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EliteTorrents administrator found guilty

28 June 2008 14:14 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 9 comments

According to a Department of Justice press statement, Daniel Dove, administrator for the defunct EliteTorrents torrent tracker has been found guilty by a jury of his peers and now faces 10 years in jail for criminal copyright infringement.

To give a quick refresher on the situation, EliteTorrents, for at least a 3 year period ended 2005, was the most popular public torrent tracker in the US and was the site responsible for the pre-release of the workprint version of "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" before its theatrical release. It was all downhill from there for the site and its 3 administrators. The MPAA, FBI, local police and US Customs all came together as part of Operation D-Elite and forced the site off line while arresting the administrators. Scott McCausland and Grant Stanley, the other administrators, pleaded guilty to their crimes and were sentenced to 5 months of prison.

"The jury was presented with evidence that Dove was an administrator of a small group of Elite Torrents members known as "Uploaders," who were responsible for supplying pirated content to the group," the Department of Justice press release states. "The evidence showed that Dove recruited members who had very high-speed Internet connections, usually at least 50 times faster than a typical high-speed residential Internet connection, to become Uploaders. The evidence also showed that Dove operated a high-speed server, which he used to distribute pirated content to the Uploaders."

The jury decision marks the first time in history a jury has decided a criminal conviction for P2P copyright infringement. Dan Glickman of the MPAA of course applauded the decision. "This conviction - the eighth of which resulted from a nationwide federal crackdown on the illegal distribution of copyrighted content over P2P networks - sends a clear message that when presented with clear-cut evidence, jurors have little tolerance for the willful, deliberate, and widespread distribution of protected content."

Permalink to this article | Topic: Lawsuits & Legislation

EliteTorrents admin gets 18 months in jail (10 September 2008)

MPAA hired hacker to 'spy' on The Pirate Bay (27 July 2008)

Topware Interactive Sues 100 for Dream Pinball3D Piracy (15 July 2008)

Crytek CEO speaks out about PC game piracy, again (30 June 2008)

Portugal now has its first convicted file-sharer (29 June 2008)

BT wants to cut off pirate's Internet (28 June 2008)

EliteTorrents administrator found guilty (28 June 2008)

Another guilty plea in connection with Operation D-elite (17 April 2007)

EliteTorrents Admin gets 5 months inside (28 October 2006)

EliteTorrents shut down by U.S. customs and FBI (25 May 2005)

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tripplite (Senior Member) 28 June 2008 17:28
i think this should be a time of mourning for the U.S....there are murders, rapists corrupt politicians for heavens sake that spend a few months in jail for far greater crimes!!! what have brought our selfs down to?? fools that lock up men over Star Wars and let crack deals run up and down our streets without care??? truly this is a greater lose for the American law system... and its people it so pathetically tries to protect rather..... honestly people smell the coffee, weren't the arts about the art and not the money?? as far as i remember that movie made hundreds of millions in the box office so whats the deal?? probably 85% of people who downloaded it still went to the theater with friends....and the other 15% bought the "Platinum edition" dvd for greater quality.....its a pure waste of time... [ + quote]
xSModder (Junior Member) 28 June 2008 20:24
mind its a workprint, isn't even the really good sht.. whatever, the guy who molested that girl then raped her family then killed them all just got 5 years with high chance of parole. ol Dannys gotta rot for at least 5 years for doing simple sht. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 28 June 2008 20:25
Well I would like things to be as so end users/consumers are not even blinked at for CP infrngiment under non profit circumstances, thos that make sites and run ads and get profit off it ya they need to be regulated, the end user needs to be ignored. [ + quote]
lxfactor (Senior Member) 29 June 2008 2:58
we let the crack dealers out on purpose so we watch them and catch the others.. also the people who abuse it and die.. well lets just say it keeps the population in check.. but stealing from a recording industry.. well thats just plain greed =D [ + quote]
Gosurf101 (Newbie) 30 June 2008 0:51
Wow what a sad sad world we live in. When a couple geeks get more time than rapist, murders, and a whole slew of violent crimes. This guy could come of the system, as hardened criminal, rob a store shoot someone and more than likely get less time. [ + quote]
chaos_zzz (Junior Member) 30 June 2008 11:03
wow... i'm not god but 10 years, seems too much... MPAA lawyers should invest their time in better things, if they can lock up some dudes for 10 years for uploading files, then they can surelely deal with real criminals [ + quote]
lynchGOP (Inactive) 30 June 2008 14:09
*Originally posted by xSModder:* mind its a workprint, isn't even the really good sht.. whatever, the guy who molested that girl then raped her family then killed them all just got 5 years with high chance of parole. ol Dannys gotta rot for at least 5 years for doing simple sht. AGREEED!!!!!!!!!!!!! I admit.....punishment is in order but (excuse the language) the United States' head-up-their-ass priorities ARE OUTTA WHACK. They took his livelihood, his servers, his money, and now his time??? ABOVE ALL ELSE...............I DON'T REALLY WANT TO PAY THE TAXES TO KEEP THIS NON-VIOLENT OFFENDER IN PRISON. Why can't they just publicly humiliate him, or stone him or stick him on an island for 3 months in the pacific and give him time to think. [ + quote]
windsong (Junior Member) 10 September 2008 14:48
Seems like he blabbed a bit too much at some point in the investigation. What Feds like to do is first a "knock and talk" and get you to confess indirectly what youve been doing..either by association or otherwise. His only chance of getting off the hook would have been if he had said absolutely NOTHING and went limp..taking the 5th. Seems he didnt do so. Never talk to the Feds or Cops without a lawyer present kids.. Law prof and cop agree: never talk to the cops about a crime, even if you're innocent http://boingboing.net/2008/07/28/law-prof-and-cop-agr.html Also a good watch: http://www.flexyourrights.org/busted/movie_clips http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/07/why_you_should.html [ + quote]
OneMember (Senior Member) 11 September 2008 4:58
*Quote:* The evidence showed that Dove recruited members who had very high-speed Internet connections, usually at least 50 times faster than a typical high-speed residential Internet connection, to become Uploaders. So now we are guilty because we have high-speed Internet connections? Thats suxs. *Quote:* The evidence also showed that Dove operated a high-speed server, which he used to distribute pirated content to the Uploaders." 10 years in jail for sending couple files to couple other people? Thats overkill. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11 September 2008 4:59