Piracy becomes more and more a crime like theft and drug smuggeling. In case of major piracy cases this is no wonder, some of them are behaving like criminals.
For those that are still into the big warez groups the time has come to think about their security as taking down piracy groups seems now also have priority of the FBI. Yesterday 2 guys got caught:
[..]Kartadinata ran an e-mail system for the ring, the prosecutors said, and Nguyen managed some of the file servers that stored copies of movies such as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and software programs such as Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. |
The two men could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison, fines of $250,000 and the possible payment of restitution although it was not immediately clear what penalty prosecutors would recommend to the court as part of the plea agreement. DrinkorDie was the main group targeted in the Dec. 11 "Operation Buccaneer" raids, during which 58 search warrants were served in the United States, Austria, Finland, England and Norway. [..]
[..]Prosecutors said the plea agreements with Kartadinata and Nguyen shed light on how such groups operate, often by having information technology specialists within corporations and universities hide warez computers within the
systems maintained by those organizations. By hiding the files in major institutions, those trafficking in warez are able to take advantage of high-speed communications links without having to pay for the broadband connections needed to readily swap data-heavy files like movies, prosecutors said. [..]
People that are just copying a CD once in a while and downloading MP3's are another case, and there is no reason to get after them and for now the authorities don't.
However the guys that are releasing and trading pirated software should watch their backs ! It's not just a hobby anymore.
Source: Cnet.com
