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FBI targets software piracy ring

8 March 2005 22:50 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 9 comments

Following an investigation by the FBI into the Internet's underground warez scene, three members of a global computer piracy ring have pleaded guilty to distributing millions of dollars worth of games, software and movies all over the world over the Internet. The men pleaded guilty in U.S. District court to federal copyright charges, becoming the first people convicted in what the U.S. Justice Department said was the largest-ever investigation into software piracy.

"It's a competition of different groups racing to release pirated software over the Internet," said Seth Kleinberg, a 26-year-old Los Angeles man who, with a high-school education and a home computer, cracked the computer industry's toughest copyright protections. He faces five to six years in prison when he is sentenced in July. Jeffrey Lerman, 20, a University of Maryland student from Long Island, and Albert Bryndza, 32 of New York also pleaded guilty.

The investigation, dubbed "Operation Higher Education" spanned across the United States and about a dozen foreign countries, prosecutors said. The FBI has recently built a brand new state-of-the-art computer crimes facility to deal with Internet based issues like Software piracy.

Source:
Yahoo

Permalink to this article

Two men plead guilty for federal Internet piracy (11 January 2006)

German police make arrest in warez bust (2 December 2005)

11 charged over piracy busts (17 September 2004)

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Discuss this article!
GrayArea (Member) 9 March 2005 7:20
"Operation Higher Education" Oh, that is rich... I hope the FBI realizes they are trying to drain the ocean with a teaspoon. [ + quote]
c4iscool (Member) 9 March 2005 7:22
I feel bad for them. but to run a ware site in the USA pretty damn dumb. [ + quote]
daemonzx6 (Senior Member) 9 March 2005 18:35
This makes me angry when obvious geniuses get put in jail. Why not make them pay back their "debt to society" by having him develope a better protection? Not that I support copy protection, just hate to see a good mind go to waste. [ + quote]
madgreek (Inactive) 10 March 2005 7:12
We should go after drug dealers and terrorists before warez clans. Ok so some people may have lost there jobs. Usually the people who download warez never intended to buy the program anyway. Granted...but I think the people who lost their live due to terrorism should be avenged first. How sad. [ + quote]
neewbie (Member) 10 March 2005 20:35
Yeah i agree with daemonzx6, they are really smart and they should be working at a Nero factory or sumthing to make copy-protection not in jail... [ + quote]
doc57 (Inactive) 13 March 2005 11:58
You'd think that the FBI would have better things to do these days with the taxpayers' money... [ + quote]
nohelpme (Senior Member) 13 March 2005 12:07
In the end man...warez lives on. Software is media, as long as there is something to copy on there will always be softwere theft. [ + quote]
nismo_rat (Newbie) 13 March 2005 20:33
nohelpme has said it all...period. This is my cheap-ass signature. [ + quote]
nohelpme (Senior Member) 14 March 2005 3:11
Or until they come out with something worth paying for. Not cd's for 12-19 songs for 18 dollars at the mall. Those are the true thevies! [ + quote]