Hacker Stole Unreleased Songs From Ed Sheeran And Lil Uzi Vert - Hacker Sentenced To Prison
As per report, a hacker stole unreleased songs from Ed Sheeran and Lil Uzi Vert. Prosecutors in the United Kingdom say that the hacker has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Ed Sheeran is a singer and songwriter who started out his musical career by learning to play the guitar at a young age and then quickly transitioned into writing his own songs.
He relocated to London when he was still a teenager in order to pursue a career in music, and the resulting flood of creative energy resulted in the release of several early EPs and hundreds of live performances.
Before ever signing with a record label, Sheeran climbed to the top of the iTunes chart, where he remained until he was discovered for his online performances. Since Sheeran signed a record deal with Atlantic, he has amassed millions of record sales and multiple Grammy Awards for hits such as "Thinking Out Loud" and "Shape of You."
Symere Woods, better known as Lil Uzi Vert, was born on July 31, 1994 in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His rapid-fire delivery earned him a stage name and fame. The rapper attributes his interest in rapping to a high school friend named William Ashton.
He made his rap debut by being featured on some of DJ Diamond Kuts' tracks, influenced primarily by Marilyn Manson, Young Thug, Kanye West, and Wiz Khalifa. Uzi Vert's career took off in 2015 when he released "Dej Loaf," a song he dedicated to a Detroit vocalist of the same name.
Don Cannon discovered his talent after hearing one of his songs on the radio. Uzi Vert later signed with Cannon, DJ Drama, and Leighton Morrison's label, Generation Now, as well as Atlantic Records. Uzi Vert rose to prominence in 2015 after appearing on Carnage's song "WDYW" alongside A$AP Ferg and Rich The Kid.
A computer hacker who stole unreleased songs from British pop star Ed Sheeran and American rap artist Lil Uzi Vert was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Friday, according to UK prosecutors.
Adrian Kwiatkowski, 23, of Ipswich in southern England, hacked the artists' cloud-based accounts and sold their songs for cryptocurrency on the dark web. Kwiatkowski made 131,000 pounds ($147,000) on the transactions, according to City of London Police, who investigated the case.
Kwiatkowski had complete disregard for the musicians' creativity and hard work producing original songs, as well as the resulting loss of earnings, said Crown Prosecution Service Joanne Jakymec. He stole their music selfishly to make money for himself.
Kwiatkowski pleaded guilty to 14 counts of copyright infringement and three counts of computer misuse in August. He was sentenced in Ipswich Crown Court on Friday.
After the management companies of several musicians reported that an individual known online as Spirdark had gained access to their clients' cloud-based accounts and was selling their content, City of London Police collaborated with authorities in the United States to investigate the case.
Final Words
In 2019, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office opened an investigation and linked Spirdark's cryptocurrency account email address to Kwiatkowski. The IP address of the device used to hack one of the accounts was then identified as his home address.
Kwiatkowski was arrested in September 2019 by the City of London Police's Intellectual Property Crime Unit after further investigation. Cybercrime knows no borders, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L Bragg Jr said.
About The Authors
Suleman Shah- Suleman Shah is a researcher and freelance writer. As a researcher, he has worked with MNS University of Agriculture, Multan (Pakistan) and Texas A & M University (USA). He regularly writes science articles and blogs for science news website immersse.com and open access publishers OA Publishing London and Scientific Times. He loves to keep himself updated on scientific developments and convert these developments into everyday language to update the readers about the developments in the scientific era. His primary research focus is Plant sciences, and he contributed to this field by publishing his research in scientific journals and presenting his work at many Conferences. Shah graduated from the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (Pakistan) and started his professional carrier with Jaffer Agro Services and later with the Agriculture Department of the Government of Pakistan. His research interest compelled and attracted him to proceed with his carrier in Plant sciences research. So, he started his Ph.D. in Soil Science at MNS University of Agriculture Multan (Pakistan). Later, he started working as a visiting scholar with Texas A&M University (USA). Shah’s experience with big Open Excess publishers like Springers, Frontiers, MDPI, etc., testified to his belief in Open Access as a barrier-removing mechanism between researchers and the readers of their research. Shah believes that Open Access is revolutionizing the publication process and benefitting research in all fields.