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Police Across Europe Conduct Major File-Sharing Crackdown

Jared Moya — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:07:34 +0000

Coordinated effort in 14 countries carried out at the request of Belgian authorities. The investigation is two years in the making and is targeting individuals involved in "The Scene" file-sharing network as well as the servers copyrighted material was illegally uploaded to.

P2P is taking a big hit today with news that police across Europe are conducting one of the largest crackdown against illegal file-sharing ever to have taken place. This morning police in 14 European countries, including Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Britain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Italy, raided the homes of a number of individuals suspected of involvement as well as the ISPs that hosted servers where copyrighted material had been illegally uploaded to. "I have not heard of any major crackdown in Europe in violation of copyright law," said Paul Pinter, Sweden's national coordinator for intellectual property crimes. "This is a huge crackdown." The raids were conducted at the behest of Belgian authorities who spent two years infiltrating a warez group known as "The Scene" which is composed of many layers. At the top are groups who compete with one another to obtain and upload copyrighted material to the Internet. The next layer of the network are so-called "Top-sites," data severs where the copyrighted material is uploaded to made available. A bulk of the raids appear to have been carried out in Sweden, long considered a file-sharing safe haven, and according to Swedish prosecutors, the raids there have mainly targeted "Top-sites." The Swedish Pirate Party "highly critical" of the raids being that one targeted the ISP hosting the servers of Wikileaks, the site currently embroiled in an international freedom of the press controversy. "If it is found that the police have shut down Wikileaks newsroom," says Pirate Party leader Rick Falkvinge, "the situation will go to a whole new level. When the Swedish authorities have gone all over the constitutional limits and the weight of American pressure to get rid of an uncomfortable newsroom. The situation is now very, very serious." Swedish Prosecutor Frederick Ingblad insists the raids have nothing to do about Wikileaks. He also notes the "special" nature of the investigation being that it involves "no investigation in Sweden, but it is a request for legal assistance from Belgium." "The seized material will probably be transferred to Belgium for investigation there," added Ingblad. "We will then have to see what comes out of that, crimes could also have been committed in Sweden." Caught up in the mix seems to be Swedish BitTorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay which is hosted by the same ISP as Wikileaks. As of now The Pirate Bay is down. Stay tuned. jared@zeropaid.com

Texan Warez Seller Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison

Jorge Gonzalez — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:30:03 +0000

It may be one of the most annoying sights on Google’s adsense, but now one of the operators behind the ads that promise discounted copies of software has been convicted of criminal software piracy.

It may be one of the more rare occasions where US copyright laws is being used in such a way that file-sharers would overwhelmingly rejoice over, but according to the Associated Press, it has actually happened.

The story details the Department of Justice detailing the activities of a Texan man named Dunaway who operated about 40 websites and sold warez to unsuspecting victims. He used advertising through major search engines to promote his sites and made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars. His operation was in existence since about 2004 all the way up to last year.

People who sell warez online end up earning the scorn of file-sharers everywhere since they blatantly break a sort of unwritten code that you don’t sell warez. Now, a sense of justice might be felt for some as he is forced to pay $810,000 in damages. The fine will be paid in part through a Ferrari and a Rolex watch he bought as a result of the booming business he had.

Still, it’s not often that people who do sell warez online who don’t reside in Asia somewhere get caught and have their stories plastered around – in fact, it has been the exception, not the rule. With that in mind, it almost seems that people who sell warez in the first place wind up in a strangely safe position. Hated by file-sharers, practically ignored by copyright holders in comparison to the massive lawsuit campaign against file-sharers who don’t make money online. An observer might point out that fewer people are actually selling warez online and more people are actively file-sharing. It’s perhaps why copyright holders are seemingly less concerned over people they probably should go after for copyright infringement.

Still, with this conviction, that means 1 down, several thousand more to go.

Two men sentenced to prison on ‘warez’ charges

Jared Moya — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 15:58:23 +0000

Two U.S. men have been sentenced to prison terms for their participation in online software piracy, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced late Wednesday.

David Chen Pui, 27, of Fountain Valley, California, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for distributing pirated works from his own and other Web sites, and David Lee Pruett, 35, of Auburn, Washington, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his involvement in the software release group Legends Never Die or LND, the DOJ said.

Pui and Pruett each pled guilty to a single felony count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina sentenced Pui on Tuesday and Pruett on Wednesday.

The sentencing of Pui and Pruett follows the recent sentencing of Franklin Edward Littel and Shawn Laemmrich in U.S. district courts in Indianapolis and Marquette, Michigan. Both Littel and Laemmrich were sentenced to eight months in prison to be followed by eight months of home confinement.