Upload 18 Songs In Russia... Face Six Years In Prison

from the punishment-not-fitting-the-crime dept

Fri, Jan 21st 2011 11:39am — Mike Masnick

To hear the US entertainment industry talk, Russia is a horrible "haven for pirates." The US has been putting diplomatic pressure on Russia for yeas to improve its copyright laws and enforcement, with Russia regularly receiving a place on the "naughty or nice" Special 301 Report from the USTR. And yet... it certainly sounds like Russian copyright laws and enforcement are pretty damn draconian, with the news coming out that a guy, who is accused of uploading 18 songs to the social network Vkontakte, is now facing six years in prison. While it's true that Russia has (quite reasonably) argued that Vkontakte itself is not liable for uploads of others, just the fact that someone could be facing any jail time for simple uploading, let alone six years for basically an album's worth of materials seems way out of proportion to the "crime." It's things like this that make people respect copyright even less than they already do. When they see that someone is facing so much time in prison just for sharing less than 20 songs, it's the sort of thing that makes them realize the laws don't make any sense at all.

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Filed Under: copyright, prison, russia, uploads
Companies: vkontakte

38 Comments

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Marcus Carab (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 11:35am

"Russian Democracy" anyone?
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Dark Helmet (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 11:48am

Yeah, but...
In Russian prison, there's a whole business around the system where your friends/family can buy you all kinds of awesome shit and have it delivered directly to your jail cell. Everything from cigarettes to electronics to DVDs.

Meh, Russian prison sounds like American college....
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 11:48am

In Russia, songs upload you (to jail)
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Hephaestus (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 11:50am

Still waiting for the death penalty to be used to stop those damn infringers. We won't put murderers to death but people infringing on copyright ... hang them high!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 11:50am

BUT COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 11:51am

Re:
CULTURE HARD!!!!
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 11:56am

Re: Yeah, but...
Sounds nice... do they have any prisons in a tropical climate?
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 11:57am

Re: Re:
FIRE BAD!!!
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Hephaestus (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 11:58am

Re: Re: Re:
BURMA SHAVE!!!
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Dark Helmet (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:00pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
THEM STEALERS ARE RUINNING OUR ALL CAPS RESIDUAL JOKES INDUSTRY!!!!@!@
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:03pm

CHINA STRONG!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:04pm

Re:
(threading fail) :(
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Dave, 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:06pm

Sacrificial lamb, anyone?
Yeah, a token punishment of a small-time infringer, while the Russian mob continues with the real infringing by paying off gov't officials...
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Berenerd (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:06pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (as per US Law)
WILL ANYONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!?!?!?!?
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Dark Helmet (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:09pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (as per US Law)
THERE MUST BE MORE TO THIS STORY!!!1212@?!?
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Jesse, 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:11pm

This from a country that implicitly allows sexual slavery (or does little to stop it). I'm glad they have good priorities.
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Drizzt, 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:14pm

Re:
Sure, Putin is (and I quote here) a "flawless democrat" after all. So no need to put the "democracy" in quotes.

(Though one might add, that so called "real" democracies aren't that far away from what Russia does with the difference, that they pretend to be. And no, that is no excuse for what either is doing to their respective people.)
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Rose M. Welch (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:18pm

Re:
God, please, no more Axl Rose albums...
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The Invisible Hand (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:19pm

Re: Re:
MULTITHREADING!
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Jason, 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:24pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (as per US Law)
ANY 12 YR OLD KID WITH A COMPUTER KNOWS HOW TO GET INTO A RUSSIAN PRISON!!
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Dark Helmet (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:27pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (as per US Law)
RUSSIA HAD ONE OF THE GREATEST PRISON SENTENCES OF ALL TIME!!!!@!@!@
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Jason, 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:30pm

TOKEN???
In Russia, token good for ride is up river.
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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:32pm

Re: Re: Re:
HYPERTHREADING!
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Hephaestus (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:36pm

Re: Re: Yeah, but...
No, but we can find you a nice desert a couple miles south of the artic circle if you like ;)
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:37pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
THREAD BARE!
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Hephaestus (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:38pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (as per US Law)
I'M ON A CAMEL!!!
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Christopher (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:43pm

Re:
Russia does not allow sexual slavery, and lets get real here: there is VERY LITTLE that any country can do about that without infringing on other people's rights.
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Jason, 21 Jan 2011 @ 1:19pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (as per US Law)
IS PRETTY GOOD SENTENCE (EXLAMATION?), BUT I DON' REMEMBER THEM USING THIS IN RUSSIAN PRISON.
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Marcus Carab (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 1:42pm

