ATLANTA - A federal magistrate has ordered a man known as "DJ Rock" held without bail in what federal authorities Thursday called the largest music piracy operation ever discovered in the United States.

DJ Rock, whose real name is Khalid Ahmed Satary, was arrested Oct. 28 under a 15-count indictment accusing six people of music piracy.

Federal and local authorities involved in the investigation say the counterfeit operation pirated music by several dozen popular artists, including Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Snoop Dog, Ludacris and Eminem.

At a news conference, U.S. Attorney Bill Duffy accused Satary of creating "an illegal market" with a gross retail value of more than $50 million.

Satary, who lives in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville, is accused of having run a counterfeit CD and audio cassette manufacturing and distribution business since 1999.

Complete Story at CNN

these guys should be punished. they are trying to make a profit off of others copyrighted work. I'm glad they caught them.

Too bad this helps the riaa.

The publicity is what helps them. Most people will still equate file sharing / downloading and music pirate as meaning the same thing. So this will just be more ammunition for their propaganda war.

As in how the public will stop at nothing to steal from us (riaa)...

btw, I doubt if they were just selling these on the streets. I think they must have had retailers looking the other way because at $15 us that would be over 3,000,000 cds to peddle!

These are the guys the $150,000 per song penalty were intended for. This is what the copyright LAWS were intended for. Here is someone copying copyrighted works and selling them and pocketing the money. When files are shared, no one profits that does the sharing or received the files.

Sure, you don't have to buy the music anymore, but if you really like the music and/or the artist, you'll buy it anyways, especially if you become familiar with the music.

I think an amendment for the copywrite law should read "50 $ per song up to a maximum of 250,000" At least then its semi reasonable. This guy should be hit with the current law, Filesharers should be hit with this one(no commercial gain)

I agree, IneedA. Guys like that are the bastards that must be stopped. I applaud the arrest on mr DJ Rock. I just wish the RIAA and the rest of the freakin' government would focus the hatred towards "piracy" in the right direction: purposely taking away the artists profits (or lack thereof) and the companies profits for their own.

Bah.

The greatest piracy of all comes not from the people riaa go after, but the artists they screw over so badly. We just won't see them admit it.

Downtown Los Angeles probably has a similar market, but i don't see anything happening to change the illegal dvd and cd market there.

headlessHobbs, I'm not sure I agree with you 100% here, some musicians are so lazy that the only reason they make any money at all is because of the people behind them, promoting and pushing the artist, not all the industry is that bad, If artists are unwilling or unable to figure out what is a good deal or a bad deal then thats up to them.


I know a lot of people here hate the RIAA and I support the boycott because suing your customers is wrong, the RIAA was surely set up to stop the likes of DJ Rock so I applaud those people involved in the tracking down of these criminals.

Yes some record companies screw the artist but that does not mean they all do, you can't say that all RIAA affiliated record companies screw their artists either. You can say however that all these affiliated companies are screwing their customers !

"At a news conference, U.S. Attorney Bill Duffy accused Satary of creating "an illegal market" with a gross retail value of more than $50 million."

I'm accusing the recording industry of having "an illegal market" of more than they're worth.

According to the federal indictment, the business was run out of several offices and plants, mostly in the Atlanta area. The indictment says Satary's former girlfriend and secretary, Pamela Harris, told the FBI that Satary regularly wired profits to bank accounts in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Israel.

Satary's wife, a U.S. citizen, and his children live in the UAE, where his wife owns and operates a bridal gown shop. Duffy said he could not comment on what happened to the profits once they reached the Middle East, because the investigation was continuing.

Satary appeared Monday before U.S. District Judge Beverly Martin. He was ordered held without bond, because he was considered a flight risk.

This was no P2Per out to find some cool music. This guy was turning profit of the infringment which is exactly what should be illegal in my opinion. Unfortunatly this case and cases like it will be used to attack P2Pers and other personal users as well.

"Cargo plane full of terrorists dressed in wedding gowns and pirated music slams into area highrise."

Watch your local headlines.

Ein-Tier...

Actually, only two comments.
I wonder what actually charges are being pressed on his...I know it's not "piracy".
Second comment..since money was going to the United Arab Emirates..watch them try to tie this in with funding terrorism and use the Patriot Act on him.

That IS STEALING!!!! They need to keep what stealing really is instead of making SHARING the same word!

Exactly what I was thinking, boycotter. Their blanket use of the term "music piracy" has come to encompass blatant bootlegging, such as in this article, as well as p2p. Two wholly different things wrapped up as one.

Bootleg recordings being distributed for profit are illegal, and should be.

