Jury Convicts P2P Kingpin In Landmark Case
A federal jury in Big Stone Gap, Va., has convicted the administrator for EliteTorrents.org, an Internet piracy site that, until May 2005, was a source of infringing copyrighted works, specifically pre-release movies, the Justice Department announced Friday. Daniel Dove, 26, was convicted on one count each of conspiracy and felony copyright infringement. EliteTorrents used BitTorrent peer-to-peer technology to distribute pirated works to thousands of members around the world, the agency said.
Evidence presented to the jury showed that Dove recruited members who had very high-speed Internet connections, usually at least 50 times faster than a typical high-speed residential Internet connection, to become uploaders. Evidence also showed that Dove operated a high-speed server, which he used to distribute pirated content. The case is the first criminal conviction after jury trial for P2P copyright infringement and the eighth conviction resulting from a nationwide sting against illegal P2P activity.
The jury in this case was presented with evidence that, at its height, EliteTorrents attracted more than 125,000 members and facilitated the illegal distribution of approximately 700 movies, which were downloaded more than 1.1 million times. Evidence presented to the jury also established that massive amounts of high-value software, video games and music were made available to members of the EliteTorrents group. Dove's sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 9, 2008. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
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