According to naplesnews.com a couple were arrested with over 400 DVDs while trying to sell the media at their local Walmart. The 400 DVDs were suspected of being "pirate" DVDs which means that they may be guilty of copyright infringement and the myriad of laws associated with infringement.

The deputies apparently got in contact with MPRIA investigators who will work with the deputies during the investigation. 

Before the arrest, the deputies asked the man what he was doing to which he responded that he was waiting for his girlfriend to come out of Walmart. He later changed his story to say that he was selling the discount DVDs out of his car in the parking lot.

If I was a judge and could see the circumstances of this situation, I could see that these two were not hardened criminals, and hardly criminals at all. Trying to find a way to make some money during hard times, these two took a rational approach to creating a business.

"What do people buy lots of?" DVDs. "Where are there lots of people buying DVDs?" Walmart. "Let's go sell discount DVDs at Walmart!"

These 2 didn't run some huge internet scam; they didn't start a store front and pawn off their copyrighted material on thousands of people. These two barely put their feet in the waters of crime, but they may drown in the consequences of these small actions

The laws around copyright infringement in this country could easily be dubbed punishment beyond the crime inflicted. The men and women convicted of these crimes often do jail time, which takes away more than just the time that they are in the detention center. The rest of their life has been altered by this one circumstance, but their one lapse of judgement when it came to trying to take advantage of opportunity; of trying to sell discount DVDs.

Whatever can be said of individuals who break copyright infringement laws, one thing is without question. They are not violent offenders, they are white collar criminals in the truest sense of the world. They do not harm people, they harm entities and profit streams. 

The way we treat these offenders of profit is an obvious reflection of the priorities of a nation hell-bent on making more money in any way possible.