Talking of the legal fight against illegal file sharing, the
US Department Of Justice has announced it had secured its first two guilty pleas in their 'Operation Digital Gridlock' campaign against illegal content distribution online.
The
Department Of Justice's campaign is targeted primarily at people running websites that proactively enable the illegal sharing of copyright content, contravening US copyright law as it currently stands (ie not the Kazaa style companies who still claim that, because their technology has legitimate uses, they are not guilty of copyright violation in the eyes of the law, unless a civil action by the record labels can prove otherwise).
The first guilty pleas came from William R Trowbridge and **Michael
Chicoine** who were accused of running a file-sharing community called the Underground Network, which made copyrighted games, movies and music available to members. The two men will now be sentenced on 29 Apr and face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Announcing the prosecutions US Attorney General John Ashcroft told reporters:
"Those who steal copyrighted material will be caught, even when they use the tools of technology to commit their crimes.
The theft of intellectual property victimizes not only its owners and their employees, but also the American people, who shoulder the burden of increased costs for goods and services."
US
Attorney Kenneth Wainstein added: "These prosecutions - the first federal enforcement actions ever taken against criminal copyright theft over peer-to-peer networks - send a powerful message to cyber-criminals."