Warez is a term commonly applied to software that has been
stripped of its copy protection and made available on the internet
for downloading. Those participating in the warez scene – the
on-line trading of illegal software, games, films and music – have
become a priority target for law enforcement.
The two most recent operations, Operation Fastlink in 2004, and
Operation Site Down last month, resulted in a total of more than
200 search warrants executed in 15 countries, including the UK,
France, Canada and Israel.
Hundreds of computers and illegal on-line distribution hubs were
confiscated and more than $100 million in illegally-copied
copyrighted software, games, movies, and music was removed from
illicit distribution channels.
In the US, four people have now been charged with conspiracy to
commit criminal copyright infringement and copyright infringement.
Four others have been charged with conspiracy to commit criminal
copyright infringement.
According to the Justice Department, the defendants were leading
members in the warez scene, acting as leaders, crackers, suppliers,
distribution site hosts or site administrators.
All were affiliated with organised warez groups that acted as
the
so-called “release” groups that are the original sources for a
majority of the pirated works distributed and downloaded via the
internet.
The Justice Department explained that once a warez release group
prepares a stolen work for distribution, the material is
distributed in minutes to secure, top-level warez servers
throughout the world. From there, within a matter of hours, the
pirated works are distributed globally, filtering down to
peer-to-peer and other public file sharing networks accessible to
anyone with internet access.
“Today’s charges strike at the top of the copyright piracy
supply chain – a technologically-sophisticated, highly organised
distribution network that provides most of the copyrighted
software, movies, games, and music illegally distributed over the
internet,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Richter. “Cases
like these are part of the Department’s coordinated strategy to
protect copyright owners from the on-line thieves who steal and
then sell the products they work so hard to produce.”
