How South Africa's first online pirate was caught

rpm said:
the IP address in question was assigned to him during the time that the torrent was being monitored
Click to expand...

Really? Surely you mean the IP address was assigned to a device, which may or may not have been under the control of the "pirate" in question.
 
daffy said:
Really? Surely you mean the IP address was assigned to a device, which may or may not have been under the control of the "pirate" in question.
Click to expand...

Everyone in that house signed an affidavit.
 
Sad thing about this is that on the Cape Flats guys who shoot up children and molest them/rape them probably do less time than this poor slob.
 
This is because it is a crime to distribute copyrighted content without permission in South Africa, lawyers have argued.
Click to expand...
Unless it's for profit it's a civil crime not a criminal one. Bittorrent can also prevent uploading.
 
Space_Chief said:
Sad thing about this is that on the Cape Flats guys who shoot up children and molest them/rape them probably do less time than this poor slob.
Click to expand...

He got a suspended sentence, so he hasn't done any time. I doubt a murderer or child molester will just get a suspended sentence. :erm:
 
So much work to take down this little guy do they put that much effort on serious crimes
 
kianm said:
So much work to take down this little guy do they put that much effort on serious crimes
Click to expand...

a lot of the serious crimes are committed or aided by the police themselves, so...
 
kianm said:
So much work to take down this little guy do they put that much effort on serious crimes
Click to expand...

It cost us, the tax payer, more money to charge and convict him than the dvd upload was worth.
 
daffy said:
Really? Surely you mean the IP address was assigned to a device, which may or may not have been under the control of the "pirate" in question.
Click to expand...

I have a feeling that the poor guy probably didn't have the resources to fight this in court and took the easiest way out. There are many arguments that could've been made in his defense including the fact that (based on the evidence mentioned in the article):

1) Being listed as a peer/seed does not necessarily prove he was the original uploader of the torrent. Only TPB would be able to conclusively identify the uploader of the torrent and they would give anyone requesting that info the finger.
2) Being a seed/peer doesn't necessarily prove that he shared anything or anything substantial.
3) Similarities in his nickname/usernames could be seen as circumstantial and "linking" a twitter account to a facebook account and using this as a basis for a warrant together with an unknown SA IP address in a peer list (which is not substantial enough to prove anything was shared or uploaded) to me is highly suspect.
 
quovadis said:
I have a feeling that the poor guy probably didn't have the resources to fight this in court and took the easiest way out. There are many arguments that could've been made in his defense including the fact that (based on the evidence mentioned in the article):

1) Being listed as a peer/seed does not necessarily prove he was the original uploader of the torrent. Only TPB would be able to conclusively identify the uploader of the torrent and they would give anyone requesting that info the finger.
2) Being a seed/peer doesn't necessarily prove that he shared anything or anything substantial.
3) Similarities in his nickname/usernames could be seen as circumstantial and "linking" a twitter account to a facebook account and using this as a basis for a warrant together with an unknown SA IP address in a peer list (which is not substantial enough to prove anything was shared or uploaded) to me is highly suspect.
Click to expand...

This is the part that makes me wonder. In order for the police to verify that the content is copyrighted, they'd have to download a fair chunk right - isn't this entrapment?

edit: oh, and in downloading via torrent, they'll be uploading the data too - entrapping more people and breaking copyright law.
 
2012 said:
This is the part that makes me wonder. In order for the police to verify that the content is copyrighted, they'd have to download a fair chunk right - isn't this entrapment?
Click to expand...

By running the torrent client his machine is advertising via the tracker to peers that he has pieces of the movie available on request, the police aren't inducing him to make that offer. They're allowed to go through with the deal to verify it, just like they can buy from drug dealers to confirm before performing the arrest.

2012 said:
edit: oh, and in downloading via torrent, they'll be uploading the data too - entrapping more people and breaking copyright law.
Click to expand...

Couldn't they just disable uploads?
 
genetic said:
He got a suspended sentence, so he hasn't done any time. I doubt a murderer or child molester will just get a suspended sentence. :erm:
Click to expand...

Check your privilege.

Another clever out of touch person.

You need to go and speak to the people who live there. Never mind the cases which are never solved or whose dockets are 'lost' or victims intimidated.

Suspended sentence is still a sentence.

:erm:
:erm:
:erm:
:erm:
:erm:

Since you're so fond of that smiley, genetic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X