Police arrest Welsh counterfeit music threesome

Three people have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in one of the UK's largest web-based music and film piracy rings. In the latest in a flurry of anti-piracy crackdowns, police and officials from the Intellectual Property Office and the BPI raided several addresses in Cardiff where they seized computer equipment. …

[Paul Crawford]

Huge?

"a huge amount of counterfeit music and films from which the ringleader earned £3,000 a month"

Since when has a £36k/year pay (either before or after tax) been "huge" compared to the likes of those in the city, or indeed the music industry executives?

[TeeCee]

"That's not a ring, it's a triangle"

Including the sheep makes it a ring.

[Vladimir Plouzhnikov]

Pathetic

£3000 a month? Hardly a big fish, isn't he? With RIAA MPAA claims that it costs the industry gzillions green dollars a year they would need to find another few thousands of such "triangles" to make a difference...

[andy rock]

"pirates in Cornwall"

some things never change, i see. :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this £3000a month in actual cash?

As in "we found a bag stuffed with £50 notes" or is it the theoretical money which pirates have "stolen" from the music/software industries?

The fact that they are described as web-based makes me think the latter - I've yet to meet a single person who has ever handed over cash to illegaly download something. Maybe they emailed someone once - as far as plod is concerned that's probably enough. After all, these are the same guys who confused a handful of castor beans under the sink with a chemical weapons plant.

[Anonymous Coward]

The BPI are not 'official' anything

There's that problem again, the BPI for all the fine sounding name are not an official anything and should not be accompanying the police on the raids. They are a civil third party with a vested interest in the outcome of the raid and with no power to perform raids independent of the police.

The only people who should enter a property in a raid are the people authorized by the court to ensure the evidence is cleanly obtained without tampering. If the BPI didn't have the power to enter during the raid they should not have entered under the cloak of a police raid as pretend policemen.

This goes for BBC camera men too, they go along with a raid, and enter property, the policeman says "Police we have a warrant let us in" and the owner lets them in. However he is deceived, the truth is "Police and BBC Cameraman, with a warrant for the police only" is the reality.

The court didn't authorize the cameraman, he goes in pretending to be a policeman.

[Lloyd]

I got all excited then

I thought they'd arrested the Manic Street Preachers for ripping off Duchess by the Stranglers and then trying to cover up by saying they'd never heard of the Stranglers.

[Ash]

£3000 a month?

Is that what global economic collapse and terrorism cost nowerdays?

I thought that's what these people were responsible for.

[Duncan]

@ TeeCee

<geometry pedant>

It doesn't matter how many points you add, it can never be a ring, only a more accurate approximation to one...

</geometry pedant>

[Joe Stalin]

Glasgow

Great place, they use Roman law up there. You get busted for having 2000 mp3s and they have to charge you and take you to court 2000 times. Not one count of 2000 mp3s but 2000 counts of 1 mp3, costs FACT FAST BPI and the rest a fourtune, so the confiscate the stuff and send you home TEE HEE.

[DirkGently]

Who buys from these people???

I thought most people used P2P or BT these days to get software, music and videos.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Geometry pedant

Actually that's not entirely true. A ring doesn't need to be round.