions. If only there was a sort of job for which we could employ people that would make them research stories for more details and then share them through some means or another with others.

Re:Did he?

[cdrudge]

Beyond the novelty value these things are only salable in the most primitive regions of the world where people still have CRT's.

I'd even limit their ability to be sold to less than that. They are only salable there between when the movie comes out and a screener, dvd, or bluray makes its way into the distribution stream.

Re:Did he?

[amiga3D]

I've seen these kinds of bootleg cams sold at flea markets for $5 and unbelievably people do buy them. I think some people just want to be the first to see a movie even if the quality sucks.

Wiretapping?

[betterunixthanunix]

Talk about a slanted description. He set up video cameras and microphones in a theater. That is not wiretapping, that is copyright infringement in the worst case.

breaking and entering

Nobody is accused of that.

intellectual property

Propaganda term.

criminal theft

No such thing happened here.

he set up PayPal accounts

So?

accept payment for IMAGINE's releases

Did a judge decide that IMAGiNE was not engaged in fair use? See, long before our copyright system was hijacked and turned into a weapon aimed at the Internet, we relied on judges to decide if an act of copying was legal or not. You know, back when copyrights were meant to encourage industries that helped bring knowledge and entertainment to the masses, which is the only thing copyright was ever meant to do.

Why should he feel free to profit off the expenses paid by the movie theater for retail space, electricity, equipment, and movie fees?

Maybe because the movie theater is profiting from the work of the MPAA, which profited from the work of the artists who created the movie? What makes one of these enterprises more legitimate than another? He used technology in a way that allowed him to bring entertainment to people at much lower prices than movie theaters can.

even if the theater still has the item that is claimed to have been stolen, the defendant is stealing his for-profit content from the movie theater.

You must have spent a long time rewiring your brain to think that makes any sense.

Re:Wiretapping?

[Internal Modem]

"Did a judge decide that IMAGiNE was not engaged in fair use?"


"Fair use" only covers "brief excerpts of copyright material" for "criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research."

Re:Wiretapping?

[Anonymous Coward]

His point is that this group is not only actively distributing something they copied (which already implies copyright infringement), but they were also actively making money off it, and making money was a strongly motivating part in their infringement (thus making it criminal). That is what he was trying to say.

Re:Wiretapping?

[betterunixthanunix]

In fact, fair use can include the reproduction of an entire copyrighted work. That is why judges decide these things; there is no hard-and-fast definition.

Re:Outrageous (you believe he made $400K)

[Anonymous Coward]

No way he made $400,000 dollars. You drink the cool-aid the movie lawyers feed. Remember movie/mpaa accounting is a bunch of lies that even make the devil blush.

Re:U$A where i live

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because EVERYBODY want to live in white people's countries. Unfortunately for us whites.

How long was a Sony exec in jail?

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, for criminal copyright infringement.

I know it wasn't five years otherwise this "judgement" would not be the longest.

But it must have been a couple of years, right?

Right?

He wold have got less for phsycally stealing

[Anonymous Coward]

Really if he had broken into a store and nicked the DVD he would have got less...hell if he had beaten the crap out of a mall cop in doing so, he would still have got less.

Corperations are NOT people. Get over it, if they were they would all be in a mental asylum as they are by nature sociopaths.

Caloric intake

[Anonymous Coward]

That $1.25 is adjusted for purchasing power.

Lets test that!
Given:

1. In calories per dollar, the most commonly available food in the United States(aside from pure sugar/lard) is a McDonald's cheeseburger at 350/$1
2. An average person needs 1500 calories per day to live.

That is only 438 calories per day, or -1062 calories needed to maintain body weight. Assuming an average person dies in 30 days without any food (45,000 calories, some say it is 60 days however we assume they are working for that 1.25 and not on hunger strike), it is clear to see that 405 Million people in India will die of starvation within 44 days (1.241b * .327; 45,000 / 1062).

Now we wait.

I'm not sure I like this argument

[rsilvergun]

This "it could be worse" school of thought is currently being used by the Powers That Be / Monied Interests as an excuse for a large decline in overall standard of living. I guess what I'm saying is, sure, it could be worse. But why isn't it better?

