AfterDawn: News

Italian music uploaders questioned, fined after raids

Four people were questioned on suspicion of illegally uploading music on the Internet in Italy, following a raid a raid near Milan. Along with facing criminal charges, the suspects were also handed an administrative fee of €12 million (approximately US$17.6M), levied under Article 174 of the Italian Copyright Act.

Officers from the Guardia di Finanza di Milano took part in Operation Genux which saw the arrest of four individuals aged between 30 and 45 in the town of Melgnano. They had been sharing more than 120,000 files containing copyright infringing music using the DirectConnect peer-to-peer service.



The raid led to the seizure of six computers, seven external hard discs and more than 2,300 CD-Roms, containing music from artists such as U2 and Madonna, and expensive software such as Vista retail discs. "This operation sends a very clear signal that the Italian authorities will not tolerate the mass uploading of copyright infringing material onto the internet," Enzo Mazza, Chairman of FIMI, said.

Mazaa added: "People are wrong to think they are anonymous when they post material onto peer-to-peer networks. In fact they can be located and legal action brought against them. The administrative fines levied in this case show that abusing copyright on a grand scale can be an extremely costly business."

Source:
Press Release

Written by: James Delahunty @ 10 Nov 2007 16:02

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• 4 comments

• Mestari81

  How they can say it is costly business when the guys did it for free.:(
  jesus really €12 million fine, i have to say those infamous words, now days p2p pirase is the worst crime there is, terrorist come second.;D
  Well in a way you have to understand, humans love money, those who have the money is the one who make the law, humans is corrupt to the core. To me these guys should have get a fair fine, because like i said it was free.

  12.11.2007 06:14 #1

• pryme_H

  What's up with these rampant raids across all seven continents?! And why would you risk your life uploading materials on P2P servers if you know it's unlawful?

  14.11.2007 08:32 #2

• varnull

  I remember last year everybody crowing that an Italian judge had dismissed a p2p case because "there was no financal gain by any of the parties involved, and without any profit for the file sharers as Italian law stands NO CRIME HAD BEEN COMMITTED!!"
  
  
  Looks like it's time to get a gun and start partaking in some "real" crime, because now legal things are deemed criminal there isn't much point in following the herd...
  
  There should be another 9/11.. this time on the offices of the mpaa and riaa, and all their cronies all over the world wherever they are. I hope somebody has a few pot shots at this judge.. I would if he came near me...
  
  Looks like another bunch of criminals in government have found an easy way to get very rich.. Buy your pirate dvd's and cd's from china dudes..
  
  keep the faith.

  14.11.2007 09:18 #3

• borhan9

  Quote:Mazaa added: "People are wrong to think they are anonymous when they post material onto peer-to-peer networks. In fact they can be located and legal action brought against them. The administrative fines levied in this case show that abusing copyright on a grand scale can be an extremely costly business."This could be proven incorrect by a piece of software we all know about :P maybe he should check the facts before he makes this kinda statment.

  1.12.2007 17:48 #4