Fed crackdown on 'RNS' signals death to oldest 0Day group online

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Fed crackdown on 'RNS' signals death to oldest 0Day group online
September 13,2009

From mid-1996 up until about 2007, RNS, or Rabid Neurosis, depending on how long you have been online in the right circles to know of them, was the group to go to if you wanted music.

While it has been a few years since the group has released anything online, they were the grandfathers to many of the groups online today. Their death is certain however, as a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia charged four of the RNS team with conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.

If you downloaded a copy of Jay-Z's Blueprint CD, RNS released it. The same can be said for Encore by Eminem, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb by U2, and thousands of full CDs each year from 1996 until 2007. In 2007, RNS left the music scene with the release of Fall Out Boy's album Infinity on High. (For those who keep track, in May 2009 there was a release that used RNS as the release group. However, it should be understood that RNS as a name has always existed after the main people left the scene in 2007.)

As mentioned, RNS is the grandfather to the groups online today, such as XXL, and H3X. They are the reason many albums are online long before they hit the stores. H3X, for example, just released the new Megadeath CD titled Endgame on September 9, and Jay-Z's album The Blueprint 3 on September 1. The street date for the Jay-Z CD was today, September 11. Endgame is due in stores on September 15. In the past, it was nothing to see a CD online months before it was out in stores.

According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Dana J. Boente, four high ranking members of RNS are listed in the indictment. Adil R. Cassim, Bennie Glover, Matthew D. Chow, and Edward L. Mohan, were charged with being high-level members of RNS. According to court documents, led by Cassim for a period of time, the defendants allegedly conspired to illegally upload thousands of copyright protected music files, which were often subsequently reproduced and distributed hundreds of thousands of times.


Source Fed crackdown on 'RNS' signals death to oldest 0Day group online