Aussies arrested for 10,000TB of illegal film transfers

The over 10,000TB of transfers was the equivalent of 14.3 million copies of the programs, according to a statement by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

The 21-year-old and 27-year-old men, from Parkinson in Brisbane, were charged with copyright and proceeds of crime offences.

The maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $66,000.

Police will allege in court that the men managed an offshore website, which facilitated the sharing of movies among its 400,000 international members.

It will also be alleged that the men received income from that website.

Search warrants executed at the residence of the two men resulted in the seizure of three computers and in excess of 1,200 DVDs.

Approximately $50,000 was also restrained in funds believed to have been derived from the illegal activity, the AFP said.

The investigation began earlier this year, when the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) received information about a website, which enabled the downloading of copyrighted movies by members of the public.

AFACT referred the matter to the AFP and a joint investigation commenced.

AFACT was also involved in the recent successful conviction against a Sydney Internet café, which was charging customers hourly fees to view pirated content and selling large volume drives for people to store illegal content on.

It is also currently taking a landmark case against Perth-based ISP iiNet for allegedly enabling illegal content to be accessed via its ADSL network.