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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.

12 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 devman · · Score: 4, Informative

      The article is comparing apples and oranges. What happened in the above article was a criminal prosecution brought by the Government, what happened to Thomas-Rasset was a civil action brought by Capital Records. The government employee may still be sued by the actual rights holder. Thomas-Rasset, to my knowledge was not prosecuted, for her copyright violations.

    2. 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.

    3. Re:It is not what you did .... by MrL0G1C · · Score: 3, Insightful

      " It was apparently his first offense"

      He must of committed the offence thousands of times, so clearly, not a '1st offense' but the first time he was caught for the thousands of offences.

      --
      Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
    4. Re:It is not what you did .... by dreamchaser · · Score: 3, Informative

      The legal definition of 1st offense is the first time one is caught and prosecuted.

    5. Re:It is not what you did .... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What accounts for the difference in punishments is that criminal procedure requires a much higher standard of evidence than the junky stuff allowed under civil procedure, and subject to an overall "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard, rather than "preponderance of evidence." Then to arrive at a judgment requires a unanimous jury, not just a majority.

      Civil procedure is specially designed to make lawyers rich and extort large amounts of money out of people by intimidation.

    6. Re:It is not what you did .... by Theaetetus · · Score: 3, Informative

      What accounts for the difference in punishments is that criminal procedure requires a much higher standard of evidence than the junky stuff allowed under civil procedure, and subject to an overall "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard, rather than "preponderance of evidence." Then to arrive at a judgment requires a unanimous jury, not just a majority.

      And they had all that and this guy was convicted, so the punishments are equal, right? No. What accounts for the difference is that this guy faced jail time and is now a convicted felon, while Thomas-Rasset did not and is not. And, as others noted, this guy could still be sued and face the same penalties as Thomas-Rasset did.

  2. *Holds up hand...* by magusxxx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So why, exactly, does the DoL have 5-tray DVD burners in the first place?

    --
    Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
    1. Re:*Holds up hand...* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      This is the Department of Labor. You don't think anyone there actually does any useful work do you? Get real.

  3. Socialism vs Capitalism! by Daemonik · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's because he was selling the movies for profit, of course... the studios can respect some good honest capitalist theft, I mean c'mon, most of the studios have at least a couple of outright thefts of their own.

    No no, the REAL threats to the system are those damn pinko socialist commies just GIVING AWAY the studio's "property". We can't let that stand, no sir!

  4. Criminal versus Civil by dirk · · Score: 3, Informative

    While I agree he should have probably gotten a more severe penalty, comparing the civil cases versus a criminal case is an unfair comparison. The companies could still pursue a civil case against him and they have an automatic win on their hands because of the criminal conviction. He could end up with what he was sentenced to here PLUS a civil case for a huge amount. This isn't necessarily the end of it, it's just the end of what the government can do.

    Also, I can't find anywhere exactly what he was convicted of, but I would guess this was felony level copyright violation, which means he now has a felony on his record which in reality is a much bigger deal than losing a civil case and owing the companies a ridiculous amount of money because it means you basically can't get a decent job anymore.

    --

    "Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
  5. 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.