Carracho Servers READ THIS

BBenve

Apple seeder
it is bad here it is

December 11, 2001

TECHNOLOGY

In 27 Cities, U.S. Carries Out Raids in Software
Piracy Case

By DAVID STOUT
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ASHINGTON, Dec. 11 — Federal agents carried out dozens
of raids today against a far-flung network suspected
of pirating billions of dollars worth of computer
software — ranging from operating systems to the
latest music videos and movies — over the Internet.

Agents seized computers and hard drives in at least 27
cities in 21 states in raids on businesses, university
computer centers, Internet service providers and many
residences. Foreign law enforcement people staged
about 20 similar raids in Australia, Britain, Finland
and Norway.

Treasury and Commerce department officials said more
raids will be conducted in the weeks ahead. No arrests
were made in the United States, partly because today's
operations were aimed at gathering evidence. Some of
the people implicated, aware that they could face
charges of conspiracy or theft of intellectual
property, are already cooperating with the
authorities, department officials said.

The operation that culminated in today's raids, after
a 15-month inquiry, is part of "the largest and most
extensive investigation of its kind," Customs
Commissioner Robert C. Bonner said.

The kind of goods stolen has included costly business
programs, computer-security software, copyrighted
games, music and digital videos — "everything from the
movie `Harry Potter' to the Windows operating
systems," in the words of John C. Varrone, assistant
commissioner in the Customs Service's Office of
Investigations.

"This is a new frontier for crime," Kenneth W. Dam,
deputy secretary of the Treasury, said at a news
briefing. "The costs are enormous to both industry and
consumers."

Philip Bond, the Commerce Department's under secretary
for technological policy, said cyber-pirates steal an
estimated $12 billion worth of technology and goods a
year, according to the Business Software Alliance.
American leadership in computers and software is "very
much at stake" because of piracy, he said.

Officials said pirates of the ilk who were the targets
of today's operation are not teen-age hackers but
rather highly skilled computer professionals motivated
more by challenge than greed.

"The money is made farther down the food chain," Mr.
Varrone said. The pirated software soon reaches
distributors who find a ready market, the officials
said.

Officials said offenders could face up to three years
in prison, upon conviction, and depending on their
willingness to cooperate. By midday, the authorities
said, more than 60 people in the United States had
been identified as being involved in the pirating
operation. Several suspects have already been charged
overseas.

The target of the raids was the "Warez" group, a
loosely affiliated network of software-piracy gangs
that duplicate and reproduce copyrighted software over
the Internet. Of special interest today was a Warez
unit known as "DrinkOrDie," probably the oldest and
best known in the Warez network, officials said,
adding that DrinkOrDie members take special pride in
having cracked and pirated the Windows 95 operating
system three days before its release to the public.

Members of Warez includes corporate executives,
computer-network administrators and students at major
universities, government workers and employees of
technology and computer firms, the Customs Service
said today. The agency said the piracy ring is aided
by insiders in stealing the software and that the ring
relies on elaborate computer-security devices to
minimize risk of detection.

Raids were carried out today at the University of
California at Los Angeles, the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Purdue University, Duke University and
the University of Oregon, officials said. They said
the universities themselves, like the various
companies raided today, were not involved in the
wrongdoing by their employees and were cooperating in
the inquiry.

Cities where raids were staged included New York,
Washington, Houston, Indianapolis, San Francisco,
Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Atlanta and Chicago, the
government said.

Officials said some pirates have been remarkably
brazen, some even boasting of their feats on their own
Web sites. "They also view themselves as Robin Hood
figures," the Customs agency said. "They seek an
Internet devoid of rules or law."

This afternoon, government officials said they hope to
change that perception. "This is not a sport, this is
a crime," Mr. Bond said, adding that punishment could
be "serious hard time" in prison.
 
Is peope like you that get cought ... too confident of themselves and that think they know it all..and think that people that get cought are stupid....anyway.....
What a useless reply was yours...
 
BBenve: Consider this a warning...

What is up with your reply? <rolling eyes>

Taking shots at people is really not advisable.

Admin
 
These are probably warez FTP and HTTP sites. I doubt they even know what Carracho is. That's the nice thing about being about 7% of the market, :D A VERY small target. Plus, it pays to stay underground and NOT go commercial AKA Napster. Hotline is more a target than Carracho, in my opinion. Time will tell...
 
The more popular the more attention, the faster they get shut down... Just like Naptster. They are swapping a LOT more than just MP3s there, remember? They have a LOT more than just the RIAA to sue them. That will be messy. Not to mention look at Hotline now since it got more popular... yuck. Crowded server, banners, more PC software than Mac software. Not as good as it was when it was underground and Mac only, to me.

Just my 2 cents...
 
BBenve,

I don't see what you're saying. themacko said he never got the hang of carracho and you said people like him got caught.

You went further to say he was too confident.

Huh? That's not how I read it. It looks to me like themacko never stole anything.

Vanguard
 
Scary!!!

Just monday my friend's computer got taken away by the Feds. :(
He ran a warez server at his house. (PC)

Good thing were on macs, but this doesn't really show anything. :( I bet the Feds could go after the mac users if Carracho gets too much popularity and publicity. (Which isn't too cool!)
 
At the end of 2000, I was a college senior, and there was a huge raid at my university that cost several people their computers because they had pirated music on their hard drive. Eventually all computers were returned except for one person's who had set up an FTP site for people to download music and files.

I'm not up on Internet piracy laws, but what is an arrestable(sp?) offense? Is downloading MP3s or full programs from Gnutella going to land someone in jail? Or are FTP server administrators and downloaders that use a warez ftp site more likely to be in trouble? Are the people that download the file as guilty as the person providing it?

In the case I mentioned above, newspaper reports said that raids were a result of Napster use. Do (did)Napster and Gnutella log where uploads and downloads come from? Can authorities track Gnutella and/or anonymous FTP use?

Personally, I have a low-speed dial up connection so even if I wanted to, I couldn't download anything more than the occasional MP3. I do, however, have a couple of friends with DSL and cable access that have downloaded both MP3s and programs like Photoshop. Though the obvious moral dilemna comes up, is there anything else these guys should be worried about?

d8n_two
 
In a somewhat related event, several months ago the Feds raided an Akron OH man's house, arrested him, and confiscated his computer for downloading teen porn using LimeWire. Even though LimeWire claims to be untraceable, DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT. The FBI has a program called "Carnivore" that is the "do all - end all" of computer monitoring programs (see http://www.slashdot.org for more info). Whatever goes to/from your IP address is intercepted and recorded. You are guilty as charged, and they will get you, no matter what platform you use, PC, Mac, or Linux. Keep this in mind: America has the largest number of prisons per population count, and they (the politicians) keep building more.

Your best bet is not to pirate programs and steal MP3.

chemistry_geek
 
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