A teenager has been indicted in Silicon Valley on charges he covertly filmed new movies in theaters and then distributed copies on the Internet, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
The indictments against 19-year-old Curtis Salisbury stem from a crackdown on "warez" websites that made illegal copies of films, games and computer software available online, said Luke Macauley of the US attorney's office.
Salisbury is among those targeted in the western state of California as a result of "Operation Site Down," an alliance of international police bent on ferreting out online piracy, according to Macauley.
Salisbury is suspected of having used a hand-held camcorder to record screenings of the films "The Perfect Man" and "Bewitched" in June. Copies of the films were then uploaded for distribution through "warez" sites, according to prosecutors.
The purported pirate advised site handlers about how to delete data that would enable people to identify the theater in which the copies were made, Macauley said.
Salisbury requested to be paid by money order sent to a post office box, according to prosecutors.
Salisbury is charged with conspiracy, copyright infringement and unauthorized recording of motion pictures in a theater, the indictment indicates.
Salisbury is the first person being prosecuted under a US law referred to as the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law in April 2005, Macauley said.
If convicted as charged, Salisbury could be sentenced to more than eight years in prison and fined more than 500,000 dollars, plus have film and computer gear he used destroyed, according to prosecutors.
