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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.

6 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. *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. 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.