No Jail Time for Aussie File Traders
by Richard Menta, 11/18/03

19 year old Peter Tran and 20 year old Charles Kok Hau Ng were looking at five years each for their convictions in Australia's first criminal prosecution against those who facilitate the trading on music files over the Net. They were also facing massive fines as the music industry tried to pin the loss of 43 million US dollars specifically to their actions.

The judge today passed down a judgement far less severe.


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Neither Tran nor Ng will spend any time in prison for their conviction for making 1800 tracks available on their site MPW3/WMA Land. The judged ruled that because of their age at the time and the fact they never profited from their actions, no jail time was warranted.

He gave both Tran and Ng 18-month suspended sentences. Additionally, Tran was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine. Ng and a third participant, 21 year old Tommy Le were given 200 hours of community service.

The record industry was not happy with the results.

Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) - the record industry watch dog that helped track down and arrest the three men - manager Michael Speck called the court's decision a slap on the wrist. As he told the Australian press:

"Australia had the opportunity to show the world how seriously it was taking this type of crime..."Instead, the court has allowed them to walk away after saying that they deserved to go to jail -- it's virtually an invitation for Internet pirates to set themselves up in Australia."

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock felt that justice was properly meted out. As he told public radio "A conviction resulted and penalties have now been imposed so that would suggest to me that the law is working as intended,"

"Australia had the opportunity to show the world how seriously it was taking this type of crime..."Instead, the court has allowed them to walk away after saying that they deserved to go to jail -- it's virtually an invitation for Internet pirates to set themselves up in Australia."

Sure. Everyone is going to setup a site now and spread thousands of RIAA music files. Sure...

What a crock. I'm sure Australia has the resources to go on a big prison-building boom to house up kids who file trade.Another example of the incredible arrogance of the big labels, worldwide.

What sucks, of course, is these kids wind up with a felony conviction on their records.

A $5000 dollar slap on the wrist. I would call that excessive. While I'm glad to hear they didn't get stuffed in jail, they have already settled with people for less for sharing more music. 5000 bucks might not seem like much to these ass holes but I could live off that for a year.

I can't wait until we read about investigations into the various actions of the RIAA which seem questionable...I wonder if they will be so quick to see the judge take a hard line when they are being taken to court.

HAHAHAHAHA lol lol lol lol the music industry is not happy with the results they are so stupid to go the route of suing their fans like most business's go suing their customer on a daily bases and expect everone to roll over to do their bidding is really laughable, I feel bad the kids will have some sort of record and still have to pay some sort of fine.
But I lol when I think about what the RIAA wants to happen which is really ridiculas in reality.

Does anyone know an riaA insider? I would love to see how many illegal copies of M$ Office are on their 'puters - or any other software for that matter.

If I'm reading this correctly, the RIAA wanted no less than a public hanging... at the very least a stoning. Any chance we can get the folks suing MJ to include the RIAA? The RIAA is molesting children everyday and they certainly could do with a few more high-profile negative lawsuits. Reguardless of who wins a molestation case.. the accused is condemned for life.

The Aussie guys deserve a standing ovation for standing up to the music industry (reguardless of the law, I see no harm in sharing).

FewInhibitions
turn em over to the BSA...
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