A Woodbury, Connecticut, man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for
operating Web sites where users could download unauthorized copies of movies,
music and software titles, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

David M. Fish, 26, was sentenced Monday on criminal copyright infringement
and circumvention charges in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California in San Jose, the DOJ announced late Tuesday. Prosecutors accused
Fish of operating so-called warez sites offering downloads of thousands of products
protected by copyright. In addition to a 30-month prison term, Judge Ronald
Whyte sentenced Fish to three years of probation following his prison term and
the forfeiture of computer and other equipment used in the copyright offenses.

Fish pleaded guilty on Feb. 27, 2006, to five counts, including four counts
in the Northern District of California case for conspiracy to commit criminal
copyright infringement; distribution of technology primarily designed to circumvent
encryption technology protecting a right of a copyright owner and aiding and
abetting; circumventing a technological measure that protects a copyright work
and aiding and abetting; copyright infringement by electronic means and aiding
and abetting. On the same day, Fish also pleaded guilty to one count of criminal
infringement of a copyright on charges from the Southern District of Iowa, the
DOJ said.

The two cases involved separate investigations, but the charges were prosecuted
by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.

From about August 2004 to July 2005, Fish served as the operator, equipment
supplier and scripter for warez sites, according to the charges in the California
case. Fish also defeated technology measures designed to protect DVDs that had
been copyrighted, the DOJ said.

Fish participated in a separate warez site from January 2003 to April 2004,
according to the Iowa charges. The warez site's server contained about 13,000
pirated works, including movies, games, utility software and music, the DOJ
said. Transfer logs showed that Fish assisted in the uploading of 131 software
titles and the downloading of 373 software titles to and from the warez FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) server between August 2003 and March 2004, the DOJ
said.

The California case is part of Operation Copycat, an investigation by the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney's Office targeting online
warez groups. Operation Copycat has resulted in 40 convictions so far. The DOJ
has been conducting Operation Copycat and related investigations for more than
two years.

IDG News Service

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