There are plenty of laws on the federal books which can, and are, used to combat illegal, commercial, bootleg CDs and tapes:
"Federal Laws
The three primary federal laws used to combat this crime are:


1) U.S. Copyright Law {Title 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq., Title 18 U.S.C., Section 2319 and Section 2319A}: The federal law protects sound recordings first "fixed" as of February 15, 1972. The law protects copyright owners from the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of sound recordings to the public. Section 2319 applies only to those recordings that are "fixed" with authorization on or after February I 5, 1972 (that is, when the performance is put into a tangible form such as a tape, record or CD).
Those recordings "fixed" prior to February 15, 1972, are protected by criminal law through a state's unauthorized duplication statute. On the civil side, recordings are protected by a state's competition laws.

Criminal sound recording copyright infringements are punishable by up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Repeat offenders can be imprisoned up to 10 years. Individuals may also be held civilly liable to the copyright owner for actual damages or lost profits or for statutory damages up to $100,000 per infringed copyright.


2) Trafficking In Counterfeit Labels {Title 18 U.S. C., Section 2318}: This statute covers counterfeit labels intended to be affixed to a sound recording. A "counterfeit label" includes any component of the entire package of a prerecorded audio cassette, company disc or album cover. The definition also extends to a situation where counterfeiters have simulated "genuine" labels that have not previously existed. A person can be convicted under this law for trafficking in a finished product that contains a counterfeit label, as well as a component of that product, such as the insert card for an audio cassette. This statute imposes penalties of up to five years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines.

3) Trademark Counterfeiting {Title 18 U.S.C. Section 2320}: This statute deals with sound recordings that also contain the counterfeit trademark of the legitimate manufacturer or artists. The statute covers the "trafficking" as well as attempting to traffick goods containing the counterfeit marks. The penalties imposed by this statute for legal entities, such as corporations, range from $1 million to $5 million. Penalties for individuals range from five years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines to 15 years in prison and/or $1 million in fines.

4) Anti-Bootleg Statute {Section 2319A}: This federal anti-bootleg statute was created in December 1994. Like the pre-existing state statutes, the new federal statute criminalizes the unauthorized manufacture, distribution or trafficking in sound recordings and music videos of "live" musical performances. However, the federal statute also provides for the seizure of bootleg recordings or music videos manufactured outside the United States by U.S. Customs at the point of importation. In effect, bootleg recordings are now subject to seizure and forfeiture in the same manner as other property in violation of customs laws."
From http://www.grayzone.com/faqindex.htm

Code,
I have to say with exeption to the rule of artist who promote bootlegging for their audience to enjoy from bands of the like the GREATFUL DEAD,and other bands like them I think this is what the DMCA was made for people who make and sell for profit music or DVD's that does take money away from the artist and anyone else who was involved in the making the works.
It was not I think designed for making shareing in the same context as "stealing" or "piracy" it is a way overboard blanket use of twisting definitions.

Bet ya money the Riaa or any of their bot slinging toadies had nothing to do with getting this guy.

Probably good old police work did the trick.

YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN IT ONLY TAKES ONE A$$HOLE TO MESS UP A GOOD DEAL (P2P) FOR THOSE WHO HONESTLY DO NOT MAKE ANY PROFIT FROM IT. IF THE RIAA REALLY WANTS TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE THEN THEY NEED TO PUT THEIR TIGHT-ASS SPIES IN SOME OF THESE ROUGH NEIGHBORHOODS WHERE A LOT OF THESE CDS ARE BEING SOLD AND ACTUALLY CATCH THEM (BOOTLEGGERS) IN ACTION. INSTEAD OF HIDDING BEHIND A PC SPYING LIKE LITTLE BUG A BOO TERMITES JUST HIDDING IN THE WOODWORK.

I added that part of about making commercial bootlegs, to differentiate them from those people who are making bootlegs with the approval of bands.

I have been talking to other bands lately trying to get them to come here,and maybe join dmusic.

I believe that these people are are betting a CD, and using multiple burner units and then selling them on a black market in China and Russia, are being thrown in with people who are making single copies for home listening, and we must differentiate ourselves from those people. The people who are making illegal CDs and selling them, are definitely ripping artists off, and the country and world at large, have to see that we are NOT for ripping artists off.

Let's take George for example. George sells his CDs . Now, let's say Joe Blow gets hold of one of George's CDs and clones it with multiple burners, and starts selling them. That is ripping George off, and I would be against that.

George works hard to make music, and it costs money to produce music. He deserves the right to sell his own music, and not to be ripped off.

Now, the RIAA would say that that scenario is the same as file trading of RIAA associated songs. Obviously it is not, and if we are ever to push our side of this debate forward, we must delineate this point.
~Code

Right on Code, I'm with ya on that the whole nine yards.

Just TRY to mass produce and sell one of Electric Gypsy's sons/albums without permission. You will get legally "bitch-slapped!" ...But if you wanna SHARE our tunes via P2P or burn a few CD's for your friends, Electric Gypsy will CHEER!

There is such a thing as FAIR USE

AND there is such a thing as COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Don't let John Q. Public confuse the two.
The RIAA's mission IS to confuse John Q. Public... but they ALSO lobby hard to legaly get rid of/distort FAIR USE.

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
Support Local and Independent Music!