Thursday Evening Links > FBI files CRIMINAL charges against music uploader

Signaling what could be a more aggressive stance in the fight against online music piracy, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a Los Angeles man on copyright-infringement charges for posting on his Web site nine songs from a yet-to-be-released album by the rock band Guns N' Roses.

The songs appeared in June on a music Web site, antiquiet.com, which is registered to Kevin Cogill under the alias Kevin Skwerl. The FBI says Mr. Cogill, 27 years old, told investigators he uploaded the songs to the site.

The case represents "the beginning of an effort to be more aggressive," said Kathy Loedler, the RIAA's director of investigations for the western region, adding that the industry wanted to add bite to its existing strategy. "When we tell somebody to just take it down and there's no penalty, there's no arrest, there's no fine, it's very easy for them to continue to do it."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said the RIAA had alerted the Department of Justice to the case, and he planned to prosecute similar cases as they arose. "We take this type of crime very seriously," he said.

The Guns N' Roses album, "Chinese Democracy," which has been in the works for years, has suffered from Internet leaks before, including an excerpt of the song "I.R.S." in 2005. An updated version leaked the following year and ended up getting airtime on radio stations across the country. More tracks leaked in 2007. The songs Mr. Cogill uploaded appear to be a combination of new versions of previously leaked works and new material.

Larry Solters, a spokesman for Guns N' Roses, said the band's representatives "have been made aware of the arrest, and are leaving the matter to authorities."

If convicted of the copyright charges, Mr. Cogill faces a maximum sentence of three years in federal prison, or five years if it is proven that he uploaded the songs for financial gain.

In a 2006 Tennessee case involving two men who uploaded unreleased Bryan Adams songs to the Internet, which the RIAA believes is the only other criminal case involving prereleased songs uploaded online, the men received sentences of house arrest and two years' probation. Federal law changed in 2005, making it a crime to upload copyright work to the Internet.

said by fAcEtIOUs:

RIAA gets the Feds to do their work on worst offenders.

said by insomniac84:

So you are upset over wasted tax payer money, yet you go on to say you have no problems with the RIAA using the legal system to do just that. Do you really think courts are free?

said by pnh102:

That's a silly conclusion. Civil courts serve a legitimate purpose. If we took your idea to its logical conclusion, we might as well shut down the civil court system in this country.

said by pnh102:

The FBI should be going after criminals who pose a physical threat to others.

said by insomniac84:

So basically you are saying it's ok to abuse the civil court system all you want, but when it comes to criminal law we need to "take it seriously".

said by insomniac84:

You do know there are many crimes that don't physically hurt people, right?