Guns N' Roses Uploader Gets Probation; Will Star in PSAs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 15, 2009 - 8:04am.

Los Angeles - Blogger Kevin Cogill, who was convicted of misdemeanor copyright infringement after admitting to posting tracks from the then-unreleased Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" online, has been sentenced to two months of home confinement and a year of probation, the Associated Press reported. Prosecutors had initially sought a six-month prison term and a fine of $371,000; the maximum sentence for the crime is a year in prison.

The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor reportedly after Cogill agreed to appear in anti-piracy public service announcements produced by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Cogill told authorities that he received the unreleased music online and unsolicited, and posted them on his blog Antiquiet in June 2008 because he was a fan of the band, and wanted to help promote the release.

As part of his sentence, Cogill also agreed to submit to having his computers searched or seized by authorities.

http://snipurl.com/napyx (DMW previous coverage)