Re: Re:
'twas a GnR joke :)
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Drizzt, 21 Jan 2011 @ 2:11pm

Re: Re: Re:
I see (assuming GnR stands for "Guns 'n' Roses", right?). Thanks for enlightening me. ;) Anyway, what I said still holds true :D
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inc (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 4:28pm

in russia, music breaks you!
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 7:05pm

On the bright side.
6 years in prison is still better then it was before, you would be shot in the back of the head for listening to western music at one point.

So we have a situation where the really hardcore authoritarian regimes of the past are now opening up and democracies are becoming more authoritarian.

What a wonderful world.
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Darryl, 21 Jan 2011 @ 9:10pm

It's the law - Do the crime - Do the time
he lives in a country, that has strict laws, and high punishments.

One thing for sure, he will think twice before he does that again.

And so will anyone else in Russia, who might of uploaded songs, but will now not..

Unless they are VERY stupid..

Do the crime, do the time.

And he did not just upload 18 songs, he made those 18 songs infinately available to anyone who wanted to DOWNLOAD those songs.

So he could be responsible for MILLIONS of illegal copies of EACH song, because of his deliberate actions.

Its the law working as it should, again, if you dont like it, find some country that does not have any laws !!!.

AND GO THERE..
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Darryl, 21 Jan 2011 @ 9:37pm

Re: Yeah, but...
yeah, but.. the reality of russian prisons most certainly is not the same as your fantisy of what it is like.

Ever seen inside a Russian prison ? LOL..

I'm sure you would think it just like college !!!!!! a real holliday camp !!

I am always amazed at how little people from the US understand, or ever KNOW what happens outside your borders!

You seem to think that America is the center of the Universe, and that nothing else matters, or ever happens outside your borders.

For someone to come here and say Russian prisons would be like going to college. Is astounding, clearly you do not have a clue.

Then there are the people who are critical of the government, for in this case, enforcing the law.

Sure, it appears to be a harsh sentice, but that is often done to indicate that they are serious, and the make 'an example' of someone.

Bad Luck for him, but it's a warning for anyone else who thinks they might get away with it.

And that is all it takes. One good example to show the way.

Just because people here think it is not an important law, does not mean that is the case. And it does not mean that other law keepers, and countries value different laws at different levels.

And just because you are from America, does not mean you are able to get on your high horse and dictate to the rest of the world what they are doing right or wrong.

You lost that ability long ago, no one uses Americal as a model for their society.

As I have said before, the US is a basket case at the present time, and it appears no one in the US or A can work that out.

They (you) can only think about what you can get for free, or what you can steal of others, to benifit from.

No wonder all the great technological advancements, and scientific advancements are occuring NOT in America.

What is the bit IP grab going on for, especially here on TD????

What do you hope to do with that IP ??

So far, world wide, America is not seen as a country that is innovative or able to develop its own IP.

So you have no manufacturing, and little engineering capabilities. So you steal some IP, and you cant do anything with it.

Sure, you can get a Chinese company to apply that IP, and buy that product off china, with money borrowed OFF china.

But sooner or later, China is going to ask for its money back.. then you are screwed.

What then ? if you cant pay china ?? you will have to sell them you assets. Like your LAND, and FACTORIES and its allready happening !!.

Good luck, it's sure to be a fun ride, I just hope you can still download hurt locker, if you have a movie industry to create it !!!
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Rose M. Welch (profile), 22 Jan 2011 @ 1:08am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Thread hard?
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nasch (profile), 23 Jan 2011 @ 2:31am

Re:
Surely a 4 month prison sentence per song uploaded will end piracy in Russia. Once that becomes clear, we can "harmonize" laws so that sentence is in effect everywhere else, and then copyright infringement will come to an end, amirite?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jan 2011 @ 2:54pm

Re: It's the law - Do the crime - Do the time
What a spectacular failure of perspective!

Dude, I'd get less time for holding you up at gunpoint.
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Jason, 24 Jan 2011 @ 8:50am

Re: It's the law - Do the crime - Do the time
"And he did not just upload 18 songs, he made those 18 songs infinately[sic] available to anyone who wanted to DOWNLOAD those songs."

As did the original publisher. They should likewise be punished.
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