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Facebook posts rush NinjaVideo 'queen' to prison

Summary: Hana Beshara, also known as Phara of NinjaVideo, was already sentenced to 22 months in jail. After she made a few Facebook posts though, US authorities quickly rushed her to prison.

Emil Protalinski

By for Friending Facebook |

29-year-old Hana Amal Beshara, better known as NinjaVideo's "Queen Phara," has enraged US authorities in many ways. Last week, a federal judge sentenced 29-year-old Hana Amal Beshara, also known as NinjaVideo's "Queen Phara," to 22 months in prison and ordered her to pay over $200,000 to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). It was her postings on Facebook, however, that made them rush her to prison this weekend.

Beshara was the co-founder and public face of NinjaVideo, a US-based website with links to uploaded videos of TV shows, movies, and documentaries. In June 2010, the site was taken down by the US federal government. Beshara had her condo raided, her gear seized, and was eventually charged with criminal copyright infringement, according to Ars Technica.

Beshara's sentencing (she pleaded guilty by the way) allowed her to be released until a bed opened up at a detention center. She took this as an opportunity to make various posting on NinjaVideo's Facebook Page, but that only got her to prison sooner than planned.

NinjaVideo's page is full of postings, both from Phara and from another employee by the name of Candeelion. Based on the timing of them, however, it seems the US government found problem with one or more of the following five posts.

Phara on January 6 at 7:28 PM:

Word up my Ninjas. Word the f*** is up. This is PHARA. Typing on my phone on the road with Candee after my sentencing. 22 months in federal prison. I never snitched, I never left Ninjavideo, and I will always be proud of this incredible world we built, this community that touched millions. I hold my head high. Always. Ride or die, no? THIS SHIT IS NINJA. – Phara

Phara on January 7 at 12:15 PM:

Share please. Everything you can guys. It's time. I have a handful of weeks before they lock me up and I want us to stand together. Two more sentences are coming that we're watching closely and we cannot compromise them, but my fight has concluded... It's time to take this viral. Or at the very least, make this the kind of convo it deserves. So please... EVERYTHING. Reach... share, talk to eachother. We are Ninja... and we will never be gone.

Phara on January 7 at 6:17 PM:

Guys, we're putting out a tentative call for docu heads and film makers and people with video experience... we always knew we would do a documentary but we still need to flesh it out and we'd like to talk to more folk with experience in that area. We had thousands of fans involved with video, and quite a few directors and film makers among them. Just post something here as we get the threads ready on the forum and we can at least have a feel of how many people we can pull into this. ~ Phara

Phara on January 7 at 7:50 PM:

Anyone with media connects... same thing. Our story was kept extremely quiet. In fact... when I googled NV through the Huffington Post... THE FUCKING ARTICLE WAS ONLY IN THE UK VERSION. :/ Seriously, that's some bullshit. Whatever. Let's go PR people. You guys know Immortal Technique? Yea we do too. Love him. Should have listened to his advice and gave the defense money to a publicist instead of garbage lawyers. I have a pretty impressive set of connections and I know a shit ton of you guys do as well. Keep in mind that the press in this country for the most part is garbage and everything we are is pretty anti-establishment, so.... WE NEED TO CONTINUE TALKING ABOUT IT. Cuz they sure as hell won't.

Phara on January 7 at 8:48 PM:

I'm so disgusted that I'm going to post this. FML. Look... a lot of people can't stand my ass, and this isn't going to help any... but I will use every single tool at my disposal for this community. I'm attractive. Shocking, yes. I should be a troll in a basement with acne and pizza shoved between my fat rolls. But I'm not... so, good job feds, I am the last person you want to be the poster child. Anyone with any connections to Maxim, GQ, Esquire, FEDS, any of the mens' mags... start posting and let me know. I'm not doing nude shoots, but I'm not a stranger to modeling. People love a beautiful victim and I'm prettier than the MPAA. If this post gets a horrible rxn I'm just going to delete it.

