Comment Re:Ob frosty (Score 5, Interesting) 263
Just to clarify, the crime Vickerman was prosecuted for is Conspiracy to Defraud, purely for running SurfTheChannel, a streaming links site.
This is quite a different law from Fraud, it's vaguer and much more prone to abuse - it seems to be FACT's go-to law whenever they realise a suspect they've spent time and money investigating isn't breaking any actual laws.
Without it, Vickerman would probably never have been prosecuted for anything, although civil action would have been likely, IMO.
If some defendant somewhere ever gets an appeal up to the ECJ, I think it quite possible they'll shoot the law down in flames, just for being so badly written.
More information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_to_defraud
http://torrentfreak.com/surfthechannel-owner-sentenced-to-four-years-in-jail-120814/
This is quite a different law from Fraud, it's vaguer and much more prone to abuse - it seems to be FACT's go-to law whenever they realise a suspect they've spent time and money investigating isn't breaking any actual laws.
Without it, Vickerman would probably never have been prosecuted for anything, although civil action would have been likely, IMO.
If some defendant somewhere ever gets an appeal up to the ECJ, I think it quite possible they'll shoot the law down in flames, just for being so badly written.
More information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_to_defraud
http://torrentfreak.com/surfthechannel-owner-sentenced-to-four-years-in-jail-120814/