Scene member facing up to 5 years in prison
A sad news came today from US Department of Justice: A member of an online piracy group has been convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and faces up to five years in prison. Barry Gitarts, 25, of Brooklyn, New York, was convicted Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. In addition to up to five years in prison, Gitarts could face a fine of US$250,000, three years of probation and a requirement that he make full restitution, the DOJ said. Gitarts was a key member of the Internet music piracy group Apocalypse Production Crew (APC) from at least June 2003 through April 2004, the DOJ said. Gitarts paid for and administered a computer server located in Texas that APC group members used to upload and download hundreds of thousands of copies of pirated music, movies, software and video games, the agency said.
Gitarts also received payment from the leader of APC, the DOJ said. APC was a “first-provider” or “release group” of unauthorized materials online, the agency said. Release groups are the original sources for a majority of the pirated works downloaded through the Internet, the DOJ said. “Music piracy is stealing and, unless you want to end up in a federal prison, don’t do it,” Chuck Rosenberg, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) praised federal authorities for bringing the case to trial. The Gitarts case was the first time a federal prosecution of an online criminal copyright infringement case primarily featuring music has gone to trial, the RIAA said. The Gitarts case is part of an ongoing federal investigation into the organized piracy groups responsible for the distribution of movies, software, games and music on the Internet. There have been 15 criminal convictions of APC members and 56 total convictions in Operation FastLink, an international investigation into Internet piracy.
Source: PC World
Comments(56)
Not familiar with APC.
That is really a sad news.
well this sucks! never heard of APC though…
why host anything on american servers.
thats just asking for trouble.
Its odd but know matter how much the authorities say that this is stealing and that its causing loss artist seem to still be making millions. Why dont they focus on more important things.
dont worry there is always someone new.
by the way, when is the riaa gonna go and let us download as to “preview” albums so we dont waste money on a cd that has like 1 song we like.
and also we have to spend money on gas to go to the store to buy a cd. we can download it if we like it buy it on amazon and have a cd sent to us.
i rather buy artist i like and download the ones i feel arent worth 17$.
i would like to put that 17$ for a crap cd in my food or gas flow.
so its like we still buy cds and download as well
they need to give up.
RIP APC! I don’t think I ever had any of your rips but just the same… Rest In Peace!!
I thought apc was an aftertmarket car part company that make them ufo light for rice rockets. I seen their stickers plastered all over little civics.
In the immortal words of Super Chicken, “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred” in this case APC.
In the immortal words of Super Chicken, “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred”. In this case APC.
http://www.newzleech.com/usenet/?group=&minage=&age=&min=min&max=max&q=apc&mode=usenet&adv=
Let’s remember aPC by downloading some of their releases =]
DON’T ME$$ WITH TEXAS !
yes, apc was pretty big back in the day. along with rns and others. they will be missed.. even though they haven’t been active in a long time.
I remember aPC, they were at their peak about 6 years ago (I think so). They made some fine Mp3 releases back then, still have some of them around.
Godspeed Barry Gitarts and all the other (convicted or not) members of aPC.
I can only hope that Mr. Gitarts will see some ray of hope from his lawyer and somehow be able to free himself from this problem by challanging this verdict.
As for RIAA, every dog has it’s day… but eventually it will be over and night will fall. you just wait….
there was a murder of a women and her 6 yr old child in a park near my house couple weeks ago. how bout they put some money time and effort into finding rapists murderers and serial killers and leave us the hell alone.
wow you ripped a copy of a cd you bought and uploaded it. big f****** deal. you own it right?? can you not do what you want with your own property? cant i share what is mine with others if i want to? not in the usa apparently.
looks like he has been owned
what happend with RNS rip group???
Just do it!
@8 idiot alert
The scene sucks anyway long live P2P groups
@22
then why come to a site like rlslog where they only blog about scene releases…
most of the crap you see on P2P come from “scene” releases
never heard of them, but its never good when somethingn like this happens
but they’ll never stop the scene
“you’ve been owned by the crew!”
Think of the rep this guy will have in prison. Good thing his “crew” of tough PC geeks will have his back. No one will mess with him. Another hardened criminal off the streets so I can sleep safely at night.
I wish the popo would protect the common man with the same zeal they protect the money grubbers.
Musicians are the ones to blame, first. They want all the money for them, while they are making cds with one or two songs worth of paying something. They live in the biggest and most expensive houses, that they like to present in VH1, and they let this guy go to jail. Musicians, YOU SUCK!!!!
