US Unveils Charges Against KickassTorrents, Names Two More Defendants (arstechnica.com)

A total of three men are said to be operators of file-sharing site KickassTorrents (KAT), according to U.S. prosecutors. Last month, federal authorities arrested the 30-year-old Ukrainian mastermind of KAT, Artem Vaulin, and formally charged him with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement. Two other Ukrainians were named in the new indictment (PDF): Levgen (Eugene) Kutsenko and Oleksander (Alex) Radostin. While only Vaulin has been arrested, bench warrants have been issue for the arrest of all three men. Ars Technica reports: "Prosecutors say the three men developed and maintained the site together and used it to 'generate millions of dollars from the unlawful distribution of copyright-protected media, including movies, [...] television shows, music, video games, computer software, and electronic books.' They gave out 'Reputation' and 'User Achievement' awards to users who uploaded the most popular files, including a special award for users who had uploaded more than 1,000 torrents. The indictment presents a selection of the evidence that the government intends to use to convict the men, and it isn't just simple downloads of the copyrighted movies. The government combed through Vaulin's e-mails and traced the bitcoins that were given to him via a 'donation' button."

Comments

Better go arrest Google execs

[110010001000]

Google is the biggest distributor of .torrent files I know of.

Re:Better go arrest Google execs

[PocketPick]

There is a difference between providing a general purpose search engine that serves millions of legitimate needs (as well as a handful of illegitimate needs) and a site whose sole purpose is to provide people with easy access to electronic movies, music, games and other software that they would normally be required to purchase.

That difference? Intent.

I'm not saying that copyright law isn't broken, and certainly any service can be abused (including Google's search engine). But seriously...the organizational goals and company operations for Google and KickassTorrents are nothing alike.

For a modern, well-functioning commerce and legal framework to work, law enforcement have to be able to distinguish between the two. It's not black and white.

Re:as usual

[nnull]

Downloading torrents is a worse than murder, rape and paedophilia, didn't you know that?

Re: "Millions of dollars"?

[ArchieBunker]

They arrested this guy because he had a server located somewhere in the USA. The same way they went after Kim Dotcom.

Be weary foreigners!

[xession]

If you interact with US citizens, you are apparently subject to US laws. No borders. No sovereignty. You are a pawn in the global arena. Stepping outside your square will be dealt with swiftly and severely. Don't fuck with the US money /*holders*/ hoarders!