# Prison Time for Illegal Music Downloads. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 10, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903 "2009-05-10T02:00:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/1 "2009-05-10T02:00:55Z")
About five or ten years ago it was all the rage: downloading music for free off the internet. People did it alot. And they did it without a care in the world. “What are they going to do, arrest me?” they all thought. Now it is some years later, and the recording industry has long since cracked down on the practice. So people largely don’t do it anymore. My question is simply this: Has anyone ever gone to prison for the simple downloading of music off the internet? **Not** posting or sharing the music (although for completeness, you can include that in your answer too). Simply downloading music off the internet. The reason I ask is because I recently heard of a woman who was sued for a rather hefty sum, because she downloaded alot of music off the internet in her youth. But prison time for some? Hmm, I wonder… Thank you in advance to all who reply:) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/2 "2009-05-10T02:15:39Z")
I don’t know of anyone. I don’t know why anyone would or even _could_ be prosecuted to the point of imprisonment for downloading songs. To me it isn’t that big of a deal. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/3 "2009-05-10T02:16:20Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > So people largely don’t do it anymore. You must hang out with some boring people. Music and video piracy accounts for a huge proportion of total bandwidth usage on the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/4 "2009-05-10T02:23:43Z")
Simple downloading isn’t criminal in a case like that. > [@](#): > > § 506. Criminal offenses > > (a) Criminal Infringement. — > > (1) In general. — Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed — > > (A) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain; > > (B) by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000; or > > (C) by the distribution of a work being prepared for commercial distribution, by making it available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution. > > (2) Evidence. — For purposes of this subsection, evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish willful infringement of a copyright. > > (3) Definition. — In this subsection, the term “work being prepared for commercial distribution” means — > > (A) a computer program, a musical work, a motion picture or other audiovisual work, or a sound recording, if, at the time of unauthorized distribution — > > (i) the copyright owner has a reasonable expectation of commercial distribution; and > > (ii) the copies or phonorecords of the work have not been commercially distributed; or > > (B) a motion picture, if, at the time of unauthorized distribution, the motion picture — > > (i) has been made available for viewing in a motion picture exhibition facility; and > > (ii) has not been made available in copies for sale to the general public in the United States in a format intended to permit viewing outside a motion picture exhibition facility. > > (b) Forfeiture and Destruction. — When any person is convicted of any violation of subsection (a), the court in its judgment of conviction shall, in addition to the penalty therein prescribed, order the forfeiture and destruction or other disposition of all infringing copies or phonorecords and all implements, devices, or equipment used in the manufacture of such infringing copies or phonorecords. > > (c) Fraudulent Copyright Notice. — Any person who, with fraudulent intent, places on any article a notice of copyright or words of the same purport that such person knows to be false, or who, with fraudulent intent, publicly distributes or imports for public distribution any article bearing such notice or words that such person knows to be false, shall be fined not more than $2,500. > > (d) Fraudulent Removal of Copyright Notice. — Any person who, with fraudulent intent, removes or alters any notice of copyright appearing on a copy of a copyrighted work shall be fined not more than $2,500. > > (e) False Representation. — Any person who knowingly makes a false representation of a material fact in the application for copyright registration provided for by section 409, or in any written statement filed in connection with the application, shall be fined not more than $2,500. > > (f) Rights of Attribution and Integrity. — Nothing in this section applies to infringement of the rights conferred by section 106A(a). [17 U.S. Code § 506 - Criminal offenses | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute](http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/usc_sec_17_00000506----000-.html) There are a few other copyright crimes here, [http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc\_sup\_01\_18\_10\_I\_20\_113.html](http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I_20_113.html) but none of those involve simple downloading. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/5 "2009-05-10T02:28:38Z")
I have news for the OP: people still do it a lot. Do a blog search on Google for any album you can possibly think of, and I can just about guarantee you’ll find a download for it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/6 "2009-05-10T03:34:39Z")
