L.A. Man Gets 7 Years for Software Piracy

Nathan Peterson, a 27-year-old Los Angeles, Calif., man, has been sentenced to 87 months in prison—or seven years and three months—and ordered to pay $5.4 million in restitution for selling pirated software and other related products from such firms as Microsoft and Adobe Systems on his website, iBackups.net, the Associated Press reports via MSNBC.com.

iBackups.net first started selling products on the Web in 2003, and the FBI shuttered its operations in February 2005, according to the AP.

In addition to the jail time received and damages Peterson was ordered to pay, he’ll have to return items he purchased with proceeds from the illegal operation, including cars, homes and a boat, the AP reports.

In December, Peterson entered a guilty plea in Alexandria, Va., on two charges of copyright infringement, according to the AP.

iBackups.net was considered to be one of the largest software piracy sites based out of the United States, and Department of Justice officials called the case one of the largest software piracy operations ever to be prosecuted under U.S. law, the AP reports.

Related Links:

• Ore. Man Gets Home Detention for T-Mobile Hack
• Calif. Man Sentenced to 3 Years for ‘Botnet’ Attack

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-Compiled by Al Sacco