It’s really interesting that everyone who gets convicted cuz of
piracy has done his deed before a long time. Like this one has done it 4-5 years before and only now gets caught. :-S
“Music piracy is stealing”??
woot? someone at the DOJ needs some serious guantanamo analinspection. Ofcoz piracy is legit.
(My) Wages are falling coz of globalisation,rite?
So how much does an african teenager have to pay for a Beatles song? A dollar? Or even a euro? Doubt that.
Copyrighttheft is impossible if there is no legit way of pricing it. And I do not think anyone has the right to prevent people from listening to any music they want.
STOP BUYING MUSIC if you want the senseless arrests of thousands to stop! Sooner or later RIAA and others will run out of money.
Polydor, Universal, Sony, BMG? > YOU are the criminals!
what is the damn price for a song in a global world?
Damn, f’acking a$$hol€$ use our tax money against us.
“Music piracy is stealing and, unless you want to end up in a federal prison, don’t do it,” Chuck Rosenberg, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement.
Music piracy is not stealing. The greed machines of the US, controlled by corporations, is stealing. Do me a favor and go commit suicide you twat attorney fack face !
damn only like 3 members left still hanging around
RNS was never busted they disbanded and a few members merged with SAW, who don’t rls with the grp name anymore
It’s only a possible five years. And he is only 25, so he’ll be out and getting offers from the computer industry before he is 30.
Plus, he is getting off cheap with a max of $250,000 fine. He made more than that with all of the material he and his group released.
Always upload to rapidshare and do not have a website dedicated to stolen music that you host on your servers.
its easy for you to say it’s not stealing, when it’s not your hard work and living that is being comprimised. Unlike what most of you own or do, music/movies can be digitally duplicated and sold as the same quality, thus resulting in less money in your pocket. Good for anyone cracking down on illegal activity, regardless of what some low life website users say.
this is pathetic. … never visit move or travel to US. this will cripple their economy a bit.
my moto is this : Download the music you like .. if you want to suppport the artist .. just go to their concerts or buy cds.
thats it.
lol @ post 12
“DON’T ME$$ WITH TEXAS !”
Its not nice to pick on r3tards!
lol
I think That the Companies We Are getting Services From Should Pay For All That Bull Crap . I mean Why Do We pay For The Internet, Just to Surf , And Buy Crap Online, When We Can Surf by Walking To these Stores And Getting What We Want Without Having To Pay A Bill Of 50.00$ to 100.00 $ For Internet Service . If Im paying Close to 60.00$ A Month For Nothing,Than You better Believe im Downloading Things For Free On the net . I Paid My Money , FUUkk The RIAA, And The USA Nazifyde State, They Call ALL DIE AND FAST TOO PLEASE .I Am Tired Of A Government Telling Me What i Can And Can Not Do ,With What I Am Paying For Out Of My Poacket.Something Should Be Done On Our part ,Cuz They Are Creating New Angencies For Us All The Time And We Just Sit Like Fools Waiting For Them For Come For us In Any Way.
One More Thing, getting Mzk From The Net is not Stealing. If Anything ,The People Are The Ones getting Rob , By The mzk Companies They Set the Prices And People Like Duh And Thirsty They Are , They Buy Em At the Price Set . Now The Artist Is Does Not Know What The Price Is And End Up having to Protect Their Mzk Without Knowing What The Prieces Are At All Staore Locations . With That , The Mzk Companies Are Robbing The Artist And The People At The Same Time . This Download Of mzk Is Not Criminal . I Always Thought Being A Criminal Only Involved Murdering ,Killing People For Their properties ,Lands ,Homes Ect . But, Downloading Mzk Is Not Involving MURDER . A Criminal And A Downloader Are Not The Same.
another soldier fallen…
Chuck Rosenberg < JEWS EVERYWHER!!!
LoL serves them right to think they could get away with it in such a horribly policed state.
If you want to pirate things you might want to move out of the most restricted first world country.
sorry to hear…..
Meh, every time we hear of some scene group being busted, its always some small time that nobody has heard of. mVs is the only high end group I can think of that got busted, but he was kinda asking for it…I dont think situations like this pose any threat to the major scene, at least until somebody from Vitality or Pukka end up here…
My sympathy does go out to him. Dont be so quick to say that they deserve it. It is very hard to cover all your bases; something is always left behind…
it is not small time, idiot, for you not collecting music or knowing what’s a scene release for 2 weeks.
aPC released some nice stuff I have around including some great breaks (plumps or freeland)
show how young and uneducated you are if you only know mVs as the “biggest” name when most ppl woould have said doa opr pwa…
Its just another joke from the american government!
