Flea-market gang sentenced
p2pnet.net News:- P2p file sharing isn’t a crime. No money changes hands and no profits are made – or lost.
Nonetheless, the Big Music cartel is spending millions of dollars on its sue ‘em all PR effort under which it subpoenas ordinary men, women and children for sharing music online, characterizing them as major crooks who are robbing the industry and its support workers.
P2p file sharing victims are easy to find, especially with the help of paid scalp-hunters who prowl the p2p networks on behalf of the labels.
However, the cartel isn’t doing so well against the real criminals – the international organized, high-tech crime gangs which don’t go anywhere near the Net largely relying, instead, on physical product made, and supplied, by the cartel members and sold throughout the world.
Counterfeits and duplicates made from over-the-counter DVDs, CDs and software discs are on blackmarkets everywhere.
However, Big Music does have its successes.
After a “private prosecution,” the cartel’s UK faux police outfit, the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) was able to get an operation involving ten people into a criminal court.
It alleged the ten had been selling counterfeits from stalls at flea-markets and had raked in £1.2 million (more than $2,270,000) before they were caught.
Mark Bailey and Paul Canning, the alleged ringleaders, were each sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail. Gillian Harrison, Bailey’s girlfriend, received a six-month sentence, while David Middleton, “employed by Paul Canning,” was sentenced to four months. Glen Harrison, Harrison’s brother, was sentenced to 12 months.
Parents David and Maureen Bailey were fined £500 (about $950) each. Christine Allan, Glen Harrison’s girlfriend, and Julie Parkin, Canning’s girlfriend, were each ordered to do 200 hours community service, and Vanessa Canning, his sister, was sentenced to 160 hours community service.
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<—–Programmer /n./ A red-eyed, mumbling mammal capable of conversing with inanimate objects—–>
See:-
or lost – File sharing isn’t theft, p2pnet, April 12, 2005
April 17th, 2005 at 2:59 pm
For that kind of money, it’s probably worth it to do a short stint in jail. Maybe their money is safely tucked away in a Swiss account waiting for their release from jail.
April 17th, 2005 at 11:57 pm
It sounds like that’s what you are saying. By that logic murder is not a crime. And you are wrong, there is money changing hands. The p2p networks make money by selling their software, advertising, spyware, and probably in a few ways you don’t know. Some of that money goes to you when those p2p networks advertise on your site. You are stealing when you download copyrighted music from someone else. Yes, I do it too, but at least I am not deluding myself into thinking I am on some altruistic quest to bring down an evil empire. I happen to think that the music industry has to adapt or die, but believe they have a right to go down fighting. I am sure they know they have to change eventually, but until they can figure out their next move they will fight inevitability any way they can. And that’s their right.
April 18th, 2005 at 5:36 pm
I don’t disagree with your main points. I have a question for you. Is it their (the music biz) “right” to tear apart US constitutional freedoms and RIGHTS in the process of fighting in vein to prop up an obsolete business model that’s already on life support?
If these companyies were even remotely decent, by that I mean treating their talent fairly and not engaging in payola, price fixing, VERY questionable accounting, etc, etc… I might be somewhat sympathetic. IMHO they are a bunch of thieving thugs in business suits. To hell with them.