On Thursday, a member of the Apocalypse Production Crew (APC) named Barry Gitarts was found guilty of copyright infringement. It seems that he administered a Texas-based computer server which was used by the other members of the piracy group for uploading and downloading hundreds of thousands of music, movie and software titles.

His conviction was decided upon counts of conspiracy to violate the NET Act, according to which it is a crime to "infringe a copyright for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain," to come in the possession of more than $1,000 worth of pirated music material or to be involved in the distribution of pirated content before its official launch date. 

The repercussions of his actions are rather drastic as he may have to serve five years in prison and pay a US$250,000 fine. He will be sentenced on August 8.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Gitarts started his APC activity sometime between June 2003 and April 2004.
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) members were very happy to see the case being brought to trial. As far as music-related online criminal infringement cases go, this was a first.

An international effort, called "Operation Fastlink," was initiated by the U.S. Justice Department, in order to track down violators of the NET Act. So far, the operation’s results include more than 200 search warrants in 15 countries.