The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) has teamed up
with the FBI and the US Department of Justice to crack a
multimillion-pound global internet software piracy
organisation.
A collaboration of groups including Copyright Theft and the
Business Software Alliance, the UK part of the investigation has
led to the arrest of three men believed to be part of an
underground software piracy organisation known as Fairlight.
The UK arrests took place on the afternoon of 21 April, when
NHTCU officers, together with officers from local forces, executed
search warrants at three addresses in Belfast, Manchester and
Sheffield. Three men, a 30-year-old from Belfast, a 34-year-old
from Manchester, and a 22-year-old from Sheffield, were
arrested.
Recovered from these addresses were cracked software from all
types of media, as well as seven computers, more than 100 CD
copiers, offensive weapons and counterfeit driving licences and
credit cards.
Detective superintendent Mick Deats, deputy head of the NHTCU,
said, "Intellectual property theft is a global problem that hurts
economies around the world. In addition to attacking piracy
globally, this operation struck at all facets of the illegal
software, game, movie, and music trade online, which is commonly
referred to as the 'warez scene'."
As part of the global operation, more than 200 computers were
seized, including 30 computer servers that functioned as storage
and distribution hubs. These servers collectively contain hundreds
of thousands of copies of pirated works. One of the storage and
distribution servers seized in the US contains an estimated 65,000
separate pirated titles.
Other servers seized, so-called "elite" sites, contain the most
highly coveted and valuable "new releases," many of which were
distributed to the warez scene before they are commercially
available to the general public.