Internet Pirating is on the Rise: ISP's are Starting to Crack Down
By Steven Brown
June 25, 2002
Tomorrow the FBI in cooperating with Road Runner Broadband, a division of Time Warner cable, are launching a search in Southern Maine in hopes to eliminate the sudden rise in FTP servers hosting pirated software, or 'warez.'
"We have reason to believe they are mostly teenage boys. No accounts have been shut off, we don't want to give them any warning," Said Mike Lopez, Vice President of Road Runner Broadband, "Anyone with an IP containing 24.198 is now being monitored. Every file tranfered, we will see, and we do know what we are looking for."
(The president was not availible for comment)
Warez has been a growing problem in the past few years, and with no one willing to take the first step in eliminating it, Road Runner stood up to the plate. They will be of the first, of many digital subscriber services to monitor their network activity this carefully.
"Maine is an ideal choice to start," Lopez was quoted again, "We are seeing such a large rise in such a small state, something had to be done."
What exactly is all this about? Pirating software is simply illegal. "Release Groups," steal or buy software, and within hours crack the copyright protection, have the game or appliance packaged into smaller files, have it sent out to distrobution sites.
Many of these sites are on corporate computers, which can inadvertantly hold a company responsible for harboring illegal files. From these sites, the software is then spread to smaller and smaller sites, where is is availible to almost anyone with an internet connection.
However, warez cannot be found on many websites. IRC is where most of it is found. EFNet and DALnet are responsible for more software profit loss than all other forseeable sources.
Some of these channels are under constant FBI watch, although many of the users may not know it. Some chat rooms, or channels on EFNET are
#EMPiRE-X
#PUREiSO
#ISO
#FTP4Warez
#isoz
and #Isollution
IP addresses are being logged, and internet service providers being notified.
Anyone currently taking part in any illegal activities in these, or any other channels: You have been warned.
