Multiple Enforcement Actions Worldwide Snare Top "Warez"
Leadership
FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
TARGETS INTERNATIONAL INTERNET PIRACY SYNDICATES
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2001
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney
General John Ashcroft announced today that in
three separate federal law enforcement actions
federal agents executed approximately 100 search
warrants worldwide against virtually every level
of criminal organizations engaged in illegal
software piracy over the Internet. The three
Operations, codenamed "Buccaneer," "Bandwidth" and
"Digital Piratez," struck at all aspects of the
illegal software, game and movie trade, often
referred to as "warez scene."
"Today U.S. law enforcement
initiated the most aggressive enforcement action
to date against illegal software piracy," Attorney
General Ashcroft said. "Many of these individuals
and groups believed the digital age and the
Internet allowed them to operate without fear of
detection or criminal sanction. Today, law
enforcement in the U.S. and around the world
proved them wrong. These actions mark a
significant milestone in the efforts of U.S. law
enforcement to work internationally to combat what
is truly a global problem,"said Ashcroft.
"The execution of these search
warrants mark the completion of the most extensive
software piracy undercover investigation that the
FBI has participated in to date, and should send
the message that trafficking in stolen goods –
whether the property is in physical or electronic
form – is a serious crime, and will be
prosecuted," said Robert S. Mueller, Director of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The targets of these Operations
included both individuals and organizations, known
as "WAREZ" groups, that operate within the United
States and in various nations around the world and
specialize in the illegal distribution over the
Internet of copyrighted software programs,
computer games and movies. The investigations will
continue to identify and pursue additional targets
in the months ahead.
Operation Buccaneer:
Operation Buccaneer was the
culmination of an investigation that has been
ongoing for over a year under the direction of the
U.S. Customs Service and the Justice Department's
Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section,
working in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney for
the Eastern District of Virginia.
Buccaneer marks the most
significant law enforcement penetration ever of
international organizations engaged in the illegal
distribution of copyrighted software, games and
movies over the Internet. The enforcement action
involved the simultaneous execution of 58 search
warrants against high-level warez leadership and
members within the United States and abroad. It is
also the first enforcement action to reach across
international borders and strike at the most
highly placed and skilled members of these
international criminal enterprises.
Although one of the primary
criminal enterprises targeted by Operation
Buccaneer was the warez group known as "DrinkOrDie,"
which consists of approximately 40 members
worldwide, the investigation has led to
infiltration and development of cases against
individuals from other top groups as well.
The organizations targeted by
Buccaneer are highly structured and
security-conscious criminal groups that specialize
in obtaining the latest computer software, games,
and movies; stripping ("cracking") copyright
protections; and releasing the final product to
hundreds of Internet sites worldwide. Because the
"suppliers" to these groups are often company
insiders, pirated products frequently are in
circulation before, or within hours, of the
release of the legitimate product to consumers.
The groups are structured specifically to avoid
detection. It is expected that hundreds of
thousands of copies of software programs, computer
games and movies will be recovered by this effort,
with a retail value that is expected to be in the
millions of dollars.
Buccaneer also marks an
unprecedented degree of cooperation and
coordination with international law enforcement in
the fight against Intellectual Property violations
committed via the Internet. Through a variety of
authorized means, the United States has shared
evidence with counterparts in the United Kingdom,
Australia, Norway, and Finland to help further
identify and investigate numerous significant
foreign targets engaged in this criminal
conspiracy.
Operation Bandwidth:
On December 11, 2001, the
longest-running of the undercover operations
culminated with the execution of over 30 search
warrants across the United States and Canada. This
undercover operation, code-named ‘Bandwidth,' was
a two-year covert investigation established as a
joint investigative effort to gather evidence to
support identification and prosecution of entities
and individuals involved with illegal access to
computer systems and the piracy of proprietary
software utilizing ‘warez' storage sites on the
Internet.
Bandwidth, through the joint
efforts of the Defense Criminal Investigative
Service (DCIS), the Environmental Protection
Agency Office of Inspector General (EPA-OIG), and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),
supervised by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the
District of Nevada, created a ‘warez' site,
controlled and monitored by the undercover
operation, as a means of attracting predicated
targets involved with the distribution of pirated
software. The undercover ‘warez' site has been
accessed to transfer over 100,000 files, including
over 12,000 separate software programs, movies and
games.
Over 200 different individuals
participated in the software pirating efforts.
Those individuals were able to attain first-run
movies, the latest computer games, and versions of
notable software products even before they were
publicly introduced. As a result of Operation
Bandwidth, thousands of copies of pirated software
are expected to be removed from circulation, as
well as the seizure and forfeiture of the computer
hardware and servers used to facilitate the
crimes.
Big Brother means big business -
By Tiffany Kary, Special to ZDNet, December 10,
2001 7:04 AM PT, As the tangle of privacy and
security issues tightens in the aftermath of Sept.
11, Jack Palmer forges ahead, claiming to put a
kinder, gentler face on Big Brother. Palmer is the
CEO of ICaughtYou, a private Bonita Springs,
Fla.-based company that allows corporations to
monitor their employees' Internet usage. His
company has been one of the unsuspecting
beneficiaries of the terrorist attacks...
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