First conviction for Software Piracy in Operation Fastlink
December 30th, 2004 Leave a comment Visited 68 times, 1 so far today
First conviction for Software Piracy in Operation Fastlink
A warez group being operated by a 26 years old college student started in January 2003. In few months, they collected a database of around 13000 titles and made them available online. This group becomes the first conviction in a drive that was started under the code name of ‘Operation Fastlink’. The accused college student can possibly get a maximum of 15 years imprisonment.
The court documents were made public last week according to which Jathan Desir, 26, who is registered at the University of Iowa pleaded guilty to the offence on December 22 in a court in Des Moines. Their libraries consisted of everything from movies, games, software, and music.
FBI agents conducted raids at his house in April and seized six computers which were being used for the operation which authorities says form the best source of software piracy on the net. More raids were carried out throughout the country and even internationally with help from local law enforcement agencies.
Reports say that this particular group alone was responsible for loss of around USD 200,000 to the software industry. The sentence would begin from March 18, 2005 and could last for 15 years at worst.
|
TechWhack on Facebook
|
December 30th, 2004 at 10:08 pm
I’m glad to see that he’s just biting the bullet and admitting he did wrong. He’s setting a fantastic example in my opinion, that, if you’re going to pirate software, you should be prepared to face the inherent consequences should you get caught.
December 30th, 2004 at 10:27 pm
I am tesing my email. This is an intresting article which we are seeing phones now being effected…
December 30th, 2004 at 10:30 pm
Now, us wealthy can become extremely wealthy. The gap between the rich and the poor will be us using 10ghz processors, while others can afford a 386.
December 30th, 2004 at 10:30 pm
It would be a little excessive to jail him for 15 years but why would anyone want to put that many files on the internet anyway?
December 30th, 2004 at 11:02 pm
If the software industry was worried about losing money, they should stifle competition. Oh yeah, they do already. The battle will always be between the oppression of the elite against the have-nots.
May 19th, 2005 at 9:17 pm
From what I understand this person was not selling the titles, and it was on a private server he was sharing with a select few. What a sin it is for man to be able to duplicate anothers creation by himself for himself. You make your own designer dress which would retail for $7,000 and keep it for yourself, you are technically a felon according to the current laws. In the next few years the average joe with the help of robotics and new technology will be able replicate physical objects like people are currently doing with software and digital music. What a sin if the average person could duplicate a car by himself for himself, duplicate furniture by himself for himself or just about anything that can be mass produced right now, will soon be able to be micro produced by the individual. I think the public will soon realize these laws hinder nothing but progress.