FBI Arrests Blogger in Guns N' Roses Album Leak

Sam Gustin says: Welcome to the (copyright) jungle.

A 27-year-old blogger named Kevin Cogill was arrested today on charges that he illegally posted nine songs from Guns N' Roses' forthcoming album on the internet.

Law enforcement officials -- including FBI agents -- busted Cogill this morning at his home in Culver City, California. He has been accused of violating federal copyright laws.

Cogill alledgedly posted the songs, which are said to be from the band's long-anticipated "Chinese Democracy" album, on the music blog Antiquiet in June.

Referring to Cogill -- who went by the nom de blog, "Kevin Skwerl" -- an Antiqiet blogger named "Johnny Firecloud" wrote: "Skwerl got himself hauled in by the FBI today over this whole GNR/Chinese Democracy leak fiasco, which seems to mean that people take this whole copyright thing pretty seriously."

Kathy Leodler, director of investigations for the RIAA's Western region office in Los Angeles told the L.A. Times, "The arrest of Kevin Cogill is great for the recording industry related to our online investigations. We are very pleased with the FBI's interest and the U.S. attorney's office's aggressiveness in pursuing this investigation."
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