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[The Faceless Master]

It is being reported on some news sites that some raids took place today against Internet "warez" groups. It has been confirmed so far that there was at least one arrest against a Fremont man. Chirayu Patel, 24, was arrested yesterday accused of setting up hardware and running a site for a group called Boozers; who are famous online for releasing pirated DVDR copies of movies. Apparently the FBI unmasked a number of piracy groups by making massive amounts of storage space available to them.

On these 2 servers provided by the FBI and 2 servers provided by "warez group members", 27TB of data appeared including movies like Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith just hours after their first theatre showings. Patel is alleged to have become a "Site Op" who used one of the undercover servers and uploaded loads of video games, architectural software and movies.

Source: http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/6586.cfm


and

A Fremont man has been arrested in a nationwide FBI sting that penetrated the secretive world of ``warez'' that the agency describes as a national conspiracy to pirate movies, video games and expensive computer software.

The larger investigation -- including possible additional arrests -- is scheduled to be announced today by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and until then FBI officials said they could not discuss the case. But Wednesday, a search warrant affidavit that outlines the investigation was unsealed in San Francisco.

The warrant was for the arrest of Chirayu Patel, 24, of Fremont on charges of violating federal copyright protection laws. Patel, arrested Wednesday, could not be reached for comment.

The affidavit describes how FBI agents posing as warez hardware geeks unmasked a number of large-scale movie and software piracy groups by making massive amounts of computer storage available to the groups.

Ultimately, 27 terabytes of pirated material landed on two FBI servers, and two servers provided by warez members, including first-run movies such as ``Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith,'' hours after their first showing. A terabyte is a trillion bytes, and a movie typically requires about 6 billion bytes of storage.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/12021852.htm


i guess we'll hear a witty operation name in an official press release sometime soon...

 

[shuri]

27 terabytes of storages! That's damn huge. I pity the poor guys who ruined their lives to spread around movies and stuff, but I'm pretty sure that to fund such type of servers, they werent a bunch of regular movie fans, probably guys with mafia ties.

 

[Phoenix]

This is going to be happening for the next week across several countries. Pirates AM cry. If you're seeding a torrent, now would be a good time to take a week off.

 

[Kon Tiki]

MotorCycle tricks? :lol

http://ww2.abc7news.com/Global/Video/WorldnowASX.asp?os=&vt=v&clipid=460270

This is an awesome video. We knew it was FBI, that is what it said on the back. LOL They should hire her, I bet she knows where to find warez.

 

[8bit]

Are the xxAA going to come after me for seeding ancient episodes of Dr. Who?

 

[fse]

You Bet!

 

[ManaByte]

i guess we'll hear a witty operation name in an official press release sometime soon...

It almost sounds like you're against this...

 

[UltraMarioMan]

Operation L33t H4X0RZ H4X0R sounds about right.

 

[The Faceless Master]

It almost sounds like you're against this...

it just amuses me to hear the names they come up with....

like how the antispam bill was "CANSPAM"

and indeed they have one for this...

OPERATION SITE DOWN

Called Operation Site Down, the crackdown involved undercover FBI operations run out of Chicago, San Francisco and Charlotte, N.C., and involved help from authorities in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

The investigations targeted "release groups" that are the original sources of pirated works. Among the warez groups targeted are RiSCISO, Myth, TDA, LND, Goodfellaz, Hoodlum, Vengeance, Centropy, Wasted Time, Paranoid, Corrupt, Gamerz, AdmitONE, Hellbound, KGS, BBX, KHG, NOX, NFR, CDZ, TUN and BHP.

Source: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3248547

Among the suspects is Chirayu Patel, 23, a Fremont motorcycle enthusiast charged Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose with conspiracy, criminal copyright infringement and aiding and abetting.

Patel, who uses several online aliases, including "Nebula," surrendered his passport Wednesday and was released on $100,000 bond. He could not be reached for comment Thursday. His attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Lara Vinnard, did not respond to requests for comment.

Authorities also arrested William Veyna, 34, of Chatsworth (Los Angeles County); Nate Lovell, 22, of Boulder, Colo.; and David Fish, 24, of Watertown, Conn. The suspects are to appear July 14 in federal court in San Jose.

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/07/01/PIRACY.TMP&type=tech

 

[Seth C]

I don't know what life would be like without seeing Centropy's name all over the place.

 

[Macam]

All they need now are several more and that should wrap it up for piracy on the Internet!