Ex-Drexel student gets probation in Internet piracy
A former Drexel University student was sentenced yesterday to three years on probation and a $15,000 fine for his role in a global Internet piracy organization.
A former Drexel University student was sentenced yesterday to three years on probation and a $15,000 fine for his role in a global Internet piracy organization.
An Duc Do, 23, who graduated magna cum laude from Drexel in 2005, was a member of Elite Torrents, a group that made movies available over the Internet, sometimes before they were officially released.
The group caught the attention of the Motion Picture Association of America after it released
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
six hours before the movie's first screening.
Sith
was downloaded more than 10,000 times in 24 hours using the file-sharing system BitTorrent, according to the Department of Justice.
Duc Do, of Orlando, pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy and copyright infringement.
Duc Do was responsible for uploading
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Flight of the Phoenix,
and
King Arthur
to a computer server where 133,000 members could download the films.
In some circles, three major motion pictures might count for a huge haul of pirated treasures. Not so among the Elite Torrent crew, said Floyd Miller, who prosecuted the case for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia.
"They threatened to kick him out of the organization because he wasn't uploading as much as some of the other pirates were doing," Miller said.
Operation D-Elite, a joint investigation by the FBI and other federal agencies, dismantled Elite Torrent in May 2005.
Duc Do was hired by a defense contractor in Orlando after graduating from Drexel with a degree in computer science. Following sentencing yesterday in federal court in Philadelphia, he told Miller that he would have to resign his job at Lockheed Martin, where he has been developing military applications for video-war games.
In addition to probation and fines, Duc Do will have to serve 400 hours of community service.
One of the ringleaders of Elite Torrents, Daniel Dove, 26, of Virginia, was sentenced to 18 months in prison last week for his role in the organization.