Peer-to-peer online file swapping took a major hit May 25 when FBI and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials shut down a BitTorrent peer-to-peer network known as Elite Torrents.
The shutdown followed raids executing 10 search warrants against active site members across the United States. Elite Torrent was believed to have more than 133,000 members and distribute more than 17,800 copyrighted titles, film and software alike, amounting to about 2.1 million downloads in the four months leading to the raids and shutdown, officials said in their announcement.
"Our goal is to shut down as much of this illegal operation as quickly as possible to stem the serious financial damage to the victims of this high-tech piracy – the people who labor to produce these copyrighted products," says Acting Assistant Attorney General John Richter, of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.
Called Operation D-Elite, the raids are believed to have been triggered when a pirated copy of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith hit the Internet before the film's official premiere. The raids took aim at Elite Torrents’ administrators and those who supplied the content swapped over its network. BitTorrent P2P technology is believed to allow users faster downloads of even the largest files than standard P2P network software, the agencies said.
"Today's crackdown sends a clear and unmistakable message to anyone involved in the online theft of copyrighted works that they cannot hide behind new technology," Richter says.
"Internet pirates cost U.S. industry hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue every year from the illegal sale of copyrighted goods, and new online file-sharing technologies make their job even easier," says Michael J. Garcia, the Department of Homeland Security's Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"Through today's landmark enforcement actions, ICE and the FBI have shut down a group of online criminals who were using legitimate technology to create one-stop shopping for the illegal sharing of movies, games, software, and music," Garcia adds.
The Motion Picture Association of America, which reportedly offered considerable help in the Elite Torrents raids and shutdown, praised the results. “Today’s actions are bad news for Internet movie thieves and good news for preserving the magic of the movies,” says MPAA President Dan Glickman in his own statement.
“Shutting down illegal file swapping networks like Elite Torrents is an essential part of our fight to stop movie thieves from stealing copyrighted materials," he continues. "We hope and fully expect that people will spend this Memorial Day weekend sharing the motion picture experience with their families and not stealing movies from the Internet.”
Agents took over the main server guiding all Elite Torrents swap activity, leaving a message behind for anyone trying to visit the site: "This Site Has been Permanently Shut Down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."
The officials said the new Star Wars series entry hit the Internet more than six hours before the film premiered in the nation's movie houses last week and suffered more than 10,000 downloads in the following 24 hours.
"The theft of copyrighted material is far from a victimless crime," says Louis M. Riegel, the Assistant Director of the FBI's Cyber Division. "When thieves steal this data, they are taking jobs away from hard workers in industry, which adversely impacts the U.S. economy. The FBI remains committed to working with our partners in law enforcement at all levels and private industry to identify and take action against those responsible."
The raids were part of a Computer and Technology Crime High-Tech Response Team (CATCH) operation. CATCH is a San Diego-based task force of prosecutors and law enforcement officers whose concentration is high tech crime. FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are part of the team. The case will be prosecuted by the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property section, with help from U.S. Attorneys in nine states.
In a related development, on the same day as the Elite Torrent raid, Sweden's parliament passed a law banning Internet downloads of films and music. The new law takes effect July 1, and follows severe Hollywood criticism – particularly from actor Morgan Freeman – of Sweden's allowing P2P downloads while barring uploads.
"The decision means that a clear ban has been introduced against downloading music, pictures, and other material on the Internet for private use without the copyright holder's permission," says a formal statement from Sweden's parliament.
