AfterDawn: Tech news

MP3 pirate receives 18-month prison sentence

Written by Jari Ketola @ 12 Sep 2003 1:53 User comments (14)

A British court has sentenced Richard Durose to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to selling pirated music. His wife, who also pleaded guilty, was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years. They will also have to pay the court costs of £14,000.
The couple had been manufacturing pirated CD-R copies of albums in MP3 format, and selling them by mail order and at computer fairs. They had been selling up to 2,000 CDs a month before they were caught and sentenced.

Source:
Music Industry News Network

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14 user comments

112.9.2003 14:20

well, people that do it and do it for aprofit, should get busted!! this is alot different than the poor guy that just wants to download something to hear before he goes out and wastes his money on a crappy cd just based on the 1 or 2 songs from the radio.

212.9.2003 22:11

Iagree

313.9.2003 04:00

Jeez 2000 a month! For how long were they doing this!?! Say they were charging £2.50 a disc, we'll say 50pence for the overheads...£2 profit from each cd...thats 4 large every month tax free!! That £14,000 fee dont sound too bad now, If only they had said they were providing a 'backup' service for customers like with the stupid Ebay dudes who sell VCDs of movies.

413.9.2003 10:33

Serves them right. But 18 months in prison will rough them up a lot. I hope they don't get hurt or injured really badly or something, since this is like a bubblegum wrapper compared to manslaughter.

514.9.2003 03:26
Rodgers
Inactive

Since this venture was for profit and not for their own personal use, I don't have much sympathy for them. I don't think I would want to be exposed, (no pun intended) to homosexuals in prison for this caper. Best to All! Rodgers

614.9.2003 06:46
smiler123
Inactive

Surely with an overcrowded prison system we should prioritise a little more selectivly.

714.9.2003 12:19

Yeh.... Good guys get stuff and share it, because big companies try to slave us with prices... But if you start your self sell music...and thats even pirate music.... you are worse then the big companies...

814.9.2003 22:40

I agree, make them do a few years of community service and charge them a couple hundred grand that they will have to pay off over years, but dont send people to jail, thats just using more and more tax dollars. Let them help communities, they're not dangerous criminals to be locked away

915.9.2003 04:29

being from the USA I feel thats Harsh even by our standards... now I rememmber why we broke away... really the biggist disappointment is to hear that they were selling for proffit.... sad if you bootleg you will get caught... and well thats fine how about the add rackateriing to the charge and claim they did it to bring love and music to all...really free is one thing and the cost of the cd and energy to back it up .... but to base a work ethic on ripping off people and to make money off someone elses work like Madonna or Ozzy or the Beatles would not go unnoticed by many... down loading is what everyone is fighting to get away without going to jail and thease bosos make it seem like we will all sell our downloads for the all mighty dollar....

1015.9.2003 11:00

Got an e-mail from EFF today. They are doing an on-line petition to stop the RIAA lawsuits. Go! Sign it NOW! (well, if you want to...) http://www.eff.org/share/petition/ Take a Stand Against the Madness; Stop the RIAA!

1115.9.2003 11:06

P.S. E-mail the link to everyone on your list. http://www.eff.org/share/petition/ Post it on other forums. Spread the word.

1215.9.2003 12:05
Rodgers
Inactive

Good Move Gray/Area

1315.9.2003 23:40

These sorts of crimes should attract hefty fines yes but prison as someone else said costs the UK taxpayer (Yeah more than we already pay) and is not the answer. Merely downloading/sharing mp3's for personal use and as a preview of what to buy is not a real crime (selling for profit is a bit naughty). Yeah sign the riaa petition and get peer guardian if your american.

1417.9.2003 12:16
PDR60
Inactive

Well I have to agree with everyone so far. If they were doing it for profit, they got what they deserved. That being said this in noway should have any bearing on the RIAA crap going on now. That is a different ball game. These two were in effect running a rogue distribution house, not downloading for their personal use.

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