A large-scale computer hacking and piracy network, said to involve over 100 people in Poland, the United States, Britain, Slovakia, and Australia, has been broken, Polish police told European media August 23.
Polish police spokeswoman Agata Salatka told Agence France Presse that officers in western Poland arrested several, including five young Poles thought to be the masterminds of the network, with each facing up to eight years behind bars if convicted.
This network, AFP said, hacking into university and technical institute computers in several countries, using their large memories to stock the most modern pirated programs – including games, recent films, and music – and then selling them on the black market, though in Poland itself pirated goods are often sold on open-air markets, as the often are at American swap meets and flea markets.
Western Polish police joined the FBI and law enforcement in Britain and Slovakia, beginning in October 2003, in shadowing and finally dismantling the network, Salatka told AFP.
