FBI Announces Piracy Crackdown

[CrashNet]

I am so happy something major is finally happening to stop piracy! :sohappy:

Credit: www.gamespot.com

FBI announces piracy crackdown

Operation Site Down scrambles agents worldwide; warez operators in San Francisco, Charlotte, and Chicago are busted in US.
On Thursday, the FBI announced that authorities in 11 countries struck back at purveyors of illegally obtained copyrighted software, movies, music, and games. In the US, agents in California, North Carolina, and Illinois made a total of four arrests, which they called "the culmination" of an ongoing undercover operation code-named "Site Down."


Investigators said they concentrated on individuals that were the "first providers" of copyrighted works to the "warez" underground. According to a search warrant unsealed in San Francisco on Wednesday, the FBI agents posed as "warez hardware geeks" to gain entry to piracy groups. The warrant's details were outlined in an affidavit obtained by the San Jose Mercury News.

In California, one Chirayu Patel of Fremont was reportedly arrested on charges of violating federal copyright protection laws. He is alleged to have operated undercover servers used to upload and distribute games, movies, and architectural software internationally. Searches and arrests also occurred in Canada, Israel, France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, and Australia. Overall, the Justice Department said yesterday's actions shut down eight major illegal servers.

"By dismantling these networks, the Department is striking at the top of the copyright piracy supply chain--a distribution chain that provides the vast majority of the illegal digitial content now available online," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in a statement today. "By penetrating this illegal world of high-technology and intellectual property theft, we have shown that law enforcement can and will find--and we will prosecute--those who try to use the Internet to create piracy networks beyond the reach of law enforcement."

Reportedly, the FBI will announce additional arrests as early as later today.

 

[TheOneVader]

Why do you want them to stop piracy? :lookaroun

 

[CrashNet]

Why do you want them to stop piracy? :lookaroun

Well its toofold...I have always purchased the products I wanted rather than downloading them...I guess I'm just a good samaritan.

The other and biggest reason is I majored in Computer Science and work on commercial and industrial software, and I have seen through four hard years in college and now at work just all of the frustration, time, blood, sweat, and tears that goes into making a product that so many people just pop into their CD-ROM drives, install, and use. I have a newfound respect for those people, and I think they should be rewarded for what they deserve.

I'm sure we all know piracy will never go away. They stop one, ten more will show up with sneakier and more cunning ways of hiding themselves. We can't catch them all, and if I were a musician I would actually want my songs shared because it spreads the word about me. I guess just with software, I know what goes into that little disc, and how frustrating it would have to be to accept that sometimes, you can't even get a product on the shelf before its already spread to thousands for free.

 

[NowInc]

THe problem is the FBI makes the same mistakes as always...they cant be the world police. They can try and control whats going on in the us...but most software trading takes place outside our country.

Not to mention, its literally impossible to stop piracy..its too big..and way too "common".

good luck to em tho

 

[The_CEO]

To to mention they seem to start with the big guys. Servers etc.