There is so much more important things going on in the world.. Like MURDERS – RAPES – WAR – INHUMANTIES!
They are fighting a losing war in piricay…
You take ONE GUY OUT – There will be 10 million people to take his place!
Just the the “war on drugs” – They government “think” they can win.. But its a pipe-dream!
Having knowledge of multiple release groups as member in them since last 10 years and I cant say APC rings any bells. Well, you have to be extra careful or stupid to do any “crimes” in US cause even spitting on road gives you death penalty if it causes a carcrash :p But yep yep, they can bust single or small groups forever, it definitely wont change the fact as all have seen since start. As guy above me says, there’s much more concerning stuff that slacks resources, but its the money that rules all in this business afterall.
i completely disagree with 26. most musicians i know are not greedy, record execs are. musicians are just as ripped off as their fans.
download their music
pay for their shows
i remember aPC.
a lot of grps seem to be going anonymous. first they quit personalised nfos, now many don’t tag with a grp name anymore.
how is it stealing if i wasnt even planning to buy the album in the first place ?
^I agree with you^
Musicians art is for public consumption, a good artist will always make an adequate living from their talented work. If Madona can’t afford to buy more children because she’s not hitting her sales figures we should not care. Nor should we care when copyright holders are denied their copyright holdings. That is not theft, it’s a market dictating worth.
Know the feeling, been to the cinema yesterday (Ironman)
kost me 8,55€ for the movie and 2,3€ for a coca. thats 11€ just to go see a movie on your own :s.
btw thats something of 19$
lets stop this type of thing from happening by…all gang up together go down to the prison and break them out,if its like 10000+ of us,i dont think they will cause us too much trouble,the scenes need to reunite ,,,and take over everything
REVOLUTION!!!
aPC releases on NewzLeech:
http://www.newzleech.com/usenet/?min=min&max=max&q=altbin+efnet+apc&mode=usenet
Just a cleaner link than in #11 with only a few irrelevant results (such as Adobe Photoshop CS3 for ‘apc’)
had a chat with a good friend last night about piracy.
he was pointing the finger at me saying i download too much (cause i do really, but still not as much as some)… he asked me when i last bought a cd or dvd – 1 month ago. i asked him when he last bought one – over a year ago.
now this is tiny anecdotal evidence, but its a strong argument. without the early p2p sharers (yay audiogalaxy), i probably wouldntve got into music anywhere near the way i am, and wouldnt have amassed a ridiculous album collection. likewise with dvds – i dont have as many (its rare that i really enjoy a film, so that makes sense) but ive got 40-50 dvds of films i really LOVE.
admittedly i dont go to the cinema as much as when i was a kid, but to be honest thats because i CANT AFFORD to – ticket and popcorn and drink costs at least £10 ($20) pretty much anywhere in the uk, so i cant see how thatd be any different if i wasnt downloading.
lastly, tv – who loses in the tv downloading, really? its a small (in terms of demographics) group of people watching pirated shows, and if they like what they see, they recommend it to friends, family etc – the show gets a whole load of free word of mouth promotion (the most effective kind), and doesnt lose any money because it generates revenue from adverts or (in the case of the bbc) a license fee.
so really, what’s the problem here? as long as we ‘pirates’ operate with a degree of common sense and support the musicians and filmmakers we like, and delete the stuff we dont (ask yourself – am i really going to ever going to want to listen to/watch that again?), we’re really doing no harm to an ‘entertainment industry’ that is struggling only because it continues to operate absurdly top-heavy pay structures, and regularly throws money away on self-congratulatory partying/schmoozing.
btw – does anyone know downhillbattle.org? any idea why its offline?
i hope Barry won’t get raped in the butt
@44
STFU already. Why is it dumb people like you decide to flame me whenever I try to post something?! You lack logical motivation to attack me…
Fine, Ill humor you. Ive been into the scene for 3 years. If youll notice, I said “to my knowledge” which means mVs was the biggest group I had herd of being busted. Besides, I get all my scene info here on RLSLOG, so it is very possible that I had not heard of them. And for the record, I dont really care about music releases. Any dummy with the right programs can rip a CD…
And on a side note since the wealth of your intelligence and logic is unbelievably insignificant, “education” was not the term you were looking for…though it does satisfy your context with the least amount of relevance possible for such a statement. So primitive…