In the first such criminal convictions in the U.S., two peer-to-peer hub operators have pled guilty to conspiracy to commit felony copyright infringement.  The two men were subjects of raids last August after Department of Justice investigators downloaded content valued at US$25,000 retail from their servers, the Movie Room and Acheron’s Alley.  They face sentences of up to five years in prison, and up to US$250,000 in fines, in addition to the possibility of being forced to pay restitution to copyright holders.

Let me get this straight.  If you steal 25,000, you go to jail for 5 years or get fined $250,000 (1000% of the theft). But when you wipe out $60 billion in shareholder value you just get let off with no jail time and a measily $13 million fine (2.2% of the theft).  Ah, justice! You gotta’ love it!

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