Authorities in 11 countries, including Canada, carried out raids Wednesday that were aimed at stopping the illegal distribution of first-run movies and other copyrighted material over the internet. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as investigators around the world, took part in 90 searches that resulted in the arrests of four people. The U.S. Justice Department "is striking at the top of the copyright piracy supply chain – a distribution chain that provides the vast majority of illegal digital content now available online," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said. Eight major servers used to distribute pirated materials were also shut down. The raids took place in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, and Portugal. Hundreds of computers were seized. In Canada, the RCMP conducted searches and seizures in four provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. The raids were headed by an RCMP team from Alberta, which coordinated the operation with RCMP officers and other law-enforcement officials across Canada. Searches were executed in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Kingston, Milton, Ont., and Montreal. The probe is ongoing. "The illegal distribution of software and other intellectual property causes financial loss to legitimate businesses, governments and taxpayers in Canada and around the world. These losses are estimated to be in the billions of dollars," said Raf Souccar, assistant commissioner of RCMP Federal and International Operations. The raids are part of a crackdown dubbed Operation Site Down by U.S. law-enforcement officials. It is aimed at stopping people who traffic in high volumes of copyrighted material. Chirayu Patel, of Fremont, Calif., was among those arrested. He was charged with violating U.S. federal copyright protection laws. It's alleged that Patel is a member of an online "warez" group, which is different from an open file-sharing network such as Kazaa. Warez (pronounced "wares") groups are hard to infiltrate because users contact one another only in encrypted chat rooms. Their servers require passwords and many are based overseas, according to the FBI. Among the warez groups targeted by Wednesday's actions are RiSCISO, Myth, TDA, LND, Goodfellaz, Hoodlum, Vengeance, Centropy, Wasted Time, Paranoid, Corrupt, Gamerz, AdmitONE, Hellbound, KGS, BBX, KHG, NOX, NFR, CDZ, TUN and BHP. Officials believe that these groups are responsible for stealing and distributing movies such as Revenge of the Sith and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, as well as Autodesk's Autocad 2006 and Adobe's Photoshop software. U.S. President George W. Bush signed a new law in May aimed at preventing the distribution of movies and songs before their commercial release. Under the legislation, violators face up to 10 years in prison. Source: CBC.ca
