FTPWelt.com warez case ends
p2pnet.net news:- The trial in a warez case which took more than three years to unravel and which was expected to last eights days, lasted for only two.
And when it ended, German brothers Daniel R and Thomas R, charged with copyright infringements and with commercially distributing pornographic material, had been found guilty of starting and operating FTPWelt.com, described as an “illegal Warez download platform,” says Heise Online, stating:
“The virtually untouched proceeds generated by the running of the website FTPWelt amounted to more than 600,000 euros (today, about $794,615) and will hereafter be used to settle liabilities of various kinds. While on the one hand the proceeds will be used to pay off tax liabilities, part of the money will also go, as damages payment, to the German Federation Against Copyright Theft (GVU) as representative of the copyright holders. According to an observer of the trial the latter sum will amount to between 200,000 (today, about $264,894) and 300,000 euros (today, about $397,342).”
When the trial opened at the District Court in Mühlhausen, four men were alleged to have operated FTPWelt, says the story.
The brothers, from Thuringia, admitted the criminal charges and a third man, identified by Heise only as Munich lawyer Bernhard S, admitted aiding and abetting Daniel and Thomas, but denied a charge of complicity.
Daniel was also indicted for “abusing trademarks and instigating others to alter data illegally,” says Heise, going on that aiding and abetting charges against a fourth defendent were dropped when he agreed to pay a 2,500 euros (today, about $3,311) and to perform 100 hours of “charitable work”.
Daniel, now 22, received a suspended prison sentence of 23 months in addition to being ordered to perform 120 hours of “charitable work” and pay a fine of 6,000 euros (today, about $7,945).
The court applied provisions of the German criminal law for young offenders to him but Thomas, 32, was given a suspended prison sentence of 16 months and ordered to pay a fine of 70,000 euros (today, about $92,704).
Lawyer Bernhard S received a 10 month suspended sentence and was fined 90,000 euros (today, about $119,197).
The charge of distribution of pornographic material was apparently dropped, says Heise, adding the money from the fines will go to “charitable organizations”.
In 2005, “On one of the greatest cases of Internet piracy and illegal copying ever discovered, the first of up to 15,000 cases against users has begun,” said Heise, going on, “From May 2003 to September 2004, the commercial download platform FTPWelt.com offered illegal copies of movies and software as downloads, among others things. The operators of the site had users pay for this ‘high-speed service’ by transfer volume.”
In an even earlier report, “More details have emerged on the arrest of a German lawyer and three businessmen who masterminded an international warez network and grossed €1m (today, about $1,323,808),” said The Register in 2004, going on:
“The main suspect, Bernhard Syndikus, a lawyer, was arrested for criminal breach of copyright, money laundering and membership in a criminal conspiracy.”
The story goes on:
“Although hackers discovered the link between Ftpwelt.com and Syndikus, a posting earlier this year already revealed the relationship between the lawyer and several illegal sites, including Ftpwelt.com and what was advertised as Germany’s biggest Bittorrent site, Bitfilme.com.”
Syndikus represented Firstway Medien GmbH, a German firm which released a hobbled version of the open source file sharing program eMule, says the story, continuing, “The hacked eMule was disabled, and could only be activated once you paid for the product. Worse, the program couldn’t be removed from Windows without corrupting the internet connection.”
Adds The Register, “Even more remarkable is the reputation of Syndikus’s partner Günther Freiherr von Gravenreuth (real name: Günter Werner Dörr) who, according to his own biography, advised the European Institute for Computer Anti-Virus Research and German Association for Entertainment Software. von Gravenreuth was behind the much publicised Tanja campaign against software piracy.
“He tricked mostly adolescent male computer users into sending a list of pirated software to a fictional girl named ‘Tanja’, and subsequently dragged them to court. The teenagers received a cease and desist notice along with a request for payment, in most cases between €1,000 (today, about $1,324) and €5,000 (today, about $6,620).”
Also See:
Heise Online – FTPWelt operators receive suspended prison terms, February 22, 2007
Heise – FTPWelt.com: the first criminal proceedings against users have begun, June 28, 2005
The Register – ‘Warez lawyer’ had double agenda – claim, September 20, 2004
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at thIs the end (of the Net) nigh?zze University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php | | And use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site
Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
