MUMBAI: The crime control office of the Kyoto Prefectural police headquarters arrested Seiji Sato, a 62 year-old man living in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture, for uploading unauthorized movie files on the Internet, using the file-sharing software Share in violation of the Copyright Law.
The police were able to determine, through the use of a P2P surveillance system, that the suspect uploaded an illegal copy of Avatar on the Internet sometime in December 2009. He had originally obtained a copy of this title from a different P2P site. The police also had evidence that he uploaded a copy of the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians, using the same method sometime on 22 March, 2010, making the file available for downloading.
He has admitted to the police that he uploaded 500 movie titles, both Japanese and international, in the last four years. The police are currently carrying out further investigations into the extent of his activities.
"Congratulations to the High-tech Crime Control team for zeroing in on suspects who use the Internet to share illegal content," said Motion Picture Association (MPA) president and managing director Asia-Pacific Mike Ellis. "Advances in technology have helped but the success in tracking him down is entirely theirs. We look forward to more instances of successes in apprehending such criminals."
In January 2009, the police launched a P2P surveillance system that patrols file-sharing networks to collect, analyze and search file information. This is the first arrest resulting from the information collated from this system.
