A US law firm set up honeypots on torrent-sharing site The Pirate Bay and then sued people who downloaded their torrents. The matter reached the FBI and the pirate site accepted to collaborate with the feds resulting in the crooked lawyers getting jail time.

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Cooperative ‘Copyright Troll’ Lawyer Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

John Steele, one of the attorneys behind the ‘copyright troll’ law firm Prenda, has been sentenced to five years in prison. The attorney was one of the masterminds behind the fraudulent scheme that extracted settlements from alleged pirates. Because of Steele’s cooperative stance, his sentence is significantly lower than that of co-conspirator Paul Hansmeier.

Over the years, copyright trolls have been accused of involvement in various dubious schemes and actions, but there’s one group that has gone above and beyond.

Prenda Law grabbed dozens of headlines, mostly surrounding negative court rulings over identity theft, misrepresentation, and even deception.

Most controversial were the shocking revelations that Prenda itself produc… Continue Reading (3 minute read)

10 thoughts on “A US law firm set up honeypots on torrent-sharing site The Pirate Bay and then sued people who downloaded their torrents. The matter reached the FBI and the pirate site accepted to collaborate with the feds resulting in the crooked lawyers getting jail time.”

  2. SherrilFetters

    One of their tactics was to sue college kids outside their schools’ counties. This not only made it geographically inconvenient for students to defend themselves, but often times prevented their student legal centers from defending them. My roommates and I dealt with these assholes in undergrad. They sued a bunch of kids from my university in the neighboring county because they know our free lawyers couldn’t represent us there.

    Reply
  3. KitteNlx

    I got two letters from them when I was 15. Never even bothered to open them.

    Reply
  4. TifanyBowland

    And that’s one of the many reasons I hate America’s legal system for suing other people. Ridiculous how you pretty much lose at the starting line because you have less money or time.

    Reply
  6. kracsen

    Pirate Bay vs Lawyers

    FBI has joined

    Lawyers: Yes, haha.

    Pirate Bay & FBI vs Lawyers

    Lawyers: (⊙＿⊙’)

    Reply
  7. underbite420

    They honeydicked em…

    Reply
  8. sjac89

    The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

    Reply
  9. Sansa_Knows_Armor

    Would be poetic justice if the lawyers ate the honeybun on their pillow when they first arrived. Even more so if the inmate that put the honeybun on the pillow got caught and was given solitary confinement for it.

    Reply
  10. swagmain

    If I had a dollar for every word of this I understood I’d have about $6.75

    Reply
  11. Dr-Satan-PhD

    Is TPB back online? I haven’t been there in ages, but last I heard it was down.

    Reply

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