Support NeoGAF

[Chesskid1]

Following a three year investigation by Hollywood-backed anti-piracy group the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), last week five of the UK’s most prolific movie pirates were sentenced in the West Midlands.

The men were behind several interrelated movie release groups including RemixHD, 26K, UNiQUE, DTRG and HOPE/RESISTANCE.

“Over a number of years the groups illegally released online more than 2,500 films including Argo, the Avengers and Skyfall,” FACT said in a statement.

Sahil Rafiq – Jailed for 4 years and 6 months

In July 2012 a FACT investigator began monitoring Rafiq’s release group, 26K. He found that many of the torrents had been uploaded by a user known as ‘memory100′.

It was discovered that ‘memory100′ had a profile on torrent site Torlock and it was determined that the same user also went under other names including ‘sohail20′, ‘hail_alpha’ and ‘froggie100′, with the former laying down the golden crumb.

In 2012, Sohail20 had posted on a forum belonging to online retailer PC Specialist. In that post he complained about issues he was having with a laptop.

“Could you help me out?” he asked. “Kind Regards, Sahil Rafiq.”

Further searches on the name Sohail20 revealed an account on PhotoBucket and a Memory100 logo file named memory100.jpg (now removed).

Suspecting they were closing in, FACT’s investigator turned to Facebook and found Rafiq’s profile. From there they found his place of work, a science school in Wolvehampton in central UK. FACT then turned to credit reference agency Equifax which revealed Rafiq’s home address. These details were handed to the police.

i was actually able to find his post asking for PC support, it's still online

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?16798-Control-center-error

Reece Baker – Jailed for 4 years and 2 months

In 2012 the same FACT investigator began monitoring Baker’s release group ‘HOPE’. In the ‘NFO’ (information) files attached to a HOPE release, it was revealed that the encoder was called ‘Baker92′ while detailing a Hushmail email address where he could be contacted.

In another NFO file Baker would make a fatal mistake with the comment “My First Encode Comment & Tell Me What You Think – Plus I Love My Baby Momzie Ria”

After finding a post on torrent site Myris.me which indicated that Baker92 had been a member of another release group DTRG, FACT again turned to Equifax. Presuming the ’92’ in his nickname related to his birth year, FACT searched for any person named Baker born in 1992 with an association to anyone called Ria. This led FACT – and the police – to Reece Baker’s front door.

Graeme Reid – jailed for 3 years and 6 months

During the same month in which FACT investigated 26K, the anti-piracy group discovered from the group’s NFO files that they were affiliated with Reid’s group, RemixHD.

An NFO file for the movie 21 Jump Street revealed that the encoder was a person known as ‘Reidy’ who could be contacted at Hushmail email address. Hushmail is known for its security but that has limits – Reid used the same email address on his Facebook page where he described himself as an “encoder” who lived in Chesterfield.

FACT then turned to the Electoral Register and subsequently discovered Reid’s home address which was passed to the police.

full article /w 2 more examples:
https://torrentfreak.com/how-hollywood-caught-the-uks-most-prolific-movie-pirates-151227/


man gotta love it when people get caught by simply googling them

 

[nib95]

Pretty interesting stuff. All of them made some pretty sloppy mistakes.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

So basically the same advanced forensic techniques used to determine which GAFfers post on reddit and voat

 

[CreepingFear]

Pretty stupid to use the same name in different places.

 

[diamount]

4 years, I've seen people get less for armed robbery.

 

[Bold One]

you wouldn't steal a baby

 

[Jonnax]

Why the fuck are these people distributing pirated stuff when they know there's crazy consequences for it.

I imagine they aren't making money off of it.

 

[GnawtyDog]

4 years, I've seen people get less for armed robbery.

I've seen less for crashing an entire financial system. Pirates are just in the wrong business. Can't even call it business, more like non-profits.

 

[obin_gam]

Good to know private corporations can act as police in other countries. GG world.

Why the fuck are these people distributing pirated stuff when they know there's crazy consequences for it.

I imagine they aren't making money off of it.

Because they don't believe the consequences are correctly determined in relation to the "crime" itself. Distributing pirates usually think the copyright laws should be - if not revoked then - reworked to better reflect the reality of the modern society.

 

[Uhyve]

FACT searched for any person named Baker born in 1992 with an association to anyone called Ria

This is creepy. I mean, I know the government has all of this information, but still, it's not like FACT are a government agency. Unless, they're literally talking about a Google search of Baker+1992+Ria, if that's it then lol.

 

[Calvero]

you wouldn't steal a baby

You wouldn't download a car

 

[DiscoJer]

This is nuts. People do less time in the US for killing someone. Or maiming, there was a local story about a driver who hit a kid and severed his arm and got off scot free

Where any of the people behind Argo, the Avengers and Skyfall (the movies the press release brags about) even mildly inconvenienced by this piracy?

 

[pswii60]

This is creepy. I mean, I know the government has all of this information, but still, it's not like FACT are a government agency. Unless, they're literally talking about a Google search of Baker+1992+Ria, if that's it then lol.

