SGAE Spanish gang raids P2P admin
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Running a P2P links site in Spain isn’t a crime in Spain.
But the SGAE (General Society of Authors and Publishers) reckons it should be and thus, “Yesterday the admin of two P2P sites had a home visit by members of SGAE, who took advantage of the admin’s legal naivety and conducted a search of his property without a suitable warrant,” writes enigmax in TorrentFreak, going on »»»
Allow us to introduce computer science student, Juan Jose Carrasco Colonel. The 26 year-old resident of Bonar, Spain, lives with his parents and brother. He also ran two eD2k file-sharing link sites – Elitemula and Etmusica – which were recently shuttered after a court order was served on the site`s host.
Yesterday things took a turn for the sinister. At around 12:00 noon and after a sleepless night, Juan heard a knock at his door and upon answering it he saw five people standing there who gave no other explanation who they were, other than they were from the court. They gave Juan documentation that he didn`t fully comprehend and gave him the impression that they had a warrant to enter his home and make an inspection of his computers and hard drives.
It appears they came looking for the stats from Elitemula and Etmusica which reflect the downloads of music made via links on those sites between September and December 2007.
Juan explains, They entered my house and I called them to show them where the computers were in the house. I showed them my personal laptop, but they insisted on seeing them all, including my brother`s.
This wasn`t enough for the unexpected visitors who proceeded to enter every room in the house and even opened up some cardboard boxes in Juan`s bedroom which merely contained personal family belongings.
A man who identified himself as a `computer expert` reviewed the contents of my personal computers and then tried to access my brother`s computer, Juan explained. However, since the laptop was password protected the `expert` prompted Juan to provide the password, which he couldn`t since he didn`t know it. After a telephone call to Juan`s brother which understandably worried him, he handed over the password which allowed the `expert` to make a detailed investigation of the laptop. They went on to examine several other hard drives.
After the five individuals had been inside for two hours, Juan finally managed to get lawyer David Bravo on the telephone who, along with Javier de la Cueva, recently defended P2P developer Pablo Soto. David asked Juan to read out the order which supposedly allowed these individuals to enter his home and search it.
Over the telephone, David Bravo confirmed that the text of the order did not authorize entry to Juan`s house or examination of hardware held there. Understandably concerned, Juan asked David to demand that the five people in his home identify themselves.
The first man was a lawyer for Spanish music rights/anti-piracy group SGAE, the second a SGAE computer expert, another a clerk and others unidentified.
At this point David Bravo told Juan to order the individuals out of his home and demanded that they leave all of his property intact. After a long conversation where the SGAE lawyer tried to convince that seizure of hard drives was allowed, David Bravo urged him to leave Juan`s home immediately.
David Bravo gave Juan instructions on how to proceed and offered to appear before the courts as a witness to what had happened. Javier de la Cueva, David`s partner, told TorrentFreak that he will be representing Juan.
“In the end the five left Juan`s house and left the hard drives behind, although Juan voluntarily allowed them to take a laptop,” says TorrentFreak.
Stay tuned.
TorrentFreak – Anti-Piracy Group Raids P2P Admin`s House Without Warrant, May 28, 2009
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May 28th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
amazing….
May 28th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Amazing sums it up. I’d hope that whatever they got gets thrown out but somehow, I doubt it.
May 28th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
This is worrying, a lot of musicians and artists from all over latin america prefer to join the SGAE over the local societies because we think they work better, and are more ethic… I wasn’t expecting this at all.
May 29th, 2009 at 2:40 am
All this? Like the RIAA, it isn’t the first time that SGAE has been in the news for something underhanded.
Back in Dec. the SGAE illegally crashed a private wedding party to see if they were owed for public performance during the party. They were fined $82,000 for the debacle they caused.
Last week, they were again in the news, because some of their member artists made a charity recording for the earthquake victims in Italy. The SGAE was fine with the artists doing a charity song but they weren’t going to be part of charity. They wanted their 10% cut. Not only that but when the song leaked early on to P2P as it always does, they pushed Italy to find and prosecute those that had uploaded the song. Yesterday the news from Italy reported that 3 were taken into custody for the uploading.
Now this with another P2p case.
No matter how they try, taking the moral highroad has been a disaster in the terms of PR for the copyright enforcers. They come off smelling of rotten cow manure on their better days.
These are only what has made it to the public media, lord knows what has been hidden out of sight with the way these worms operate.
May 29th, 2009 at 2:43 am
It only makes you wonder where they get funding from. It sounds like they haven’t gotten clean away with several of these physical instances. Or is there (surprise, surprise!) more of an iceberg we’re not yet aware of?
May 29th, 2009 at 3:00 am
I would have called the police and have their asses hauled off to jail for a couple of nights. Unlawful entry, posing as an offical, false documentation, trying to fish for evidence unlawfully.
We have a saying here in Finland: Saunan takana on vielä tilaa. Which translates to: There is still room behind the sauna. Roughly equivalent to: Should be dragged out in the street and shot. These guys should be brought down to the sauna.
May 29th, 2009 at 4:07 am
Unbelivable!
May 29th, 2009 at 6:25 am
SGAE = terrorist group. Funding? most likely organized crime & taxpayers.
May 29th, 2009 at 7:03 am
and they haven’t been arrested for brake and entry and illegal search and seizure and impersonating law enforcement why?
VERY serious offenses just about everywhere.