DoJ COORDINATES LARGEST-EVER WORLDWIDE INTERNET PIRACY RAID
The Justice Dept. announced a major international Internet piracy sweep Thurs. focused on “release groups” that help distribute pirated software, movies and music, often before the products are released to the public.
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The DoJ didn’t specify how many arrests resulted from “Operation Fastlink,” which it said was the largest online piracy sweep ever, but it did say it “identified” more than 100 suspects worldwide. The DoJ said more than 120 searches were conducted worldwide, including 10 countries and 27 states.
Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft said the operation was coordinated simultaneously to prevent “the thieves from destroying the evidence or disappearing into cyberspace without detection.” The operation was a culmination of 4 undercover investigations simultaneously being conducted by the FBI. It was coordinated by the FBI Cyber Division and the DoJ Computer Crimes & Intellectual Property Section. Foreign searches were conducted in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Great Britain and N. Ireland. “The amount of international coordination and cooperation in this effort is unprecedented and will send a clear and unmistakable message to those individuals and organizations dedicated to piracy that they will no longer be protected by geographic boundaries,” Ashcroft said.
The investigation targeted “release groups,” which the DoJ described as “the original source for most of the pirated works traded or distributed online.” But the DoJ said all facets of piracy networks were targeted, including the so-called “warez” sites that help distribute copyrighted material. The DoJ said a release group begins by posting material to a secure, top-level warez server that only select clientele have access. “Within a matter of hours” the pirated works are distributed and end up on chat and peer-to-peer networks where they become much more widely available.
Specific groups targeted included: Fairlight, Kalisto, Echelon, Class and Project X. The DoJ said the groups are highly structured and employ sophisticated technology to shield their actions. The operation seized more than 200 computers, including 30 servers, which contained hundreds of thousands of titles. One U.S. server had approximately 65,000 separate pirated titles. The titles included software, movies and music, the DoJ said, and the Business Software Alliance, Entertainment Software Assn., MPAA and RIAA provided assistance.