LONDON -- A British man who operated a website linking to pirated films and TV shows has been sentenced to four years in prison, following a private prosecution brought by the U.K.'s Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact).
Anton Vickerman, 38, whose surfthechannel.com had 400,000 users a day in 2009, is the first Brit to be jailed in the U.K. for online piracy.
At its peak, the service ranked among the top 500 most popular websites in the world.
He was sentenced on Tuesday at Newcastle Crown Court, in North East England, after being convicted in June on two counts of conspiracy to defraud by facilitating copyright infringement. The conviction carried a maximum penalty of 10 years.
"This case can leave no-one in any doubt that Internet piracy is controlled by criminals whose profits threaten the ongoing reinvestment in our creative industries," said David Puttnam, president of the Film Distributors Assn.
Click here for the entire article: First Brit jailed for film, TV piracy: Trade org. Fact won private prosecution against Vickerman
