[news=http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/8263/jailforsharing2pz.jpg]FBI Launches Sting Against Top Warez Sites
June 30, 2005
Thomas Mennecke
Everything has a beginning on the Internet. The material found on BitTorrent, eDonkey2000 and even the Newsgroups have their origins. Many times, movies - especially prereleased ones - originate from "Top Sites." Top sites are the tip of the piracy iceberg, where material typically trickles down to more common forms of exchange. Yesterday, the FBI arrested Chirayu Patel who ran a top site server.
The FBI had been posing for a considerable amount of time as server operators, inviting people to upload and download material. Once a solid relationship had been established between the FBI and top warez sites, the trap had been set. It was only a matter of time until the FBI had collected enough evidence to make an arrest. While the FBI has only announced the arrest of one individual, it is expected that more information will be released today implicating additional people.
According to Restless.ugtech.net, who broke this news event, the FBI ran a server name "Chud" and "Lad". They were administered by an undercover agent named "Griffen." The warrant, which was released yesterday, named "killaz, marvel/cartel, cin, sidar, dact, korax, bourbon, and burner." When more information is released today, more specific information on these individuals will be available.
Chirayu Patel, aka "Dact" was arrested 9 AM yesterday. During the arrest, police seized his computers and burned DVD/CD discs. More troubling, he was told the police were working with the FBI to "round up people that were on a FBI run site." The story concludes, "ITS TIME FOR EVERYONE BIG TO GO HIDE."
According to the Mercury News, two FBI servers and two warez server contained 27 terabytes of information. Such pirated material as the movies "Star Wars", "Batman Begins" existed, while software valued at almost $400,000 also was seized.
Source: http://slyck.com/news.php?story=844[/news]
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