Six men have been accused of running the world’s most prolific music piracy ring, an online crew federal prosecutors allege delivered more than 25,000 copyrighted albums, often before they were officially released.
As members of Rabid Neurosis, or RNS as the group was called, they tapped insiders at music retailers, radio stations, and CD manufacturing plants, who were able to get their hands on music titles before their commercial release in the US. In other cases, they turned to affiliates elsewhere in the world, who were able to supply music that was not yet available in America.
“These reproductions were done for the benefit of the members of RNS and other affiliated piracy groups, in that, by getting a reputation for providing pirated materials that were previously unavailable on the piracy scene, RNS members were granted access to massive libraries of pirated music, video games, software and movies,” prosecutors alleged in court documents filed Wednesday.
Seems like the Feds have been busy in recent year, all kinds of hackers, phishers an dnow pirates are getting arrested and imprisoned for some serious jailtime.
The latest in this strung of busts is the music piracy ground RNS or Rabid Neurosis, very eminent in the scene in the late 90s/early 2000s.
They have an impressive record though often releasing full retail albums before they were for sale! They stopped around 2007 tho, I guess that’s when Bit Torrent and p2p was really taking off.
25,000 albums is a serious number though I’d guess their restitution is definitely going to be in the millions. But then historically the fines given out for piracy cases has just been completely ridiculous.
The most likely outcome, 6 more people filling for bankruptcy.
The claim of personal benefit is important, since sentencing guidelines frequently require a showing that copyright infringers financially gained from their activities.
Wednesday’s indictment, filed in US District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia, named Adil R. Cassim, 29, of Granada Hills, California, the alleged leader of the group, Matthew D. Chow, 28, of Missouri City, Texas, Bennie L. Glover, 35, of Shelby, North Carolina, an employee of a CD production plant, and Edward Mohan II, 46, of Baltimore.
Each was charged with a single count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. If convicted each faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, in addition to a possible order to pay restitution.
Patrick L. Saunders, 30, of Brooklyn, New York, was charged in August and pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of copyright infringement. James A. Dockery, 39, of Mooresboro, North Carolina was charged on Tuesday.
Tags: Federal Case, Legal Issue, Music Privacy, Privacy
Great post! I feel that we people are all the more responsible for this phenomena rather than anyone else.
Yes very true. But when things are over priced people tend to do other wise! They always complain about free things
Kill Privacy
Hmm.. Thats right. After all they are glad that something is free. LOL
Even the content provider should think from our end when fixing the prices! Couple of $ would bring them more revenues than 100's $ less selling products