Piracy is illegal and over the years, we’ve seen people sent to jail and fined for pirating music, software, video games, books, and more. App piracy for mobile devices has been around for a while now and smartphone users who know where to look are able to find their favorite apps for free where it would have otherwise cost them money.
That being said, a man in Ohio by the name of Scott Walton has recently been found guilty of pirating Android apps. He was part of an FBI operation which saw a handful of pirated app stores seized back in 2012. However it was only on the 3rd of November that walton pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.
Walton was arrested back in July alongside two other accomplices, all of whom were identified as leading members of the SnappzMarket Group, one of the app stores which promoted pirated apps. It seems that they were sitting on around $1.7 million worth of Android apps at the time they were arrested, so safe to say there was a lot of money involved.
Walton is currently awaiting his sentencing and while it is unclear as to what his sentence might be, given the high value of apps that the group was planning on pirating, chances are it could be a pretty harsh one which could help deter would-be pirates.