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Digital Legal
Boss of leading illegal music site in Italy arrested
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 12 July 2012
The former boss of a defunct illegal music site in Italy has been arrested and now face charges of copyright infringement, forgery and tax evasion, and additional claims he breached data privacy rules.
Italianshare.net, which was apparently Italy’s largest unlicensed music service at the time, was shut down by the authorities last November, and since then police have been investigating the way in which the operation, which generated an estimated 580,000 euros in revenue, was run.
According to reports, Italianshare.net and some affiliate sites made money by selling advertising, seeking donation from users, and by selling the email and IP addresses of its users to third parties. The latter scheme has resulted in the extra data protection charges. As well as the top man, five others have been charged with various crimes in relation to their involvement in the site.
Commenting on the arrest, Frances Moore of global record industry trade body IFPI told CMU: “This investigation throws a spotlight onto the illegal business models behind high-profile unlicensed services that are generating revenue and avoiding taxes on a grand scale. I welcome the efforts of the authorities in Italy to tackle this problem and urge governments and law enforcement agencies elsewhere to show similar vigour in curbing illegal activity online”.
