Hong Kong Fooey – Man jailed for sharing movies on BitTorrent
Posted by Lab Rat
A Hong Kong man is the first person in the world to be jailed for sharing movie files over the internet. The BBC reports 38 year-old Chan Nai-ming, who went by the poorly-chosen screenname “Big Crook�, was found guilty of sharing his copies of the movies Daredevil, Red Planet, and Miss Congeniality over the BitTorrent network.
While Nai-ming is certainly guilty of horrible taste in movies, should he be found guilty of a crime? The movie industry thinks so. The MPA and Hong Kong authorities hope Nai-ming’s three-month jail sentence will help deter other Hong Kong pirates who are responsible for an estimated $900 million in lost sales in Asia alone.
BitTorrent has been a thorn in the movie industry’s side for years. Until now, the best the MPA’s lawyers have been able to do is to close down some of the more prominent BitTorrent websites. The MPA’s hope that this arrest will help to stem the flow of pirated movies originating in Hong Kong seems to be without merit, however. Since Nai-ming’s arrest in April, there has been no noticeable decline in BitTorrent activity.
In related news, Grokster, another file-sharing service, shut down its operations today as part of a landmark court settlement with the music industry.
Serves him right.
Everyone that swaps songs/movies should go to jail…now that I no longer do it!
🙂
🙂 I don’t think there ‘s a way to protect digital content, n yet nothing can replace such a instant gratification of downing.