An interesting case
Discussion
I first came across this case some time ago on geek news sites, how might this scenario play out in under UK law?
BBC News said:
A US lawyer could be jailed for up to 10 years for helping to upload porn films to file-sharing sites and then sue people who downloaded them.
Paul Hansmeier has pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering for his part in the Prenda Law piracy scheme.
Prenda is believed to have made about $3m (£2.3m) from the scheme.
His guilty plea is part of an agreement that will ensure he does not receive a sentence longer than 150 months.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45246713Paul Hansmeier has pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering for his part in the Prenda Law piracy scheme.
Prenda is believed to have made about $3m (£2.3m) from the scheme.
His guilty plea is part of an agreement that will ensure he does not receive a sentence longer than 150 months.
It sounds a bit clickbaity to be honest. As I understand it he is being prosecuted (and pleading guilty to) wire fraud and money laundering.
The whole honeypot piracy/entrapment thing is the window dressing if you will around which these charges are being brought. I don't see any suggestion that there are charges specific to these acts.
A news article that says "Man pleads guilty to wire fraud & money laundering" isn't particularly captivating though.
The whole honeypot piracy/entrapment thing is the window dressing if you will around which these charges are being brought. I don't see any suggestion that there are charges specific to these acts.
A news article that says "Man pleads guilty to wire fraud & money laundering" isn't particularly captivating though.
Durzel said:
It sounds a bit clickbaity to be honest. As I understand it he is being prosecuted (and pleading guilty to) wire fraud and money laundering.
The whole honeypot piracy/entrapment thing is the window dressing if you will around which these charges are being brought.
A news article that says "Man pleads guilty to wire fraud & money laundering" isn't particularly captivating though.
IT is my field so I found the honeypot thing interesting; when you put it like that it is not really any different to how most frauds actually operate.The whole honeypot piracy/entrapment thing is the window dressing if you will around which these charges are being brought.
A news article that says "Man pleads guilty to wire fraud & money laundering" isn't particularly captivating though.
The Prenda Law saga has been grinding on for years, it is well, well worth reading the coverage on PopeHat and ArsTechnica if you're at all interested in the anatomy of this sort of scam.
Essentially they produced their own porn, deliberately made it illegally available on bittorrent etc, then extorted money out of people claimed to have downloaded the content in the form of letters demanding payment or they'd go to court. It has taken years to get to this point.
https://www.popehat.com/tag/prenda-law/
https://arstechnica.com/tag/prenda-law/
Essentially they produced their own porn, deliberately made it illegally available on bittorrent etc, then extorted money out of people claimed to have downloaded the content in the form of letters demanding payment or they'd go to court. It has taken years to get to this point.
https://www.popehat.com/tag/prenda-law/
https://arstechnica.com/tag/prenda-law/
Oakey said:
If they, as the copyright holders, made it available on bittorrent, then aren't they giving their approval for it to be downloaded?
That's the scam, they claimed to be operating on behalf of the "wronged" copyright holders, but in fact they were one and the same. They fraudulently raked in a lot of money.Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff