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EliteTorrents admin gets 18 months in jail

10 September 2008 14:02 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 12 comments

After being found guilty in June of criminal copyright infringement for his role as an administrator for the now-defunct torrent site EliteTorrents, Daniel Dove now faces 18 months in prison after being sentenced by the Justice Department this morning.

In addition to his prison time, Dove was also sentenced to three years of supervised released and a $20,000 USD fine. The sentencing was considerably light considering he faced up to 10 years and a $150,000 USD fine.

The sentencing concludes the investigation into the EliteTorrents administrators who were held responsible for the leak of a workprint of the blockbuster hit "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith" two days before it hit theaters.

The government described Dove as "an administrator of a small but crucial group of Elite Torrents members known as 'Uploaders,' who were responsible for supplying pirated content to the group."

Before the site was shut down by authorities in 2005, it was one of, if not the most popular torrent trackers in the US.

Dove was the last of eight EliteTorrents administrators and uploaders to be sentenced and was the only one who pleaded not guilty. The others who pleaded guilty received smaller 5 month sentences.

Permalink to this article | Topic: Lawsuits & Legislation

Spanish court rules its legal to share P2P download links (20 September 2008)

Pirate Bay boycotts 'traditional media' (12 September 2008)

JK Rowling wins Harry Potter copyright case (11 September 2008)

EliteTorrents administrator found guilty (28 June 2008)

Weinstein Co. goes after "Sicko" uploader (23 June 2007)

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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Discuss this article!
Leningrad (Member) 10 September 2008 17:30
wow.. what an idiot he could have admitted [ + quote]
dssacer (Newbie) 10 September 2008 20:26
who did he kill ?? to get a sentence like that .wow [ + quote]
hikaricor (Newbie) 11 September 2008 1:37
If more people would stand up to the MPAA/RIAA and the us government, this shit wouldn't happen. People are so afraid of these outdated control systems these days they don't even realize that can stop them. [ + quote]
windsong (Junior Member) 11 September 2008 13:24
Never talk to the cops/feds: http://boingboing.net/2008/07/28/law-prof-and-cop-agr.html [ + quote]
DVDdoug (Junior Member) 11 September 2008 15:26
*Originally posted by dssacer:* who did he kill ?? to get a sentence like that .wow 18 months for KILLING somebody? Well... maybe in Vermont, but most (U.S.) states have the DEATH PENALTY!!! (Actually, most average-murders don't "qualify" for the death penalty.) [ + quote]
snowlock (Junior Member) 11 September 2008 20:55
*Quote:* *Originally posted by dssacer:* who did he kill ?? to get a sentence like that .wow 18 months for KILLING somebody? Well... maybe in Vermont, but most (U.S.) states have the DEATH PENALTY!!! (Actually, most average-murders don't "qualify" for the death penalty.) this is true, but i still can't help but think every time: wtf, prison. prison is, in truth, almost always for violent offenses. there are plenty of drug charges that get one in as well, but that particular batch is just as debatable to me. keep in mind, that may be different because of location, but it makes no sense to put someone who infringed copyright in with murderers. i always stand that the legality of copyright infringement, at least on an individual sort of basis, is questionable at the absolute worst. it is definitely not criminal; they don't lock one up for it. the civil suits they do file are highly debatable as well. i guess it should be different when someone is making loads of money...maybe. apparently they didn't make a bunch of money, though, because they would have probably all plead not guilty if they could afford counsel. sucks for him, but kudos for making a stand; albeit kinda esoteric. the more that do, the closer we'll come to change. no idea if we'll ever arrive, but yeah. [ + quote]
mikeh0303 (Senior Member) 11 September 2008 23:14
unfortunately the us has no problem putting a lot of people in jail.. even for un violent crimes. From the statistics I looked at 1% of the US population is in jail. Almost if not more then 50% of that 1% are in there for drug related crimes. I think he made the right choice in not pleading guilty, hes the only one that really stood up for what he believed in. Its unfortunate that he will be in jail for more then a year over this. The USA should focus more on the real violent crimes, or maybe some of the crimes being committed by its own government officials. [ + quote]
DXR88 (Member) 12 September 2008 11:42
the admins should keep a chain-gun handy, just in case. i bet a couple of violent out breaks will make the government think twice. after all the US is run by some of the biggest thugs in the world. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 September 2008 11:45
AparoidX (Junior Member) 14 September 2008 15:00
His friends only got 5 months, but he gets 18 for not confessing? I wonder if any of their VIP members will bail them out with a donate button? [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 14 September 2008 17:46
A preety short sentence for this crime. [ + quote]
varnull (AfterDawn Addict) 14 September 2008 20:33
land of the free eh? http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/15381.cfm Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work. Im an a$$hole too.. and Im very proud of the fact. [ + quote]
Mez (Senior Member) 15 September 2008 7:58
"Life " is only 20 years. That not death is the most common sentance for murder in the US. [ + quote]