Man arrested for posting Guns N' Roses songs on Web

[Mels_Smileys45]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Federal officials on Wednesday arrested a man on suspicion of violating copyright laws for placing songs on the Internet from an unreleased album by rock band Guns N' Roses.

Kevin Cogill, 27, who has no known direct affiliation with Guns N' Roses, posted nine tracks from the band's upcoming album "Chinese Democracy" on his Web site, said Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The long-awaited upcoming album from Guns N' Roses, a hard-rocking group that came to fame in 1987 with the album "Appetite for Destruction," is the band's first since its 1993 release "The Spaghetti Incident?"

An FBI agent said in an affidavit that Cogill admitted to posting the tracks on the Internet at www.antiquiet.com.

Cogill removed the tracks from the Web site, but by then the songs had circulated widely, Eimiller said.

Cogill, who appeared in court on Wednesday on a charge of unlawfully leaking the songs, faces a maximum of three years in prison if convicted, and five years if it's found that he did it for commercial gain. He was released on bail.

story (http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2749317120080828)

[w31n3r]

3 years in prison?! damn, this is getting serious...

what he did was really dumb anyway, should've used newsgroups instead.

[mountain_rage]

Guy defrauds 150 million in a phone scam in Canada and only gets 2 years. This guy causes a statistical 0$ in damage and gets 5 years. Anyone else smelling flaming bull shit in the air?

[Undying Wizard NHD]

well crap I agree any one who puts guns and roses on the net should go to jail.

[Undying Wizard NHD]

ohh and if you wear a t-shirt of thiers you should be shot



lol jk I grew up on GNR lies lies lies

[wapazoid]

So the guy had no known affiliation. Well, I'd like to know just how he got the tracks in the first place. Somebody on the inside obviously hooked him up.

*sniff sniff*

Yeah, this smells funny.

[shawners]

Shit.. It was the only way it was going to get released if someone leaked it out.
It took him so long to do, im sure its in public domain now. Dont arrest axl for the drugs he has in his house or during the years he toured.

[wapazoid]

Edited.

Holy crap.


Wrong thread...

[w31n3r]

well crap I agree any one who puts guns and roses on the net should go to jail.

ROFLMAO!

10char bs

[mountain_rage]

I wonder if this CD will be the soundtrack for Duke Nukem Forever.

[affranca]

I hope the community make GNR suffer for this. Like Lars (from Metallica), Axl is becoming the new enemy with moves like these.

First they make the fans wait for 13 years (and counting) for an album that probably will have no relevance in music today and then they start to prosecute fans that want to share with comunity the "great job" GNR is doing in studio so far.

What a joke. Hope Cogil will be refunded for bail paid.

[seriouslyfree]

Man that sucks, I need to get out of the U.S. before I get caught with all my Files.

[shawners]

Man that sucks, I need to get out of the U.S. before I get caught with all my Files.

Dont you mean with their files.. They own the shit =) USA is still good to be in.. In other countries they will torture you, and then send you to the US to face trial.

[ctarlet]

Guy defrauds 150 million in a phone scam in Canada and only gets 2 years. This guy causes a statistical 0$ in damage and gets 5 years. Anyone else smelling flaming bull shit in the air?

Maybe just a hard lean to get him to confess whom(right?) on the inside leaked the files? Just a theory.

[BartSimpsonDude]

this is the reason i use open source instead of giving in to the temptation to pirating software

[wapazoid]

this is the reason i use open source instead of giving in to the temptation to pirating software

Ever thought of buying software?

[BartSimpsonDude]

off ebay... otherwise it's too pricey...

[wapazoid]

Really? I never see many good deals on software. Just shoveled out $55 for an open copy of Win2k.

[BartSimpsonDude]

Really? I never see many good deals on software. Just shoveled out $55 for an open copy of Win2k.


i have fam in the uk who buy off the net there... very cost effective at the end of the day...

[topino]

I´m happy for living here and not us when we talk filesharing. You cant go to jail for filesharing here, only get a ticket on a certain amount, but until now it has not happened..! I guees we dont see filesharing as an criminal act, maybe because we dont have those huge movie companies over here.

[El Comandante]

I´m happy for living here and not us when we talk filesharing. You cant go to jail for filesharing here, only get a ticket on a certain amount, but until now it has not happened..! I guees we dont see filesharing as an criminal act, maybe because we dont have those huge movie companies over here.

No one goes to jail here for filesharing. It usually handled in the civil courts. People are sued for damages (or extorted with the threat of a lawsuit). The guy in the Guns and Roses article wasn't really sharing something he bought... he was (possibly) distributing or posting something pre-release that he did not have legally in the first place.

[El Comandante]

It looks like the charges against the guy were knocked down to a chickenshit misdemeanor.

http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/10/31/charge-reduced-misdemeanor-guns-n%2526%2523039%3B-roses-album-leaker

[Drew Wilson]

Update:

LA Man pleads guilty in Guns N' Roses piracy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A man accused of illegally posting songs on the Internet from an unreleased album by rock band Guns N' Roses pleaded guilty on Monday and faces up to one year in prison, a prosecutor said.

Kevin Cogill, 28, pleaded guilty to a copyright violation, said Craig Missakian, assistant U.S. attorney.

The charge was reduced from a felony to a less serious misdemeanor because he is cooperating with authorities to identify the original source of the leak, Missakian said.

Cogill posted tracks from the album "Chinese Democracy" onto Web site www.antiquiet.com months before its November release, and was arrested in August at his Los Angeles home.

More... (http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE4BF04B20081216)

Holy crap, you mean, for the first time ever, they are actually doing something about stopping leaks like this in the first place? This is a complete about face to their original plan of suing everyone else in the world.

[Tachyonn]

Holy crap, you mean, for the first time ever, they are actually doing something about stopping leaks like this in the first place? This is a complete about face to their original plan of suing everyone else in the world.
I doubt it, there will will always be someone willing to leak

BTW, really sweet guy, that Axl Rose...
Read what he had to say in an online chat:

15.12.2008, 13:14:37
AXL ROSE BLAMES DOWNLOADS FOR POOR SALES; EXPLAINS USE OF GUNS N' ROSES MONIKER
Axl Rose has conducted his second online chat in a week, this time heading to the forum at chinesedemocracy.com to answer a few questions where he blamed the lack of sales for the "Chinese Democracy" album on illegal downloads and the greed of the record industry.

About the downloads, he said, “Basically for us it's devastating across the board. And when u have such a majority openly justifying their actions and throwing out nonsense such as it's not actually stealing as the original is still with whomever it's unbelievably insane”.


http://www.imperiumi.net/news_2.php?id=8422

and


Only a few days earlier, Rose went on line at gnrevolution.com to chat with fans as well.

That one didn’t go so well. It started with Axl calling someone “a little cunt” for suggesting it might not really be Axl behind the keyboard.

Axl: You're a little cunt and since you've been posting you've pretty much always been a little cunt. Blind accusations and insults by an anonymous coward and whiny shit stirrer aren't impressive or needed by anyone. Everyone else...talk with your administrator. Who wants to chat?!!

Audience member: Yeah, I'm a miserable cunt who's not a fan of the band and Axl doesn't need fans like me.? Reality check here.? The only one's who's a apparently a miserable cunt is somebody who alienates and hides himself from the world and blames fans who pays his bills so he eat his duck roast dinner's? Axl instead of coming here and calling me a cunt get off your ass and stick your head out of the fucking window. "All I've got in the press is shit after shit" which is exactly what we have gotten. Instead of being so butt sore over what some dude on the Internet says do what you do best put on a helluva of a show and make good music."

source: http://www.imperiumi.net