p2pnet.net News:- The entertainment cartels have successfully elevated copyright infringement to the level of crime. And that’s official.

It also proves just how much frightening power Hollywood and the Big Four Organized Music family wield in America, thanks to friends in high places.

A Pennsylvania man, Scott McCausland from Erie, was charged in what the US Department of Justice says is the first “criminal enforcement action” against “copyright infringement on a p2p network using BitTorrent technology” and now faces a possible five years in jail, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.

McCausland, 24, “pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and one count of criminal copyright infringement in violation of the Family Entertainment Copyright Act,” says a statement, going on:

“His guilty plea stems from his involvement in the BitTorrent peer-to-peer (P2P) network previously known as Elite Torrents.”

Now expect a triumphant statement from the MPAA.

“The appearance online of Revenge of the Sith before its official release raises some interesting questions, particularly in light of yesterday`s take-down of the Elite Torrent BitTorrent indexing site,” we wrote last spring.

“Was the leak in fact a honey trap set up by the MPAA to give bounty hunters a clear shot at nailing torrent users?

“That`s what a couple of emails from people who prefer to remain anonymous suggest, a possibility bolstered by the fact that in their press statement, the FBI and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement were able to state, very specifically, that Episode III – Revenge of the Sith was, ‘available for downloading on the network more than six hours before it was first shown in theatres’ and in the next 24 hours, ‘was downloaded more than 10,000 times’.

“Fast work for hide-bound federal agencies which normally need weeks of committee meetings and countless signed approvals before they can move.”

McCausland’s conviction, “is the third in a series of convictions arising from Operation D-Elite, a federal crackdown against the first providers (or suppliers) of pirated works to the technologically-sophisticated P2P network known as Elite Torrents,” says the DoJ, adding:

“At its prime, the Elite Torrents network attracted more than 133,000 members and facilitated the illegal distribution of more than 2 million copies of movies, software, music, and games. On May 25, 2005, federal agents shut down the Elite Torrents network by seizing its main server and replacing its log-in web page with the following notice: ‘This Site Has Been Permanently Shut Down by the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).’ Within the first week alone, this message was viewed over half a million times.”

Stay tuned.

Also See:
Family Entertainment Copyright Act – Orrin Hatch on S. 3021, November 26, 2004
statement – Justice Department Announces Guilty Plea in Peer-to-Peer Piracy Crackdown, September 12, 2006
interesting questions – Was the ‘Sith’ leak deliberate?, May 26, 2005
Operation D-Elite – Elite Torrents takedown genuine, May 25, 2005