You have all of them in the USA.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mass starvation? Check.
http://ask.metafilter.com/148923/Does-anyone-know-if-people-die-of-starvation-in-the-United-States

Of the 49.1 million people living in food insecure households (up from 36.2 million in 2007), 32.4 million are adults (14.4 percent of all adults) and 16.7 million are children (22.5 percent of all children).
17.3 million people lived in households that were considered to have "very low food security," a USDA term (previously denominated "food insecure with hunger") that means one or more people in the household were hungry over the course of the year because of the inability to afford enough food. This was up from 11.9 million in 2007 and 8.5 million in 2000.
Very low food security had been getting worse even before the recession. The number of people in this category in 2008 is more than double the number in 2000.
Black (25.7 percent) and Hispanic (26.9 percent) households experienced food insecurity at far higher rates than the national average.

Apparently the CDC does not track deaths from starvation, or rather they call it malnutrition.

+++

Organ harvesting? Yup, a couple of years back a HUGE outcry when a hospital was found to have taken donations from corpses.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/organ-donation7.htm

People being killed for peaceful protest? Check.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

Bribery on a scale that makes China's corruption look like a piggy bank raid? Check.
http://action.priceofoil.org/t/12903/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8888

but no resources to chase banksters.....

[Anonymous Coward]

The occupational government of the US will chase people around the world if they may have downloaded a movie.....

But there are no resources to look into banksters.....

You forgot the anal rape.

[Anonymous Coward]

As far as I know, not many people (though you may feel it a wonderful opportunity) would consider it living rather the OPPOSITE of a king.

Oh, and do you know how much is spent per day on Prison food?

About $2.35.

A DAY.

Good.

[AmazingRuss]

There's plenty of free software and media out there... no need to rip people off.

US Copyright laws are wrong.

[Artemis3]

I'm glad to not live in USA. Prison is meant to prevent individuals from physically harming others; someone arguably causing profit loss to some corporation belongs to a civil (not criminal) court.

Unlike theft, with copyright infringement there is no loss of the source, its someone taking a photograph of a painting without permission, not someone taking it away from its owner.

Besides copyright in USA was meant to put a limit to hereditary rights from the English printer guilds, not preserve them. That is why the original term was 14 years + 14 max; so after 28 years everything would go public domain and thus promote the arts, science, etc, which under colonial rule were forever restricted to few.

It seems you get shorter terms there by shoplifting several dvds than downloading a movie over there. absolute nonsense.

This is another proof that people there has no value, only corporation interests count. Unfortunately they are a bad influence to others, often using dirty persuasion to force their alien rule of law into other countries. Those who don't openly defy them are at their mercy; look at the 301 black list and you'll find spots of freedom from US corporate tyranny.

Notice how they hate pharmaceutic patent infringement. Sure, as if poorer countries should put the lives of their citizens below the interests of foreign corporations; lose profits or lose lives... Great. And you wonder where the people stands in their power hierarchy. Not to mention this stupid movie/music studios/labels "losing profits" crap.

Its no wonder people there are pushed out of their homes instead of putting the executives who caused the bubble burst into jail. And this is the country whose government dares to speak of others freedoms? Are the people living in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya living in paradise today? And this is what they want for Syria and others? Millions to military funds, and nothing to homeless? Bail corporations but kick homeowners? Is that power for the people?

My respects to the 99% movement and similar, the few with courage to defy the rotted system.

rageous

[1u3hr]

He made more than $400,000 in profits from his illegal wiretapping.

I don't see that figure, or any figure, in TFA.

Otherwise you use the words "Illegal wiretapping", "criminal theft". Makes him sound really evil. But I didn't see those words in TFA either. Though I don't doubt the *AAs would use them. Did you just make them up?

I don't see how anyone could make more than pocket change distributing movies online. Who'd pay? You can get them free in a minute if you want. Especially since it sounds like he was making cam rips in cinemas. I wouldn't watch a cam rip if you paid me, let alone pay for the privilege. Cam rips are basically free advertising for the film, they can't substitute for it to anyone. Especially now, in the age of hi res big screens, they look like complete crap.