A UA student landed a deferred prison sentence and thousands of dollars in fines last month in the state's first ever prosecution of an Internet intellectual property piracy case.
On Feb. 10, Parvin Dhaliwal was sentenced in Phoenix to three months deferred imprisonment, three years probation, 200 hours of community service and a $5,400 fine for the possession of pirated movies and music on his computer in Mesa, according to Krystal Garza, director of communications for Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
Dhaliwal was 17 years old in April 2004 at the time of prosecution, but was not charged until he had turned 18 and was sentenced as an adult.
Garza said Dhaliwal will not serve jail time unless he violates probation, but if the case had been prosecuted on a federal level he would have probably received a definite jail term.
Dhaliwal must also take a class on copyright infringement at the UA and pay a probation fee of $50 a month, Garza said.
Dhaliwal plead guilty to the class 6 undesignated felony offense, which Garza said might be changed to a misdemeanor as soon as he completes the probationary period.
Dhaliwal refused to comment and his attorney, James Martin, was unavailable for questioning.
Garza said the FBI monitors certain Web sites to target file-sharers. The Recording Industry Association of American can then sue the individuals and the county attorney prosecutes the case.
"When (the FBI) investigated and found out what was going on, they had probable cause for a search warrant," Garza said about Dhaliwal's case.
The FBI found more than $50 million in music and movies on Dhaliwal's computer, she said.
Jenni Engebretsen, RIAA spokeswoman, said the organization has filed 9,100 suits since September 2003. Of those, they have settled more than 1,900.
Engebretsen said the RIAA targets college campuses to prosecute cases.
"College students are among the most avid consumers of music," she said. "It's very important to reach out to college students at a time when their habits and opinions are being formed and educate them as to the nature of file-sharing and consequences that can come with that."
She said the RIAA believes the lawsuits are a critical deterrent.
"We've gone a long way to arrest the growth of illegal file-sharing activities," she said.
Engebretsen said she could not divulge the specific processes of investigating cases.
"Generally, our process is entirely legal and non-evasive," Engebretsen said.
She could not provide details of specific cases, but said the FBI monitors certain Web sites and then the RIAA files "John Doe" lawsuits against individuals. As the cases go through the courts, the names come out and the case proceeds against that particular person.
She said the RIAA formed the Joint Committee of Higher Education and Entertainment Communities with about 40 universities, which encourages colleges to partner with legal fire-sharing programs. The UA is not involved in this partnership.
Engebretsen said according to a brief by 40 attorneys general, 2.6 billion copyrighted songs are downloaded each month, the equivalent of 200 million stolen CDs.
She said in recent years, the music industry has seen a tremendous slump in CD sales, which slashes artists' royalties and cause stores to close, a direct result of Internet piracy.
"It's an ongoing process, and you can never entirely wipe out piracy, but we will certainly continue our efforts as long as necessary," Engebretsen said.