The FBI seized computers and software as part of an investigation into illegal sharing of copyrighted materials over peer-to-peer networks, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced.
Search warrants were executed at residences and at Internet service providers in Texas, New York and Wisconsin as part of the first federal criminal copyright action taken against a P2P network.
Investigators 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
