US convicts first P2P pirates

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The US Justice Department won its first convictions for copyright piracy perpetrated on P2P networks via its "Operation Digital Gridlock".

William Trowbridge, of New York and Michael Chicoine, of California each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit felony criminal copyright infringement before Judge Paul Friedman in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The men made available millions of dollars worth of movies, music, computer games and software on P2P sites they maintained for at least two years, the department said.

"As today's pleas demonstrate, those who steal copyrighted material will be caught, even when they use the tools of technology to commit their crimes," Attorney General John Ashcroft said. "The theft of intellectual property victimizes not only its owners and their employees but also the American people, who shoulder the burden of increased costs for goods and services. The Department of Justice is committed to pursuing and bringing to justice those who commit intellectual property theft."
The convictions resulted from Operation Digital Gridlock, an investigation conducted by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.

Meanwhile, a bill introduced in California's Legislature has raised the possibility of jail time for developers of file-swapping software who don't stop trades of copyrighted movies and songs online.

Introduced by Los Angeles Sen. Kevin Murray, it takes direct aim at companies that distribute software such as Kazaa, eDonkey or Morpheus. If passed into law, it could expose file-swapping software developers to fines of up to $2,500 per charge, or a year in jail, if they don't take "reasonable care" in preventing the use of their software to swap copyrighted music or movies.

Peer-to-peer software companies and their allies immediately criticized the bill as a danger to technological innovation, and as potentially unconstitutional.