By Lee Pfeiffer
A little-known supporting actor named Wes DeSoto has finally achieved fame - but not in the way he desired. The FBI has raided DeSoto's apartment and seized evidence that they claim proves he was the first person to upload the Oscar-winning film The King's Speech to the notorious web site Pirate Bay. The FBI says DeSoto, a member of the Screen Actors Guild, uploaded the film in January, before it had been commercially available to consumers. Members of the various guilds relating to the motion picture industry routinely receive DVD screeners for purposes of voting for year-end movie awards. All members are given strict warnings that they could be prosecuted if the DVDs are traced to any form of piracy. Nevertheless, inevitably someone gets careless and lends a DVD to the wrong person, or perhaps seeks to anonymously upload the video themselves to a pirate web site. As a member of the Writer's Guild of America, I received DVDs from Paramount of The Fighter and True Grit before they even hit theaters. However, I received warnings that made it clear I could do the kind of time that was depicted in Papillon if the DVDs were linked to any form of piracy. Studios warn recipients that if they are too nervous to maintain security over these DVD screeners, they should destroy them, as they are ultimately held responsible for their safe-keeping. In the case of DeSoto, the FBI was able to trace him as the alleged source because each guild member's DVDs have codes embedded in them that are unique to that member. DeSoto claims he has no affiliation with pirate sites and says the FBI investigation is much ado about nothing. For more click here