Web Site Administrator Sentenced to Jail in P2P Case

Daniel Dove, 26, formerly of Clintwood, Va., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge James P. Jones to 18 months in jail for his role as a high-ranking administrator of EliteTorrents.org, a p2p file sharing site. After this period Dove will serve three additional years of supervised release (probation) Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich announced yesterday. The offender was also given a $20,000 fine. Dove was found guilty of conspiracy and felony copyright infringement on June 26, 2008.

About two years ago was given the first conviction against a former Elite Torrents admin, and the difference in penalty between that case and this new one speaks for itself: Grant Stanley, then 26, was given five months of prison, five months of house arrest, three years of probation, and a $200fine.

Apparently, the cause for such a major difference (wouldn’t you say?) is the fact that Grant Stanley’s role had a smaller significance than that of Dove’s – while the former was an administrator for the group focused on internet piracy, and obviously profited from years of free films and music, the latter was responsible for conducting all operations that kept the torrent network running.

According to prosecutors, Elite Torrents reached around 125,000 members at its peak, and made available about 700 movies which were collectively downloaded 1.1 million times.