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Court hits alleged Virginia porn pirate with enormous $1.5 million fine

Published Nov 3rd, 2012 12:09AM EDT
Porn Piracy Fine

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Pirating massive amounts of gay porn via BitTorrent may not be as rewarding as it seems. According to BBC News, a federal court in Illinois has slapped Virginia resident Kywan Fisher with a $1.5 million fine for allegedly pirating 10 pornographic films onto a BitTorrent site and then illegally distributing them to thousands of other viewers. The court awarded Flava Works, the film company that filed suit against Fisher, an award of $150,000 per film largely because it gave evidence that allegedly “demonstrated that Mr Fisher was the person who put copies of its films on a BitTorrent site.” BBC News says that the $1.5 million award is “believed to the biggest awarded in a file-sharing case.”

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.