Warez Warriors Wrapped Up by Feds

[Tami]

Warez Warriors Wrapped Up by Feds
By Roy Mark

The Department of Justice's (DoJ) crackdown on large-scale piracy continued today with the indictments of eight individuals for criminal copyright infringement.

The defendants are accused of being major online distributors of illegal software, music, movies and games.

The indictments are the first resulting from the DoJ's Operations FastLink and Site Down, the two largest and most aggressive international enforcement actions against criminal organizations involved in the illegal online distribution of copyrighted material commonly known as the "warez scene."

"Today's charges strike at the top of the copyright piracy supply chain -- a technologically sophisticated, highly organized distribution network that provides most of the copyrighted software, movies, games, and music illegally distributed over the Internet," Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Richter said in a statement.

Operations FastLink and Site Down resulted in a total of more than 200 search warrants executed in 15 countries. The sweeps confiscated hundreds of computers and illegal online distribution hubs.

According to the DoJ, the busts netted more than $100 million worth of illegally copied materials.

Charged with criminal copyright infringement Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., were David Lee Pruett, 34, of Auburn, Wash.; Alexander C. Von Eremeef, 30, of Belmont, Mass.; George C. Stoutenburgh, 48, of Bennet, Colo.; and Jerry M. Melvin, Jr., 24, of Roanoke, Va.

Charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement were David Chen Pui, 26, of Fountain Valley, Calif.; Shawn W. Laemmrich, 30, of Calumet, Mich.; Scott John Walls, 45, of Spokane, Wash.; and Franklin Edward Littell, 48, of Martinsville, Ind.

All were affiliated with organized warez groups that acted as first providers of copyrighted works to the Internet. In many cases, these release groups are the original source pirated works that eventually spread across the Internet.

Warez groups also supply the for-profit criminal distribution networks since illegal warez copies of software or movies are easily and cheaply converted to optical discs and distributed throughout the world from factories in Asia and elsewhere.

"This investigation illustrates the FBI's ability to conduct sophisticated and complex technical investigations, where those committing the cyber crimes can be identified and located anywhere in the world," said Charlotte FBI Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Robert F. Clifford.

source: Internet News

[Adrasteia]

interesting to know.....but surely there are more than 15 behind warez?
i see the message theyre trying to send by these arrests, but i imagine it'll take a lot more before warez disappears.
nem

[NightStorm]

They are definately causing a disturbance in the force though.
These 15 are simply another link in a long chain getting cut down piece by piece. With this, and the recent bust of several well-known XDCC network groups, a lot of filesharing sections that were once the first stop in the obtaining of illegal programs and movies are now a ghost town.

[Adrasteia]

but surely filesharing will continue? when napster was finally shut down people switched to other p2p.....then napster came back as a paid for service....while i dont want to pay to download music from them.....i think i would be happy to pay for a warez like site that sold cheap films.....it would be nice to download one legally -be assured of its quality and not have to worry if blockbuster had it in -never mind late fees!
just some thoughts, i think the last time i went to a warez site was four years ago lol
nem

[radar]

The major problem here is that for as long as there is software that enables people to do these things then it will keep on happening.