[IP] U.S. shuts down network that leaked 'Star Wars'
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: May 25, 2005 6:10:03 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] U.S. shuts down network that leaked 'Star Wars'
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[Note: This could get interesting. Bram Cohen, the creator of
BitTorrent, today put into operation a search site for torrents, a
sort of Google for torrents. It was just written up on /. You can
use it to find the same sorts of copyrighted content that
EliteTorrents did. I just went there and used the search term
'Alias' to see what would turn up (this is a TV show on the ABC
network). I received 167 hits, with pointers to torrents that would
allow me to download various episodes of the show. I next tried
'Star Wars' and got 142 hits. Several of those were pointers to the
same version of the new 'Star Wars' film that got EliteTorrents shut
down. Will the FBI be visiting with Bram soon? BTW, its worth it to
go to the former EliteTorrents site, just to see the page that the
FBI and Homeland Security has put up in place of the regular
EliteTorrents homepage: <http://elitetorrents.org/>. DLH]
U.S. shuts down network that leaked 'Star Wars'
Wed May 25, 2005 05:07 PM ET
<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?
type=domesticNews&storyID=8606774&src=rss/domesticNews>
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. law enforcers said on Wednesday that they
have shut down a computer network that distributed illegal copies of
"Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" before it appeared in
movie theaters.
Federal agents executed 10 search warrants and seized the main server
computer in a network that allowed people to download nearly 18,000
movies and software programs, including many current releases, the
FBI and Homeland Security Department said.
The Elite Torrents network, found online at www.elitetorrents.org,
relied on a technology called BitTorrent that allows users to quickly
download digital movies and other large files by copying them from
many computers at once.
The network signed up 133,000 members who collectively downloaded 2.1
million files, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
division of the Homeland Security Department.
Visitors to the Web site on Wednesday saw a notice that read, "This
site has been permanently shut down by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."
The raid targeted administrators of the network and those who
provided movies and other copyrighted material. Similar cases in the
past have found that such "first providers" are typically
entertainment-industry insiders, rather than outside hackers.
Agents executed search warrants in Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Kansas, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. No arrests have been
made, but the investigation continues, ICE spokeswoman Jamie Zuieback
said.
Elite Torrents offered a "virtually unlimited" selection of material,
ICE said. The latest Star Wars movie was available on the network
more than six hours before it was first shown in theaters, and within
24 hours it was copied more than 10,000 times.
The Motion Picture Association, an industry group, helped with the
investigation, ICE said. Movie studios are trying to avoid the fate
of the music industry, which claims it has lost hundreds of millions
of dollars worth of sales due to online file sharing.
Digital movies are about 50 times larger than music files, which
makes them more cumbersome to download. New technologies like
BitTorrent, however, and increased high-speed Internet use are
closing the gap.
The MPAA has managed to shut down at least five BitTorrent networks
through lawsuits and has also sued individuals who use them.
BitTorrent networks have caused headaches for software makers as
well. Apple Computer Inc has sued three men for posting the latest
version of its OS X operating system on a BitTorrent site six months
before it was commercially released.
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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