Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:29:59 PST Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120220/04145717811/belgian-anti-piracy-group-facing-copyright-fraud-embezzlement-money-laundering-charges.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120220/04145717811/belgian-anti-piracy-group-facing-copyright-fraud-embezzlement-money-laundering-charges.shtml ISPs and hosting firms to put in place filters to stop infringement. Perhaps more controversially, the organization has tried to require social networks to pay a flat fee for all the infringement happening on their networks. A year ago, there was a story of SABAM taking cash for a band they didn't represent after a TV show played a "joke" on the group.

However, in what appears not to be a joke, it looks like SABAM and some of its execs are facing some pretty serious charges, including "falsifying accounts to cover up bribe payments, abuse of trust, copyright fraud and embezzlement," according to TorrentFreak. Apparently, according to the charges, SABAM wasn't very good at actually distributing the money it was supposed to distribute to artists. Things to keep in mind every time one of these groups insists it's looking out for the interests of artists...

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