FBI raids SAG member's home for uploading five movies

[Emil]

FBI agents recently raided the Los Angeles apartment of Wes DeSoto, a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) member, over suspicion that he was the first to upload multiple movies to The Pirate Bay. There were at least five movies: The King's Speech, Black Swan, Rabbit Hole, The Fighter, and 127 Hours, all of which were still in theaters when they were uploaded. The Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) director of content protection Larry Hahn informed the FBI about the pirated films.

The FBI's warrant included a request to search DeSoto's home for anything that tied him to the prerelease movie uploading group TiMPE, according to court documents cited by Wired. DeSoto denied that he is affiliated with TiMPE and criticized the investigation for being a waste of tax dollars.

Authorities seized a desktop computer from DeSoto's apartment. The SAG member allegedly operated under the username "mf34inc," according to the MPAA, although all uploaded torrents under that username have since been removed.

The authorities reportedly began to target DeSoto as the alleged culprit because the screeners that were uploaded had unique watermarks assigned to him. Furthermore, SAG had snail-mailed traceable iTunes codes to its members, used for accessing the screener movies.

The movies in question were uploaded in January 2011, were high-quality, and were meant for critics' reviews before the awards season. While DeSoto is accused of uploading the movies, he has not (yet?) been charged. Under the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, he can face up to three years in prison.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/43476-fbi-raids-sag-members-home-for-uploading-five-movies.html

 

[stewi0001]

Better call Sony for Tips on how to deal with people

 

[gwailo247]

He'll never work in this town again, just when CSI was going to make Werewolf Enthusiast into a recurring character. Another Tinseltown dream destroyed by the lure of not-for-profit media sharing.

Back in the old days we'd just watch VHS tapes passed from coworker to coworker.

 

[Trillionsin]

geez... actors and usually anyone on tv make enough money the way it is... and then to waste money on searching this guy? i dunno... wtf?

 

[gwailo247]

trillionsin said:
geez... actors and usually anyone on tv make enough money the way it is... and then to waste money on searching this guy? i dunno... wtf?

Actors = waiters, er, servers.

 

[Omnislip]

No, f*#k this guy. What he has done is indefensible.

 

[Guest]

He tried to be cool...now he's lookin like a fool

 

[Trillionsin]

gwailo247 said:

trillionsin said:
geez... actors and usually anyone on tv make enough money the way it is... and then to waste money on searching this guy? i dunno... wtf?

Actors = waiters, er, servers.

not sure what this is suppose to imply?

 

[captaincranky]

geez... actors and usually anyone on tv make enough money the way it is... and then to waste money on searching this guy? i dunno... wtf?

Neither of the 2 sections of your run on sentence make any sense. That would be either on their own, or in context with each other!

Then there's the .... "wtf", that you're using as a placeholder, waiting for an actual thought to occur. It's an acronym, and hence it should be capitalized. Sic......WTF....!

If you don't mind me asking(*), why do you think that Mr. De Soto shouldn't have been searched? Because he said so?

(*) I'm sure you do mind me asking. Still in all, I'm going to forge ahead with it anyway.

 

[matrix86]

omnislip said:
No, f*#k this guy. What he has done is indefensible.

Sheesh dude. Calm down. All he did was upload a couple of movies. Not like he strangled a baby or anything. Why get so upset over something that has no affect on your life anyway?

 

[gwailo247]

trillionsin said:

gwailo247 said:

trillionsin said:
geez... actors and usually anyone on tv make enough money the way it is... and then to waste money on searching this guy? i dunno... wtf?

Actors = waiters, er, servers.

not sure what this is suppose to imply?

Most people who call themselves actors wait on tables, and they hardly make any money. The lucky few who appear on TV can make a bit of money, but its not as lucrative as a profession as people imagine.

 

[captaincranky]

Most people who call themselves actors wait on tables, and they hardly make any money. The lucky few who appear on TV can make a bit of money, but its not as lucrative as a profession as people imagine.

