After posting 9 tracks from the unreleased Guns N’ Roses album “Chinese Democracy” on his blog in June, Kevin Cogill is now facing up to three years in prison and $250,000 in fines under a law concerning individual bootleggers.

The blogger thus became the first Californian charged under the anti-piracy federal law issued 3 years ago, which stated that it is a felony to distribute copyrighted work on computer networks before its official release.

Cogill was arrested Wednesday by 5 FBI agents at his Culver City apartment and was released on $10,000 bond.

Nevertheless, a Guns N’ Roses curse has already been cast upon him by the band’s former lead guitarist Slash, who stated: "I hope he rots in jail. It's going to affect the sales of the record, and it's not fair. The Internet is what it is, and you have to deal with it accordingly, but I think if someone goes and steals something, it's theft."

The blogger used to work for Universal Music, is currently working at Crave Online-an entertainment site-and uses his blog called Antiquiet to express his views on American politics and the music industry.

Under the name Skwerl, he posted that he had waited half his life for a new Guns N’ Roses material and on June 18, he announced that an unnamed source had given him 9 tracks from the “Chinese Democracy” album and afterwards made them available only for streaming-and not for download, too-on his blog.

For the entertainment industry, the fight to protect official release dates and against bootlegging has been a long and hard one. The Recording Industry Association of America has been using civil lawsuits to put people off leaking unreleased songs until the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, which enforces felony charges, came into effect.

In 2006, two people were sentenced to 2 months of house arrest and two years' probation after distributing on the Internet a version of “Jacksonville City Nights,” the at that time yet-to-be released Ryan Adams & the Cardinals album.