A ring of Internet pirates hijacking the cyberseas for over $1 million in stolen software has been hit where it hurts - twelve members of the Pirates With Attitudes and five Intel Corp. workers have been indicted on federal charges in the case.
The FBI is calling it the most significant investigation of copyright infringement involving the Internet to date. And Pirates With Attitudes didn't limit their hijacking to merely domestic cyberwaters - one of the indicted members is believed living in Belgium, and another is said to be in Sweden.
They sailed from a Web port called Sentinel at the University of Sherbrooke in Canada, published reports say, with new members supplying advanced softwares unavailable to the public at the time in order to join. Authorities believe the Pirates uplaoded five thousand software programs worth over $1 million. Four of the five Intel Corp. workers indicted in the case are suspected of supplying hardware to the Pirates.
And each of the seventeen is looking at a maximum five years in the brig, a $250,000 fine, and restitution, if they're convicted of conspiracy to infringe copyrights. Their arraignments are scheduled for May 25.
