WASHINGTON - The FBI seized computers, software and equipment as part of an investigation into illegal sharing of copyrighted movies, music and games over an Internet peer-to-peer network, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Wednesday.
Search warrants were executed at residences and an Internet service provider in Texas, New York and Wisconsin as part of the first federal criminal copyright action taken against a P2P network, in which users can access files directly from computers of others in the network.
The warrants sought evidence about the operators of five hubs of the Underground Network
an organization of about 7,000 users who, prosecutors charge, repeatedly violate federal copyright laws by swapping feature films, music, software and computer games.
The message is simply this: P2P or peer-to-peer does not stand for 'permission to pilfer ' Ashcroft told reporters at a Justice Department news conference.
Unlike file-sharing networks popular with tens of millions of Internet users worldwide, the smaller network targeted by the Justice Department was managed by centralized hub computers that restricted participation. Technical experts said it operated similarly to the former Napster service, which the entertainment industry shut down in July 2000.
Industry groups say Internet piracy of intellectual property is a huge and growing problem. Ashcroft estimated $19 billion is the total cost to creative artists, management firms, distribution companies, theaters and all the employees connected with them.
Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, said the Justice Department initiative, dubbed Operation Digital Gridlock should puncture the myth that illegal activity on the Internet is safe because it is not traceable.
Charges and arrests are likely to follow after the evidence is examined, investigators said. The maximum penalty for criminal copyright infringement is a fine of $250,000 and five years in prison.
The search warrants were executed at homes in San Antonio and Belleaire, Texas; Johnson City and Fulton, N.Y.; and Waukesha, Wis. Another search was conducted at the office of The Planet, a Dallas-based Internet service provider.
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