Operation Site Down may be old news, but a press release from the Department of Justice about a fork project known as operation CopyCat has just entered the headlines once again. David M. Fish was convicted of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and sentenced to 30 months in prison.Operation Site Down is said to be one of the biggest anti-piracy efforts ever conducted. The raids took place in June of 2005. According to a Department of Justice press release, the raids resulted in a total of 40 convictions. The raid is said to have affected groups like RiSCISO, Myth, HOODLUM, VENGEANCE, Centropy, Corrupt, GAMERZ, ADMITONE and several others. No doubt, this marked a very dark time in scene history. It seems that, at least for one, things are about to continue to be dark times. David M. Fish is said to have scripted a scene site and uploaded/downloaded over 500 copyrighted works. Recently, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed up by 3 years of supervision after release as well as a $500 mandatory assessment. The press release continues: On Feb. 27, 2006, Fish pleaded guilty to five counts in federal court in San Jose, including four counts in the Northern District of California case for conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement; distribution of technology primarily designed to circumvent encryption technology protecting a right of a copyright owner and aiding and abetting; circumventing a technological measure that protects a copyright work and aiding and abetting; copyright infringement by electronic means and aiding and abetting. On the same day, Fish also pleaded guilty to one count of criminal infringement of a copyright in the Southern District of Iowa. The two cases involved separate investigations and conduct in both jurisdictions. The charges were consolidated and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. Scripters for warez sites create, program and help build the sites. Suppliers provide an unauthorized copyrighted movie, game or software while equipment suppliers provide hardware (such as hard drives, computer parts, and computer servers) to the warez site. Brokers find groups to participate on the warez site and encoders circumvent the technological measures and protections of copyrighted works on the DVDs designed to prevent unauthorized access and copying. Via Information Week |
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