Internet counterfeiters raided in North Bend
July 8, 2010
By Dan Catchpole
Websites seized in six states, Netherlands
The federal government’s fight against Internet counterfeiting and movie piracy came to North Bend, when federal agents served a search warrant June 30.
Deputies from the King County Sheriff’s Office assisted agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when the warrant was executed at a home on Pickett Avenue at about 6:30 a.m.
It was the first enforcement action of “Operation in Our Sites,” an initiative involving ICE and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
More than 100 agents served six search warrants and seized 15 financial accounts in 11 states and the Netherlands. No arrests were made.
“The investigation is ongoing,” ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.
While law enforcement continues to investigate, the targeted websites have been seized and shut down. A warning shows up on the websites.
Before the raid, the sites streamed and linked to copyrighted films and television shows for free. Together, the sites had 6.7 million visitors in May; one site, Movies-links.tv, had 3.3 million visitors.
Since the investigation is ongoing, Kice would not say how the North Bend home or its residents are involved in the case.
It is also unclear what charges could be brought if anyone is arrested in the case.
“There are a variety of potential charges. We wouldn’t want to speculate,” Kice said.
Internet counterfeiting and piracy are not victimless crimes, though.
“People who try to save a few bucks by trying to download a movie are taking money out of the pockets and pension plans of workers,” she said.
Federal and entertainment industry officials echoed that point in a news release.
“Criminal copyright infringement occurs on a massive scale over the Internet, reportedly resulting in billions of dollars in losses to the U.S. economy,” said Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “That translates into lost jobs and real hardships for ordinary working people. That’s why we took the actions we did.”
Bharara’s office handled the seizure warrants of seven domain names in the action.
That the websites were shut down came as no surprise to some.
In October 2008, Marc Chacksfield at TechRadar.com noted that ThePirateCity.org, one of the 11 sites seized, would likely draw the attention of the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the film U.S. industry. The site did not host the pirated content, but directed users to the content via links.
“Legal loophole or not, it is likely that the site will get closed down at some point. However, it does show that websites showing copyrighted material are standing firm, despite the best actions of film studios,” he wrote.
Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.
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