John Ashcroft called P2P file-sharing “stealing”, and then he went out and got himself a federal posse that kicked the doors down of some unsuspecting “stealers”. It looks like Ashcroft also had the press standing by. I guess all this “stealing” is going to land some of us in jail?
I’ll wait for comments before I add my opinion.
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Attorney General John Ashcroft, Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray, and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Kenneth L. Wainstein today announced the first federal enforcement action taken against criminal copyright piracy on peer-to-peer networks. Early this morning, federal agents executed six search warrants at five residences and one Internet service provider in Texas, New York, and Wisconsin, as part of an investigation into the illegal distribution of copyrighted movies, software, games, and music over peer-to-peer networks. Agents seized computers, software, and computer-related equipment in the searches.
“Today’s actions send an important message to those who steal over the Internet. When online thieves illegally distribute copyrighted programs and products, they put the livelihoods of millions of hard-working Americans at risk and damage our economy,” said Attorney General John Ashcroft. “The execution of today’s warrants disrupted an extensive peer-to-peer network suspected of enabling users to traffic illegally in music, films, software and published works. The Department of Justice is committed to enforcing intellectual property laws, and we will pursue those who steal copyrighted materials even when they try to hide behind the false anonymity of peer-to-peer networks.”
“Today’s enforcement action is the latest step in our ongoing effort to combat piracy occurring on the Internet,” said Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. “This is the first federal law enforcement action against criminal copyright infringement using peer-to-peer networks and shows that we are committed to combating piracy, regardless of the medium used to commit these illegal acts.”
“Today we are sending a clear message that federal law enforcement takes piracy seriously,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein. “It is illegal to trade in copyright-protected materials on the Internet. This is theft, plain and simple. If you are engaged in this behavior, you are on notice that you are not as anonymous as you may think.”
The search warrants executed today are the result of Operation Digital Gridlock, a joint investigation conducted by the FBI, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. This operation targeted illegal file sharing of copyrighted materials over five Direct Connect peer-to-peer networks that belonged to a group known as The Underground Network. According to search warrant affidavits unsealed today, these networks required users to share a minimum of one to 100 gigabytes of computer files with other users on the network. Upon becoming a member of one of these peer-to-peer networks, each user could then download shared files from the hard drives of all other members on the network. Theft through the illegal reproduction and distribution of movies, software, games, and music is estimated to cost U.S. industries $19 billion worldwide each year.
I’m the coolest.
The truth was, I was having a fight with the missus, and, well, she pissed me off.. but I can’t take it out on her, can I?
Certainly not. So… I burst into the room with my 20 trained ninjas. The geeky downloaders were slipping all over their pocket protectors and downloaded porn. Two tried to escape, so i took out my ninja throwing stars and decapitated them both. It was AWESOME!
Suddenly, The downloaders all joined forces and turned into a giant robot.. and the ninjas all died when they were set on fire. It was up to me. I Karate chopped the robot and it exploded and I saved the country lots and lots of dough.
So, if you don’t like it, better watch out.. you never know where I and my trained ninjas might be.
Best, John Ash-(The Stash)-Croft.
Sweet! Famous!
We got a famous guy on our blog now! What a great avatar!
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Asscrack
Humorously enough, that’s my exact avatar on another board, with the caption “I’m watching you.”
— Ben Schuman Mad, Mad Tenor
Thief..
you’ve stolen my image.. Illegally downloaded my identity..
That’s it.. you will face the hordes and perish in flames..
I AM watching you. I AM!!!
John Ash(Bash your head in)croft
Downloading.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again… downloading is not stealing. As Matt has pointed out, it is copyright infringement at the worst.
You could go back and read my essay on the music aspect of it, but at the end of the day, its not stealing because the “victim” has not lost anything but a potential sale, emphasis on the word POTENTIAL.
The companies involved have a right to try to prevent this, but civil prosecution goes a bit too far and criminal prosecution is outrageous.. UNLESS the people involved are making money off the download.. in which case, they are supplying direct competition to the legit product with a pirated copy in the market place.. and in that case they are taking away customers.
That was the idea behind copyrights and patents. No one can take your idea and make money off it.
Hmm
Let’s see…
Republicans preening for the press in an election year. Sucking up to big business.
As a note, the people they took down were MAJOR sharers. 100 GB of data is quite a lot. Plus, it seemed like an exclusive group as well, with memberships and all. Not like downloading your favorite peer-to-peer software and sharing with millions of people.
And I know the legalese is “copyright infringement”, not stealing, but then why do they have anti-theft devices at records stores? Shouldn’t they have anti-infringement devices instead?
My $.02 Weed