First off, a record company can’t initiate a criminal case agianst anyone. Only the government can charge somebody with a crime. Record companies sue people in civil cases. And you can’t be imprisoned as a result of a civil case. So the short answer is no. But the longer answer is that the record companies have convinced the government to file criminal charges against some copyright violators. The FBI started [Operation FastLink](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fastlink) in 2004 against copyright violators. Some people have been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment but it appears they were all involved in uploading. Admittedly I didn’t go through all the individual cases so somebody may have been a token downloader. And while several people were sentenced to prison, I can’t confirm that anyone actually ended up going to prison after appeals and agreements were made. I’ll also note that there is a counterwave moving through the court system against the record companies that’s arguing it’s illegal for them to file civil cases against people for violating criminal laws. The argument is that it’s the government’s job to enforce criminal law not private entities - if the government decides a crime isn’t worth prosecuting somebody else with a grudge shouldn’t be able to sue the “criminal” and penalize them with a disproportionate fine. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/7 "2009-05-10T04:03:03Z")
In general the music industry has found it’s better to cope with it than try to stomp it out. The problem stemmed from the music companies saw every download as income they are missing and this isn’t so. CDs long out of print and people wouldn’t download if it weren’t free represent a lot of what’s being downloaded. I mean if I download a CD by Leslie Pearl that is long out of print that doesn’t result as a loss because the music company isn’t selling that. The artist isn’t out because they wouldn’t get royalites anyway. If I go to a used CD store and buy a used CD out of print, I get the music with no royalites going to the artist. I’m not saying it’s not wrong and it’s definately against the law, but music companies are coming to realizing not ALL downloads represent a true loss to them. ---
**Author:** ![Casserole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@Casserole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casserole)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/8 "2009-05-10T05:28:39Z")
I believe it’s legal to “download”, but not “upload”, in Canada. Correct me if I am wrong. By “legal”, I mean “not illegal”… > [@](#): > > Music and video piracy accounts for a huge proportion of total bandwidth usage on the Internet. I’m not sure I agree with this statement. There’s no direct, empirical way to prove this without a doubt, since lumped in this measurement could be all manner of youtube streaming and legitimate downloads, such as the hundreds or thousands of people downloading and torrenting Linux every day. Short of utilising Deep Packet Inspection (which by itself is **such** a breach of privacy), I don’t think that’s provable. _sigh_, and Canada’s already got DPI. What a country we live in. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/9 "2009-05-10T10:23:53Z")
> [@Casserole](#): > > I believe it’s legal to “download”, but not “upload”, in Canada. Correct me if I am wrong. > By “legal”, I mean “not illegal”… > > I’m not sure I agree with this statement. There’s no direct, empirical way to prove this without a doubt, since lumped in this measurement could be all manner of youtube streaming and legitimate downloads, such as the hundreds or thousands of people downloading and torrenting Linux every day. > > Short of utilising Deep Packet Inspection (which by itself is **such** a breach of privacy), I don’t think that’s provable. > > _sigh_, and Canada’s already got DPI. What a country we live in. You also pay a fee for all media like burnable cd’s to pay bands for music you don’t download illegally and burn to that cd. ---
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/10 "2009-05-10T11:24:06Z")
> [@Casserole](#): > > I’m not sure I agree with this statement. There’s no direct, empirical way to prove this without a doubt, since lumped in this measurement could be all manner of youtube streaming and legitimate downloads, such as the hundreds or thousands of people downloading and torrenting Linux every day. Well I agree its not a perfect way to measure it but that the Internet traffic in Sweden dropped by between 30%-40% when the new piracy laws came in i think it’s a pretty good number to start with. See [here](http://www.circleid.com/posts/sweden_internet_traffic_drop_anti_piracy_law/) and [here](http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20090403/sweden-internet-traffic-drops-around-40-wake-anti-piracy-law.htm) Also from a few years ago the, Steal this film part 2 mentions a drop of 30% of all European traffic when the pirate bay was taken by the Swedish police. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prison-time-for-illegal-music-downloads/495903/11 "2009-05-11T02:25:08Z")
There have been a few cases in some odd countries of file sharers going to jail e.g. [First sentencing for illegal file sharing in Czech Republic - AfterDawn](http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/9476.cfm)