A Scottish grandmother has been sentenced to three years probation after being convicted of illegal downloading. According to prosecutors, Anne Muir, 58, had precisely 7493 music files and a whopping 24,243 karaoke files – with a market value estimated at £54,792– on her home computer. The nurse, who lives in Ayrshire, was busted following a joint investigation by the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) and the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). It is believed they tracked the thieving granny down after she uploaded music to the internet, exposing her computer and ISP details to the world wide web.
Investigators made a complaint to local police who obtained a search warrant for her premises back in 2008, where they seized her computer and its stash of bad karaoke. Muir, mother to three and granny of eight, pleaded guilty to a lesser used charge of distributing articles without the copyright owner’s license “to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright”. Lawyers for Muir had argued that she hadn’t downloaded the files for financial gain, but rather to boost her self esteem after suffering from depression.
She’s being ordered to attend sessions with a shrink as part of her sentence. A spokesperson for the British Phonographic Institute said : “Today the court has recognised that illegal file sharing on a massive scale is a serious matter and has imposed a sentence aimed at preventing such behaviour in future. We would like to thank the Strathclyde police and the procurator fiscal service in Ayr for their diligent work on this investigation.”
