Ravi-EstroWeb
Active Member
5 operators of the popular cyberlocking service Ryushare.com were sentenced to prison for dissemination of "depraved content". Apparently, the service has made available lots of porno, thus illegally earning about $7m. The founder of the website was sentenced to 3.5 years in jail.
Ryushare emerged a few years ago and started to operate healthy affiliate and rewards schemes, attracting people who looked to upload popular files. In a few months, the website grew up enough to compete with the market leaders. 2 years ago, it was looking to break into the Alexa 500, and continued to grow for another year. But 12 months ago, Ryushare suddenly shut down without explanation.
An official announcement was made in a few weeks: the Vietnamese government explained that Ryushare was shut down after the arrest of the site founder and three of his associates; law enforcement seized their cars, motorcycles, and about $350,000.
This may seem not so unusual for just another file-sharing case, but the problem is that the site was prosecuted not because of copyright issues. It turned out that it was all about “depraved content” being made available via the website. The fifth man was arrested, and all defendants stood trial in Vietnam in March for their crimes.
It turned out that most of the site’s users enjoyed free access to Ryushare, but about 77,500 VIP members paid between 10 euros per month and 60 euros per year. Besides, the website paid for luring new VIP members to the service – up to 60% of the sign-up fee was paid back to referrers. The court decided that such system of commissions, premium accounts and access to free (mostly porn) material was the core activity of the site, which attracted people and appeared profitable for the site operators. The court estimated that the website creator generated profits of about $7m, $230,000 of which was paid out to 4 users who uploaded about 18,000 porn titles to Ryushare. So, all five defendants were found guilty and handed custodial sentences ranging from 9 months to 3 and half years, plus small fines totaling a few thousand dollars.
The most interesting part is that despite the conviction of the operators, Ryushare returned a few months ago and is still available, with the same business model and exactly the same rates for VIP membership.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.
Ryushare emerged a few years ago and started to operate healthy affiliate and rewards schemes, attracting people who looked to upload popular files. In a few months, the website grew up enough to compete with the market leaders. 2 years ago, it was looking to break into the Alexa 500, and continued to grow for another year. But 12 months ago, Ryushare suddenly shut down without explanation.
An official announcement was made in a few weeks: the Vietnamese government explained that Ryushare was shut down after the arrest of the site founder and three of his associates; law enforcement seized their cars, motorcycles, and about $350,000.
This may seem not so unusual for just another file-sharing case, but the problem is that the site was prosecuted not because of copyright issues. It turned out that it was all about “depraved content” being made available via the website. The fifth man was arrested, and all defendants stood trial in Vietnam in March for their crimes.
It turned out that most of the site’s users enjoyed free access to Ryushare, but about 77,500 VIP members paid between 10 euros per month and 60 euros per year. Besides, the website paid for luring new VIP members to the service – up to 60% of the sign-up fee was paid back to referrers. The court decided that such system of commissions, premium accounts and access to free (mostly porn) material was the core activity of the site, which attracted people and appeared profitable for the site operators. The court estimated that the website creator generated profits of about $7m, $230,000 of which was paid out to 4 users who uploaded about 18,000 porn titles to Ryushare. So, all five defendants were found guilty and handed custodial sentences ranging from 9 months to 3 and half years, plus small fines totaling a few thousand dollars.
The most interesting part is that despite the conviction of the operators, Ryushare returned a few months ago and is still available, with the same business model and exactly the same rates for VIP membership.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.