MP3 pirate receives 18-month prison sentence

well, people that do it and do it for aprofit, should get busted!! this is alot different than the poor guy that just wants to download something to hear before he goes out and wastes his money on a crappy cd just based on the 1 or 2 songs from the radio.

Iagree

Jeez 2000 a month! For how long were they doing this!?! Say they were charging £2.50 a disc, we'll say 50pence for the overheads...£2 profit from each cd...thats 4 large every month tax free!! That £14,000 fee dont sound too bad now, If only they had said they were providing a 'backup' service for customers like with the stupid Ebay dudes who sell VCDs of movies.

Serves them right. But 18 months in prison will rough them up a lot. I hope they don't get hurt or injured really badly or something, since this is like a bubblegum wrapper compared to manslaughter.

Since this venture was for profit and not for their own personal use, I don't have much sympathy for them. I don't think I would want to be exposed, (no pun intended) to homosexuals in prison for this caper. Best to All! Rodgers

Surely with an overcrowded prison system we should prioritise a little more selectivly.

Yeh.... Good guys get stuff and share it, because big companies try to slave us with prices... But if you start your self sell music...and thats even pirate music.... you are worse then the big companies...

I agree, make them do a few years of community service and charge them a couple hundred grand that they will have to pay off over years, but dont send people to jail, thats just using more and more tax dollars. Let them help communities, they're not dangerous criminals to be locked away

being from the USA I feel thats Harsh even by our standards... now I rememmber why we broke away... really the biggist disappointment is to hear that they were selling for proffit.... sad if you bootleg you will get caught... and well thats fine how about the add rackateriing to the charge and claim they did it to bring love and music to all...really free is one thing and the cost of the cd and energy to back it up .... but to base a work ethic on ripping off people and to make money off someone elses work like Madonna or Ozzy or the Beatles would not go unnoticed by many... down loading is what everyone is fighting to get away without going to jail and thease bosos make it seem like we will all sell our downloads for the all mighty dollar....

Got an e-mail from EFF today. They are doing an on-line petition to stop the RIAA lawsuits. Go! Sign it NOW! (well, if you want to...) http://www.eff.org/share/petition/ Take a Stand Against the Madness; Stop the RIAA!

P.S. E-mail the link to everyone on your list. http://www.eff.org/share/petition/ Post it on other forums. Spread the word.

Good Move Gray/Area

These sorts of crimes should attract hefty fines yes but prison as someone else said costs the UK taxpayer (Yeah more than we already pay) and is not the answer. Merely downloading/sharing mp3's for personal use and as a preview of what to buy is not a real crime (selling for profit is a bit naughty). Yeah sign the riaa petition and get peer guardian if your american.

Well I have to agree with everyone so far. If they were doing it for profit, they got what they deserved. That being said this in noway should have any bearing on the RIAA crap going on now. That is a different ball game. These two were in effect running a rogue distribution house, not downloading for their personal use.