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View Full Version : 120 warez sites raided.


Terry Penrod
April 22nd, 2004, 03:40 pm
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Looks like the DOJ and a number of international law enforcement agencies are finally getting serious about shutting down the major warez networks in several countries around the world.

I may hate the RIAA but mass piracy is a real problem and they do need to protect the interests of the many publishers, artists and others that they are sworn to represent - whether the use heavy-handed Nazi scare tactics and phony numbers or not.

Cheers, Terry

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FROM:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=1&u=/nm/20040422/ts_nm/tech_piracy_dc_9


Top Stories - Reuters

Justice Dept. Raids Online Piracy Networks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Investigators have raided 120 sites across the globe to break up online piracy networks that distribute copyrighted music, movies and software, the U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) said on Thursday.

The investigation, carried out in 27 U.S. states and 10 foreign countries, targeted covert "warez" groups that distribute computer games and other works before they are officially released, the Justice Department said.

More than 200 computers have been seized so far and nearly 100 individuals have been identified, the Justice Department said.

Warez groups, consisting of tech-savvy hackers and industry insiders, compete with each other to post pirated works on secret computer servers.

From there, the works quickly spread across the Internet and become available to millions through file-sharing networks like Kazaa and Morpheus.

Server computers seized in the raids contained hundreds of thousands of illegally copied works, the Justice Department said.

Foreign searches were conducted in Great Britain, Germany, France, Israel, Singapore, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Hungary and Sweden, the Justice Department said.

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Bruenor
April 22nd, 2004, 04:01 pm
That's great news, thanks for the story.

DanTheManPR
April 22nd, 2004, 05:31 pm
Good riddance. Warez is where the real piracy problem is.

Rafal Dudek
April 22nd, 2004, 06:00 pm
this is nothing. In Netherlands, Fairlight has been shut down. Bunch of computers siezed. I wonder if they'll be down for good this time. This isnt the first time they got busted.

Gaim Mastr
April 24th, 2004, 12:27 pm
I wouldn't call it "nothing".

This being a joint US & European operation involving so many countries, I think that it does send a good message to warez hosts and suppliers.

So called "news groups" are the worst offenders that I know of in terms of supplying stolen software.

It'll take months and months for the investigators to filter through all of the info on those people's computers. Then use that info to track down other warez groups.

Which, brings more significance to all of this. Because anyone from one warez group, who knows someone from one of those busted warez groups, will likely shut down and at least move their inventory & information out of fear that the investigators will get info on them from a busted person's system. That will disrupt their own supply of warez.

Game devs and publishers should be paid for their hard work and efforts !!

Rafal Dudek
April 24th, 2004, 12:55 pm
yea but they're doin this the wrong way. If they really want to stop/cut down on piracy, they have to shut down the big groups. Deviance, Immersion, Razor, Roriso, Sosiso, Myth, TDA, and Cyclone (who are responsible for making perfect 1 to 1 copy of games and applications). Then there are console groups Insomnia and so forth... there are more console groups and PC groups heh. Then there are movie rippers heh =P

The thing is, you can shut down websites all you want but its not gonna stop because of the source. These groups are private groups with very little contact (generally with reviewers who can get things before it hits retail) and anything they crack they use university fat pipes to upload their work into "dump" servers all around the world.

There is a success story though. The use of new copy-protection scripting called Staforce 3. Starforce 3 uses series of scripts to copy protect any and all the files/data on the cd. Depending on how its used, it is very difficult if not impossible to crack. So far Immersion group managed to crack a few of those on different games but because this protection is so different from one product to the next, they have to start from square one each time. The first game thats is still not cracked correctly is Gangland. They actually did crack this game but it involves you unplugging all your CD drives....

DanTheManPR
April 24th, 2004, 01:18 pm
There is a success story though. The use of new copy-protection scripting called Staforce 3.
Yippe, a way to make backups impossible.
:lame:

Captain
April 24th, 2004, 01:20 pm
Yippe, a way to make backups impossible.
:lame:
^what he said

Eddie Ismail
April 24th, 2004, 03:17 pm
as long as the DOJ stays clear from my Pr0n and music stash, I don't care about theses warez