UK Man Arrested After More Than 2,500 Promo CDs Leaked Online

BY Greg PrattPublished Jun 24, 2009

Think you're hot stuff when you get your hands on some music that hasn't been released yet? Well, just don't go leaking it online, because it might land you behind bars.

According to Billboard, a 33-year-old UK man was recently arrested in Portsmouth, England, for his involvement in a group of people who were leaking advance CD promos to the public on P2P file-sharing networks.

The man has apparently been released on bail, and the investigation is still ongoing. Trade body British Phonographic Institute claims that the group the man was involved in - DV8 - are believed to be responsible for leaking over 2,500 titles from both indies and majors. The investigation has revealed a "substantial quantity of promotional CDs," says Billboard, and computer equipment that makes it pretty clear what these guys were up to.

It might happen here next: earlier this year, the Canadian Recording Industry Association urged the Canadian government to toughen up on copyright protection. In April, the U.S. government said Canada was a major violator of music and film copyrights.

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