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US Government's Pirate Movie Bootlegger Gets 24 Months Probation

Posted by Soulskill on from the right-hand-passing-the-left-hand-some-dvds dept.

Solandri writes: Ricardo Taylor, a former supervisor at the U.S. Department of Labor, ran a bootleg DVD operation for seven years, copying DVDs and selling them to other employees via the Department's internal email system. You know — exactly the sort of thing our draconian copyright fines were meant to prevent. He made more than $19,000 from these pirated movie sales in 2013 alone. His punishment? 24 months probation. Apparently, using the Internet to share Copyrighted materials at no personal profit is a more serious crime than selling copyrighted works for profit on physical media. More details on this local NBC site with auto-playing video.

3 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. It is not what you did .... by Alain+Williams · · Score: 4, Interesting

    it is who you know, who you work for. If laws exist the have got to be applied consistently. I wonder if the RIAA will appeal for a tougher sentence ?

    It would be interesting to see those apprehended in the future for piracy use this as part of a plea for clemency.

    1. Re:It is not what you did .... by tomhath · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If laws exist the have got to be applied consistently

      This guy pleaded guilty, admitted that what he did was wrong, and faced the consequences. It was apparently his first offense so the punishment was essentially a slap on the wrist and warning to not do it again.

      Compare that to someone who ignores repeated requests to stop distributing, claims there was nothing wrong with what he did, shows no remorse, etc. That person will likely face a much stiffer punishment. Nothing inconsistent about that.

  2. 30 Years In The Mail Room by westlake · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You are 57 years old ---

    at an age when most of us are worried about retaining our jobs, retirement benefits and health insurance.

    You managed a federal government mail room and a movie theater and are now for all practical purposes unemployable in the only jobs you have ever known.

    Out of habit, you retained a full set of account books and ledgers documenting every pirate transaction,

    Your guilty plea on the federal criminal charge soon to be followed by a settlement with the rights agencies for the damages they can now claim and win in the federal civil courts.