Sounds like a typical episode of Catfish to me.

 

[squall23]

You wouldn't download a car

I sure as damn hell would if I could. That's just amazing technology right there.

Anyway, is it just me or does it seem like these guys still wouldn't be caught yet if they never ever touched Facebook?

 

[Kule]

I pay for all my movies and games but seeing these people get 4 years just because they were doing the human thing of sharing with no monetary income in return is a bit crazy. The police are supposed to protect the people and it's disgusting to see corporations are deemed more important.

 

[obin_gam]

I sure as damn hell would if I could.

Why are you talking in future tense?

 

[akira28]

damn I was thinking it was some story about how they finally figured out how to accurately portray British pirates during the age of sea.

 

[Foffy]

Those sentences are hilarious absurd.

Of course that's what they get.

 

[Blastoise]

None of those groups are actual scene releasers.

Most of them just find the scene release and re-rip into a shitty downsampled mkv and upload it to torrent sites.

They still have not caught the actual releasers because those guys are not that stupid.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

Imagine losing 4 years of your life and probably future job prospects because you ripped some shitty movies

 

[bodyboarder]

Rookie errors.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

None of those groups are actual scene releasers.

Most of them just find the scene release and re-rip into a shitty downsampled mkv and upload it to torrent sites.

They still have not caught the actual releasers because those guys are not that stupid.

That's what I guess too. Also while FACT are patting themselfs on the back they just told other uploaders how not to get caught.

 

[RulkezX]

How were they able to go to Equifax 3 times and get these details off of them? Did Equifax just decide to let a 3rd party company scour their database for financial info?


Edit: And Virgin media giving out user details to non law enforcement as well. What the fuck.

 

[scoobidoo112]

Welp, at this point we all know, take one head and two more shall appear. Besides, what the fuck is with these sentences? They should have murdered someone while they were at it, at least then it would have made sense.

 

[Can Crusher]

Would've left scot-free had they said they fell on the keyboard with their dick erect, and pressed enter by mistake.

What a fucked up justice system that spends time on bullshit like this.

 

[Polari]

Absurd sentences for non-violent offences. I don't imagine they had much in the way of priors either.

 

[pswii60]

I pay for all my movies and games but seeing these people get 4 years just because they were doing the human thing of sharing with no monetary income in return is a bit crazy. The police are supposed to protect the people and it's disgusting to see corporations are deemed more important.

Agreed. And the 'protecting the employees' thing doesn't work either when we know how corrupt Hollywood is and how toploaded the salaries are.

 

[Hjod]

Edit: And Virgin media giving out user details to non law enforcement as well. What the fuck.

Yeah, that's really fucked up.

 

[HPX]

You wouldn't download a car

Also
https://youtu.be/7FqHSTBFONI

Now they did some mistakes for sure. Using the same alias wasnt the smartest thing to do in their case. I thought this was about yify though.

Edit: Also. Do these organizations have to do all the work? I really thought investigation would be on the law enforcement.

 

[astroturfing]

not surprised that the sentences are harsher than for many violent crimes (hell in Finland you can rape or kill and get less years), after all the main purpose of a justice system is to protect wealth and property.

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

Why the fuck are these people distributing pirated stuff when they know there's crazy consequences for it.

I imagine they aren't making money off of it.

Well, some of them make money.
I don't know whats the deal with torrents is, but crews who upload to filehosters or streaming sites make quite a lot money with advertising.

In germany the police busted a big group a few years ago and they had made millions just from the shitty porn adds and stuff you see on streaming sites.

 

[Mindwipe]

How were they able to go to Equifax 3 times and get these details off of them? Did Equifax just decide to let a 3rd party company scour their database for financial info?

That's literally what Equifax do... They are a database company that sells access to bodies that pay for it.

Edit: And Virgin media giving out user details to non law enforcement as well. What the fuck.

Virgin Media were under a court order to do so.

 

[Visualante2]

Edit: And Virgin media giving out user details to non law enforcement as well. What the fuck.

Virgin Media's sister company is a record company. They've been at the forefront of the anti piracy agenda in the UK. It's no secret either. I'd file that along with stupidity personally.

Virgin Media were under a court order to do so.

Oh fair enough.

 

[hamchan]

Man that's so damn careless of these guys. You don't work clean you get caught and pay the price.

 

[RulkezX]

That's literally what Equifax do... They are a database company that sells access to bodies that pay for it.



Virgin Media were under a court order to do so.

I thought Equifax were a credit check company like Experian. How is it legal for a 3rd party to be able to buy my details including address etc given the data protection laws in the UK (especially given the limited amount of info they had in some of these cases).

 

[Alienous]

Is the any way to not read the OP in Dominic Littlewood's voice?

 

[Pinkuss]

I thought Equifax were a credit check company like Experian. How is it legal for a 3rd party to be able to buy my details including address etc given the data protection laws in the UK (especially given the limited amount of info they had in some of these cases).

You can buy Experian data too. (I've used it at work before, briefly for working out customer types).

 

[scoobidoo112]

There is a Simpsons GIF for this: