ILLINOIS: Feds Fine Man $1.5M For Posting Ten Gay Porn Films Via BitTorrent

A federal court in Illinois has fined a local man $1.5 million for posting ten gay porn films to a popular site for illegally sharing copyrighted materials.

The figure is believed to the biggest awarded in a file-sharing case. The award is thought to be so large because the accused, Kywan Fisher, did not defend himself against claims that he pirated the movies. In court, Flava Works presented evidence which it said demonstrated that Mr Fisher was the person who put copies of its films on a BitTorrent site. In its evidence, Flava revealed that it had embedded unique codes in the copies of its films that customers pay to view. Digital detective work connected the code in the pirated films back to Mr Fisher, who had earlier signed up as a customer of Flava and paid to view the movies. Once shared via BitTorrent the films were downloaded or viewed 3,449 times, said Flava during its court statements.