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Doing Time: 24 Thief Faces Three Years in Prison
Chicagoan Jorge Romero could face up to three years in prison — and not the security-lax Fox River — for posting pirated episodes of 24 to LiveDigital.com, eight days before their broadcast bow. Back in January, Fox served LiveDigital (and YouTube, which is not named in the FBI's complaint) with a subpoena demanding the identification of the user who had posted yet-to-air episodes of 24 and The Simpsons; both sites complied with the request. In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, Twentieth Century Fox says, "We are grateful to the FBI and U.S. Attorney's offices in Los Angeles for aggressively pursuing this matter. Video-hosting sites such as LiveDigital and YouTube are not copyright-free zones, and indvidudals... who post episodes of television shows, particularly before they are even broadcast for the first time, will face harsh civil and criminal sanctions." Then again, maybe you'll get to shower alongside Paris. — MWM
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Jun 3, 2007 10:20 AM
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i bet that guy feels like a moron now, fox fighting the war on piracy one person at a time.
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Jun 3, 2007 12:12 PM
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Considering how the season turned out, shouldn't he be gettting, I don't know, something like whistleblower status?
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Jun 3, 2007 12:13 PM
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Where do people get unaired episodes if they are not insiders. I don't blame the production company, it is their property.
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Jun 3, 2007 4:06 PM
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I was wondering the same thing - how did he get the episodes in the first place? I imagine he must've had some inside connection at Fox. Even if he was a journalist, or knew one, it's not like they get every episode to preview.
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Jun 3, 2007 11:46 PM
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Three years in prison??? A bit harsh, I think. I'm sure he won't get sentenced for that long, but still. I think any prison time for copyright infringement is too much.
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Jun 4, 2007 1:52 PM
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The 24 epsiodes were able to be pirated since the person must have gotten hold of a copy of the DVD with the first 4 episodes that was to be released the day after the 2 day premiere ended.
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Jun 4, 2007 1:58 PM
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given that 24 tends to produce way before airing starts it's not a shock that the copies were out there.
and whether folks agree or not, copyright is the legal right of the folks that make the shows. they could go after those that bittorrent etc eps after they air but so far they haven't. but when someone sends out something prior to airing that risks serious denting of ratings. so yeah they will go after that.
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Jun 4, 2007 3:11 PM
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That is an appropriate sentence for taking someone else's hard put together work and just throwing it out there. The sentence should be the same for people who SPOIL shows. Same difference. Don't worry Ausiello I'll visit you once in a while
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Jun 4, 2007 8:36 PM
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