Some part of this didn't sit well with the US government; I think they weren't happy with having an outspoken convict eager to publicize her story. On Friday at 8:22 AM, Candeelion posted this message:

So Phara is about to head to court. The things that she said here on FB caused the gov't to file a motion to have her ability to self surrender taken away. This morning will decide if she has to go to state lock up until a bed in federal prison opens for her. Keep her in your thoughts!!

Three hours later, at 10:43 AM, Candeelion:

UPDATE: They took Phara into custody. I'm going to go and cry then start contacting people.

Even after she was sent to prison, NinjaVideo's Facebook Page posted three lengthy notes: The Government's Motion -- it's horribly formatted sorry for that, Phara's reply to the motion -- also poor formatting sorry, and Hana's response to the gov't motion. If you're interested in the broader NinjaVideo story, they're worth at least a skim.

NinjaVideo's Facebook Page is completely public, and Phara knew this. She was going to go to prison anyway – were her Facebook posts really worth the risk of speeding up the process?

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Topic: Social Enterprise

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15 comments
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  • RE: Facebook posts rush NinjaVideo 'queen' to prison

    The MPAA and RIAA are out of control... I really don't see how it can be illegal to tell other people where illegal things are happening, which is basically all the website did as far as I know.
    doh123
    Reply Vote

    • There had to have been more to it then that

      @doh123
      as there is nothing illegal about pointing people to the places, unless they knowingly helped facilitate, or were involved in the illegal content themselves.

      If she basicly said "if you have or create a site hosting illegal content, then I wil lget you customers" she is ivolve in illegal trade.

      Or would be no different then someone selling maps with locations of people selling illegal drugs.

      You are profitting off of an illegal venture, which in itself is illegal.
      John Zern
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Facebook posts rush NinjaVideo 'queen' to prison

        @John Zern

        Sounds a lot like what Google does.

        - posts links to illegal content? check.
        - profit from those links? check.
        - knowingly allow such links to exist in their databases? check.

        What's not specifically mentioned in the ZDNET post is that she pleaded guilty.
        wendellgee2
        Reply Vote

      • Does So Say So!

        @wendellgee@...---'(she pleaded guilty by the way)'
        The ZDNet post does so say so.
        PreachJohn
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Facebook posts rush NinjaVideo 'queen' to prison

        @John Zern Google does the exact same thing - I can Google any TV show, Movie, Band, or book and in the search results there will be links to sites where I can download those illegally via bit torrent clients, limewire/frostwire, and direct downloads via other sites. So why is Google not being sued, why is Google's CEO (whoever it is this week) not in court along with Phara?

        I'm not exactly championing illegal downloading - I can understand the allure as IMHO the MMAA (and RIAA as well) is making entirely too much profit and stand poised to be able to do an end run around our judicial system with SOPA and PIPA no matter how many innocent people get inconvenienced.

        Not being familiar with NinjaVideo or even heard of the site until now was this a site that charged for membership or was this a site that collected donations?
        athynz
        Reply Vote

      • Google case is different

        The difference is, Google's search engine crawling process is automatic whereas with most of these sites similar to NinjaVideo, a person has posted the link, either the website owner or a member. Though I don't agree with the prosecution, this will probably form the crux of the legal argument against them (as did in the Megaupload case). They will probably argue that, even if a member posted links, the site owners are culpable and not protected by "safe harbor", because they did not make "good faith" efforts to remove links when notified (though I think the law really is not well-defined in this area yet and/or is just being adjudicated in favour of the big corporations where the law is ambiguous).
        authentictech
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Facebook posts rush NinjaVideo 'queen' to prison

    1) One can record broadcast TV to video tape and share as long as one doesn't profit. (One can't sell.)
    2) One can't record broadcast TV to digital and share, even if one doesn't profit. (One doesn't sell)

