So Now I'm An International Criminal?

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2004 8:40 am

News.com has some interesting info about a rather large computer piracy raid spanning 27 states, 10 countries, resulting 120 searches and the seisure of goods valued at $50M. Operation Fastlink, was a multinational operation announced by US Attorney General John Ashcroft, that specifically targeted these groups: Fairlight, Kalisto, Echelon, Class and Project X (I've never heard of them before) So now if i trade some software on the net i might be breaking international law? Who knew... From what I understand... Even the French were in on this Razz

no offence to any French reading this... Wink

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2004 9:21 am

sorry, but im not that good at laws and rules etc, especialy if its written in english.
does it mean downloading warez/music/software etc is iligal? i thought it already was.. ?

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2004 3:01 pm

Really bad restatement of the law, but more or less accurate:

1. There is international copyright law, but that's not the DoJ's jurisdiction.
2. The DoJ is prosecuting them under US law.
3. Just because you're not in the US doesn't mean you dont have "contacts" with the US for which the US can sue you.
4. So the references to the other countries doesn't mean this is international law, its US law, its just that some of the parties and information were overseas and required local police assistance.

law dude

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2004 4:35 pm

still dont get it, but thanks anyway Very Happy

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2004 9:57 pm

It's no suprise really.... It's become increasingly difficult to track down online groups, as they spread across the globe, so it was only a matter of time before this happened. I for one am kinda happy, and kinda pissed that it's happening. On one hand? Yes, there are many people out there who deserve to get caught for the blatent piracy that they do. However, on the other hand, I think that the amazing amount of resources they're using could go to a better cause, like oh, I don't know, FEEDING THE WORLD???

Course, that's just my take on it Wink

Rabid Poster Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Posts: 225

hmmm, feeeding the world...
you make it sound like the world is cattle like cows or something Razz

and i still dont get what they are going to do??
is it that it will be illegal do download ANY software???

Crazed Fan Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 268 Location: RC MI

The article is basically commenting on the fact that a very large raid occured. The size and scope of the raid is the big deal, not that it is a raid.

The raid happened in the US, by US officials, for US companies who had people pirating their software.

The raid also happened in other countries where the governments uphold US copyrights, (Like we uphold theirs). They work together to enforce each other's laws, or at least some mix of each other's laws.

This kind of thing would veyr likely not happen in China, some of the former Soviet States, and other 3rd-world or lawless States.

People pirate US software because they think they can get away with it if they are not in the US. But if US officials can make a case against them, then sometimes they get help from local officials in other countries to conduct an arrest.

There are International laws (for those who agree to them) on copyright issues. It ensures that someone who spends the time and money to create literature, software, etc. can get some compensation in return. Otherwise people would copy the works. or make false claims on them.

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 1:58 pm

i dont get it.. if you pay me €100 il give you a few adreses of people with bunches of warez and other stuff, you can all sue em or whatever.. i think it will be over soon then, when Deviance is arrested all hope is lost for pirates, its like killing Captain 'one legged and eyed' Jack. the rest of the pirates are hopeless without him.
realy, if they dident want people to do that stuff, they could easaly stop it in less then 2 years i think.

UO Staff Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 524 Location: Atlanta

Cheetah. Please.
First off DEViANCE is a group, not a single man. Second off, the chances of them finding all of them is pretty much nil. They 'busted' the leader of Razor a while back, but I still see Razor releases on the FTPs I frequent.
And speaking of which, with Razor, Fairlight (who was targeted in this as well) Drunk, GimpzRUS, and others on the scene, piracy would not die with DEViANCE. It will always exist. It is a fact of life.
I am in no way endorsing piracy by my statement - all I am saying is that yes, it will continue. It's unfortunate, because it causes a lot of problems to honest users. We pay more money because developers have to spend time dealing with warez keys, copy protection, etc, which costs them time and money. Not only that, but there's a lot of end-user issues. Just look at all the issues with Painkiller.

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:52 pm

Indeed, arresting a single person, or hell, even a large group of them isn't going to stop anything. It may slow it down for a small portion of time, but it will in no way stop it. To think so is ignorance, like it or not.

Anti-Piracy software has actually become a multi-billion dollar a year business because of these "criminals", so you never really know....

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:46 am

ok, i was being a bit sarcastic, but vote Cheetah for President and il stop piracy Very Happy

.
as soon as i am rich enough to buy the games
sign here ____________ to vote for Cheetah Razz

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:50 am

ummm.... you + president = pr0n for everyone!

/me votes!

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:51 am

w00hoO!!! thats 1 vote in, im gaining on bush and friends already!

ps. now lets dont turn this into an off topic, spam, locked, messing thread.

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:52 am

well it is kinda off topic and spammy Wink