Arizona Teen First Convicted of State P2P Laws



Normally a Federal case, but because the teen was only 17 when the case was opened, the State of Arizona was the first to convict a person of pulling copyrighted songs and films off P2P networks. He would have not been in as much trouble as he is now except for the fact that he sold the copyrighted material he downloaded. That’s a big no-no in the eyes of the government. Here is a little more about the arrest and conviction from The Register.

The Feds tend to dominate copyright cases, but in the case of of Parvin Dhaliwal, Arizona stepped in to charge the boy with a crime. The University of Arizona student pleaded guilty to IP (intellectual property) violations in exchange for a three-month deferred prison sentence, 3 years probation, 200 hours of community service and a $5,400 fine, according to an AP report. Quite comically, a judge commanded Dhaliwal to attend a university class on copyrights as well. That’ll learn him.

About Todd Cochrane

Todd Cochrane is the Founder of Geek News Central and host of the Geek News Central Podcast. He is a Podcast Hall of Fame Inductee and was one of the very first podcasters in 2004. He wrote the first book on podcasting, and did many of the early Podcast Advertising deals in the podcasting space. He does two other podcasts in addition to Geek News Central. The New Media Show and Podcast Legends.