Then there are the "Charlie Sheens", whose mental illnesses and narcissistic tirades are heavily overcompensated. In a rare display of communistic thought, I'm going to suggest his heavily inflated paycheck should be divied up among the working stiffs at the restaurants and car washes of Hollywood.

I guess nobody really gives a thought to how good this man's agent must have been.

In direct response to your statement; yes, acting is a heavily tiered "avocation" With such institutions as "soap operas" however, there probably does exist an upper middle class of working actors.

 

[Archean]

'Working stiffs' ?? I guess you are watching too much of that other stuff

 

[gwailo247]

captaincranky said:
In direct response to your statement; yes, acting is a heavily tiered "avocation" With such institutions as "soap operas" however, there probably does exist an upper middle class of working actors.

Sure there is that segment, but its shrinking a lot, the glory days of the 1980s are over. Even a lot of those that are working as waiters do it more for the opportunity to be seen and network; surprisingly many of them are bankrolled by their out of town parents, but they keep that fact on the DL.

 

[captaincranky]

surprisingly many of them are bankrolled by their out of town parents, but they keep that fact on the DL.

I think you mean "out of town stage parents".

 

[Wendig0]

omnislip said:
No, f*#k this guy. What he has done is indefensible.

A guilty verdict already? A big plus 1 for the prosecution! Somebody get a rope.

Who says it's a waste of taxpayer dollars when we can convict a guy within minutes right here on Techspot?

 

[Wendig0]

I guess nobody really gives a thought to how good this man's agent must have been.

You know the only reason Charlie made it to the screen was because daddy acted in Apocalypse Now.

 

[captaincranky]

A guilty verdict already? A big plus 1 for the prosecution! Somebody get a rope.

Who says it's a waste of taxpayer dollars when we can convict a guy within minutes right here on Techspot?

Well, the "twitter" here at TS, does seem to point towards a perception of guilt. With that said, given the expense of an investigation in manpower, I'd at least like to believe the FBI doesn't just randomly take out warrants because they're either bored, or have a more general axe to grind.

The whole point of this is; if this person actually did this, it's overt theft by infringement. It isn't "I shared a movie with my aunt Sara". It's theft, pure and simple I know the little trolls here will go on and on how downloading or infringement isn't theft, because it makes them feel vindicated for whatever behaviours they may be involved with.

So, everybody should save your recess monety, and contribute to "poor De Sotos" defense fund. Who knows, maybe "GeoHot" will help him get the panhandling started.

 

[LNCPapa]

CC - you say so many of the things I want to say but just decide to keep to myself

 

[captaincranky]

CC - you say so many of the things I want to say but just decide to keep to myself

Just poor impulse control on my part, I suppose...... and Then there's the component.

With all that said. I'm really old, but really new to cyberspace. I can't really envision that something I would say, would precipitate me losing imaginary "cyberfriends" that I never really had in the first place.... I'll put an imaginary "like" button here >>>> (0) <<<< for any one who agrees with this statement. You'll have to cook up your own imaginary "digg" button.

You should try not holding back sometime, Papa! You'd find it's more cleansing, (and cathartic), than a "high colonic".

 

[HiDDeNMisT]

wow now FBI are taking people in. this is getting ridicules

 

[LNCPapa]

Sorry, but I have to deal with lots of politics at my job so I'm forced to bite my tongue all the time.

 

[captaincranky]

Sorry, but I have to deal with lots of politics at my job so I'm forced to bite my tongue all the time.

Phew, tell me about! I always seem to be treading a fine line between freedom and , "admitted for observation".

All you have to do is never tell other people what the voices are saying!

(I of course am joking)

 

[gwailo247]

captaincranky said:
I'll put an imaginary "like" button here >>>> (0) <<<< for any one who agrees with this statement.

I keep clicking it, but nothing happens. I don't like you anymore.

 

[captaincranky]

I'll put an imaginary "like" button here >>>> (0) <<<< for any one who agrees with this statement. You'll have to cook up your own imaginary "digg" button.

I keep clicking it, but nothing happens. I don't like you anymore.

Sorry 'bout that! In my private reality, I wasn't aware that you actually ever did...... :haha: :wave: