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International crackdown scores warez victory

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Warez

Matt Hines CNET News

Published: 29 Dec 2004 09:30 GMT

The US Department of Justice has landed its first conviction against an American defendant caught via Operation Fastlink, a multinational law enforcement effort undertaken against online software piracy.

The US Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa said that Jathan Desir, 26, of Iowa City, has pleaded guilty to charges related to his role in a criminal enterprise that distributed pirated software, games, movies and music over the Internet.

Appearing in the US District Court in Des Moines last week, Desir pleaded guilty to a three-count felony that charged him with copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. Desir will face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on 18 March, 2005.

The Department of Justice said that Desir will be the first American citizen convicted as part of the plan that was introduced by outgoing Attorney General John Ashcroft in April 2004. Since the debut of Operation Fastlink, law enforcement investigators have conducted more than 120 searches in 27 US states and 11 countries, resulting in the identification of nearly 100 people considered by the investigation to be leaders or high-level members of international piracy organisations, according to the agency. Three people were arrested in the UK during the crackdown.

In one past sweep, Operation Fastlink officials seized 200 computers, 30 of which were alleged to have been used as storage and distribution servers containing thousands of copyrighted works, including newly released movies and music. The Justice Department estimated that the seized copyright material alone was worth $50m.

The global effort specifically targets so-called "warez" groups, members of which are believed to distribute unauthorised copies of material to previously identified clientele over secure servers. Those files typically end up on an Internet Relay Chat network or a peer-to-peer file-sharing service.