China hands over US ‘pirate’
p2p news / p2pnet:- In an interesting example of mutual cooperation, Communist China has handed an American alleged to have sold duplicated DVDs online to the US Department of Homeland Security.
Chinese authorities sentenced Randolph Hobson Guthrie, 38, to two-and-a-half years in jail and fined him $61,600. Another American, Abram Cody Thrush, convicted as an accessory, got one year and a fine of $1,200.
Both men were to have been deported after serving their sentences. But Guthrie was sent back to the US having served only part of it, says China Daily, going on, “His three accomplices – Abram Cody Thrush, Wu Dong and Wu Shibiao – were all given jail terms ranging up to 15 months and fines of between 10,000 (US$1,233) and 30,000 yuan (US$3,699).”
Thrush was deported on July 1, says China Daily, going on to quote a March 7 Wall Street Journal story as saying Guthrie is the son of a wealthy Manhattan plastic surgeon who moved to Shanghai in 1995.
“He failed to find the type of job he wanted and happened onto the pirated DVD business,” it says, and “built a lucrative business, advertising DVDs on eBay.com and a Russian website, the Journal said, mostly selling James Bond DVDs to enthusiasts. But one of Guthrie’s ads on eBay was seen by a lawyer for MGM studios.
“MGM notified the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which contacted Chinese authorities in Shanghai. They then launched the first joint Sino-US investigation into DVD piracy.”
At the time, the MPAA bragged it, “provided assistance and background to U.S. and Chinese enforcement agencies in the investigation”.
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See:-
deported – US counterfeiters jailed in China, April 20, 2005
China Daily – American DVD piracy convict deported home, September 30, 2005
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September 30th, 2005 at 5:53 pm
Communist China ? You’re kidding, they’ve never been communist at all and surely there’s no real communist in China these days
This is just a case of two dictatorships “cooperating” to oppress people.
“Piracy” should be covered by 1st amendment, think about that
September 30th, 2005 at 5:56 pm
Mnnnnn….
dvd coping pirates are a threat to national security???
shouldn’t the Department of Homeland Security be looking for terrorists?
September 30th, 2005 at 8:08 pm
Since companies in China can get away with not paying employees (and routinely do). There is no reason why people should not find ways of sticking them back. I wish that there was a worldwide rebellion against the cartel-government alliance that now dominates most of the world. Maybe when this happens the alliance will realize that they cannot continue to screw people over forever and get away with it.
September 30th, 2005 at 8:11 pm
If they waere looking for terrorist, then they should look for Bin Laden, the MPAA, RIAA, FCC, Federal agencies, Chinese army, regulatory agencies, oil companies, and many others. We the people are caught in the middle – as always.
September 30th, 2005 at 8:43 pm
“‘Piracy’ should be covered by 1st amendment, think about that
”
There is no first amendment protection. We might as well walk into the National Archives, find the Constitution, as well as the Declaration of Independence and take both of these documents to a fire and burn them on national TV. The reason for this is because for all practical purposes, the spirit of these documents has been dead for a long time
I am not just bashing the American government, but I’m also bashing just about every other government as well since most governments co-operate in the oppression of citizens regardless of their birth.
I wonder if it is considered stealing when someone stealthily removes and keeps something that is owed to them. I wonder, for example, if most people consider it wrong when a company employee smuggles $1000 worth of merchandise from his employer because the employer owes him 1000 and refuses to pay. I know that there are supposedly legal redress in these cases, but are the costs of persuing legal protections more than the employee can pay upfront? Or does the cost of legal redress exceed the amount owed?
The problem with the Chinese government is that it is not Communist. The problem with the Chinese government is that it is fascist. Facism occurs when the corporations form alliances with governments and use the resulting power to enslave the people. I see this happening in the United States as well as in China. In the U.S. companies can simply refuse to pay fair wages by simply moving operations to countries such as China and India simply because the government gave them this privilege via all the “Free Trade” treaties. We cannot just blame the Republicans, because it is only half their fault. The Democrats are just as responsible for this act of treason. When new regulations are created supposedly to reign in the rich or to make them pay their fair share of taxes, it is the average working person who end up footing the bill. Working Americans pay the highest percentage of their income in taxes.
I would be nice if we effectively had at least two separate political parties in this country. In fact, as far as I can see, the difference between Republicans and Democrats lie not in their actions. It lies in the promises that they make in their campaign speeches. The people who are stupid enough to keep voting for Democratic-Republican candidates are also to blame for the destruction of the spirit of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Our Founding Fathers, if they were alive today, would be called “terrorists” because they would be rebelling against the government that is in power today.
They rose up in the 1700’s because they lacked freedom and were taxed without representation. Right now, we lack freedom and are taxed without any real representation. Yes, we are allowed to vote, but those who win office take their position and use it to serve the needs of those who contributed most to their campaigns. If we are going to have any chance of regaining our freedom, we need to start by voting for those who receive the least amount of campaign contributions.