'Pirate' Website Owner Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison

Grumbleduke writes "Anton Vickerman, who owned SurfTheChannel.com, has been sentenced to 4 years in prison following his conviction last month for 'conspiracy to defraud.' This is the first successful prosecution of an individual in the UK for running a website merely linking to allegedly infringing content (several earlier cases collapsed or resulted in acquittals). Vickerman was prosecuted for the controversial offense of 'conspiracy to defraud' for 'facilitating copyright infringement,' rather than for copyright infringement itself, and it is worth noting that the relevant copyright offense carries a maximum prison sentence of only two years — half of what was given. FACT, the Hollywood-backed enforcement group who were heavily involved in the prosecution noted that the conviction 'should send a very strong message to those running similar sites that they can be found, arrested and end up in prison,' but it remains to be seen whether this will have any effect on pirate sites, or encourage development of the largely hopeless legal market for online film."

So much for the Magna Carta . . .

[mmell]

Now you Brits know how we Americans feel when we wipe with our Constitution. Based on my read of BBC's coverage, looks like this guy was guilty until proven innocent.

Jail Time for Civil Offenses?

[CanHasDIY]

So, I suppose this means giving people jail time for minor civil infractions (while letting major crimes, such as international larceny [thedailybeast.com] and funding terrorism, [businessinsider.com] go unpunished) is the new normal?

Looks like Vickerman's real crime was not being wealthy enough to buy his way out of trouble...



This world, she is fucked...

Re:Merely linking?

[Dyinobal]

Ten years for running a site that linked largely older content that wasn't on TV or offered any where on line. Ya The guy deserves years in a federal pound you in the ass prison.

The problem is this guy should of ran the site under the guise of a corporation, JPmorgan only got fiend like 4 million dollars after making 21 million on a price fixing scheme in New York. No one went to jail and they got to keep a cool 17 million dollars that they stole from the people of New York.

Re:Merely linking?

[pla]

I don't think you can quite count it as "merely linking" if you actively source pirated material to link to.

Welcome to the intersection of copyright as the default state of any creative work, and the internet.

Everything on the internet has a copyright on it, and you do not (usually) have permission from the copyright holder to link to it.

Yes, we can all quibble over this as an egregious example, but it sets a really bad precedent that moves us solidly back in the direction of "producers" and "consumers", rather than "participants".

international terrs

[harvey the nerd]

The US Gov has mutated and is deep into international extortion and terrorism, even on a retail basis. Basically, governments all over the world need to tell them and their weaslely spying and extortion to get stuffed ans stay home. We taxpayers would appreciate it, too.

Re:Merely linking?

[Dan667]

Your tact is still wrong. You have to go on offense. Instead of discussing this people should instead be discussing why Hollywood Accounting is not being aggressively dealt with. Directors, Actors, Musicians, ... losses from Hollywood Accounting are huge and US taxpayers are losing big as well.

Re:Conspiracy to defraud

[buchner.johannes]

It's one thing to share stuff between friends, it's another to make between £12,000 and £60,000 a month from sharing other peoples content. Clearly the site was profit-oriented. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2188262/Surfthechannel-com-Internet-pirate-earned-60-000-month-download-site-jailed-4-years.html [dailymail.co.uk]