    How does that make sense??
    jnc01@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Facebook posts rush NinjaVideo 'queen' to prison

      @jnc01@... THAT is the problem I have with MPAA and RIAA - I can record a movie or TV show on my DVR, record a movie or TV show on VHS, record a song from the radio, and share that taping on the DVR, loan out the VHS tape, and loan out the cassette tape with no penalties at all. What is the difference if one downloads a movie, TV show, or song onto a hard drive? In both cases I did not buy any sort of physical or digital media that the movie, TV show, or song was on originally. The TV, Radio, computer is simply the means to intercept the transmission. The VHS, cassette, and hard drive are means of storage. I could make several copies of the VHS tape or cassette tape - I could even convert the VHS to DVD and the cassette to CD - and give them away... physical file sharing.

      So what [i]IS[/i] the difference?
      athynz
      Reply Vote

      • It is illegal to share copies

        It would be illegal to share a physical copy made from TV or a purchased video or music track. Making the copy is legal but distribution is not. It is not pursued because it is not perceived by the MediaMafia as an existential threat.
        goldmind333
        Reply Vote

      • There's a huge difference.

        The difference is a digital copy can be shared with 6 billion people and is a bit for bit copy of the original (if done right). VHS is crappy quality plus you need to buy the tapes to give out copies. Try sharing a VHS tape with 6 billion people. It's not happening.

        This is about damage control. The damage is limited with VHS.
        pwn0tr0n
        Reply Vote

    • The difference is...

      @jnc1 and @Pete
      You can make as many copies for personal use as you like, whether digitally or on VHS.

      The difference is in the distribution to others. You cannot make a VHS copy and give to others - that's distribution of copyrighted material.

      You *can* give away, sell or loan a physical copy of copyrighted content if (because) you no longer have any copy of that content in your possession (original or backup); i.e. if you buy a DVD you may loan the DVD to a friend as long as you don't keep a copy. Again, this is a gray area because it cannot really be monitored and it's a bit silly to delete backups just while you legitimately loan your original to a friend who then gives it back after a few days - so really it's just not something they go after preferring to go for those who do aim to break the law by distributing multiple copies.

      Think of it in terms of selling licenses to people rather than copies of content and it makes more sense. When you buy a DVD you are licensed to use the content. If you transfer a copy you must also transfer your license to use it (at least until it is transferred back to you).

      Digital copying is said to be more harmful, though, because many more copies can be made and distributed and much lower cost (almost nothing) so that sort of thing is prosecuted with more vigor even if the perpetrators are not doing it for commercial gain or with knowledge about (or intent to break) the law.
      authentictech
      Reply Vote

  • Missing the point ...

    She was immediately taken into custody because she criticized and belittled the US Government and the Federal Court. That was the very first citation in the petition.

    If you wondered whether or not the First Amendment was dead, now you know.
    terry flores
    Reply Vote

  • She asked for it, is why

    Having been convicted of a crime, her posts showed she intended further incitement of illegal activity.

    Yes, the RIAA and MPAA have gone too far and it could be argued they are out of control. I'm not excusing them. Yes, Google was "guilty" as well - and they paid $500M for it. But if Phara is not totally a conceited, self-important fool, she would have seen this coming.
    j3hess@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Facebook posts rush NinjaVideo 'queen' to prison

    She sure has a filthy mouth. What kind of person uses that language? I didn't follow the story but there are no + points gained here after reading that.
    opcom
    Reply Vote

  • Law needs to catch up with technical reality; Industry needs a new model

    We are seeing here the results of antiquated, printing-press law being applied in the digital age. These sorts of prosecutions seem overblown and extreme because they evidence the obselesence of intermediaries in the media industry. "Free" information does not mean "no compensation or reward to the creator". It means content free of distribution constraints, with no gate keepers and leeches controlling the flow. The law should protect the CREATORS of content; not the outmoded industries that have grown to profit from them.
    goldmind333
    Reply Vote
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