TorrentSpy: guilty
p2pnet news | P2P:- TorrentSpy.com destroyed evidence in an MPAA-instigated copyright case, a federal judge has ruled without benefit of a trial.
“TorrentSpy has the most comprehensive database of torrents on the internet,” it says, p2pnet posted recently, going on:
“That applies to Canadians, but not Americans.
“The torrent dump site has told users it’ll never monitor them without their consent, but the entertainment spindustry wants that changed so it can compel site owner Justin Bunnell to reveal information which can then be used in anti-P2P, anti-filesharing court cases.”
Now, “TorrentSpy operators Justin Bunnell, Forrest Parker and Wes Parker were held liable for infringement because they deleted important case files and gave false statements, said the ruling by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper in Los Angeles,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Defendants “engaged in widespread and systematic efforts to destroy evidence and have provided false testimony under oath in an effort to hide evidence of such destruction,” Cooper said in the story, adding sanctions were appropriate because of “extraordinary circumstances.”
Hollywood must still demonstrate its financial losses before a final judgment, says Wired, going on:
“In a statement, the MPAA called the decision a ’significant victory.’
TorrentSpy allegedly deleted “hundreds or thousands” of postings on the TorrentSpy forums referencing copyright infringement,” says the story, going on:
“On March 6th, 2006, a manager posted a private message to the site’s volunteer moderators warning, ‘We need to make sure that these forums stay clear of anything related to piracy. … I’d even recommend using the search engine to find past threads that may hurt us.”
Torrentspy lawyer Ira Rothken said the MPAA’s Dean Garfield (upper right) offered to pay $15,000 for the stolen material relating to the case, “after he and the MPAA reviewed it” and “if they found it useful’.
Rothken says he’ll appeal.
No date was set for a hearing to decide damages.
Also See:
p2pnet – TorrentSpy freezes out US searchers, August 28, 2007
Los Angeles Times – TorrentSpy operators held liable, December 19, 2007
Wired – Judge Terminates TorrentSpy Defense, Citing Alleged Evidence Destruction, December 18, 2007
pay $15,000 for the stolen material – TorrentSpy fink bares his soul, October 22, 2007
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December 19th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Torrentspy is a second rate site these days. Long live mininova / pirate bay
December 19th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Seconded
December 19th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
“Torrentspy lawyer Ira Rothken said the MPAAâs Dean Garfield (upper right) offered to pay $15,000 for the stolen material relating to the case,”
So allowing users to post links on your site that allows them to share copyrighted files is stealing, but hacking into someone’s database to obtain info on the users without the site owner’s consent isn’t?
December 19th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
I’ve just seen this on a private list I’m on:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Held to account for destroying evidence?
Maybe we should be so lucky with Friday’s hearing in front of U.S. District Court Judge Henry Kennedy re: the destruction of CIA taped torture episodes in spite/contempt of his prior injunction in 2005:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/18/cia.tapes/index.html
December 19th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
haha When i read this the CIA thing came to mind.