Australian police caught illegally pirating videos

Canberra (Australia) - During an internal audit of Australia’s police department, hundreds of officer were found breaking federal law by ripping DVD movies to their computer hard drives.

However, according to news source The Advertiser, no charges will be filed because there are too many police personnel involved. Instead, they will be educated on "appropriate use of work systems."

The audit found "a number of instances where commercial DVD movies have been copied to the hard-drives of police computers which potentially had been burnt to blank DVDs."

It concluded that a number of officers face "a breach of copyright and misuse of SAPOL (South Australian Police) equipment."

The recommendations from the audit are that managers "take measures to ensure this practice must not occur" and that "work areas should remind members of the need to comply with SAPOL’s policy in regard to the appropriate use of work systems," according to quotes from The Australian.

However, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft thinks more severe action should be taken. Under the country’s law, piracy is punishable by up to $60,500 per infringement and up to five years in prison.