Ashcroft Targets Illicit Distribution Of Movies, Music

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

___

Dave Farber  +1 412 726 9889



 ..... Forwarded Message .......
From: Barry Ritholtz <ritholtz () optonline net>
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 07:45:38 -0400
Subj: Ashcroft Targets Illicit Distribution Of Movies, Music

Hey Dave,

I find it hard to believe that this has become a priority for the DoJ 
in these times -- but it apparently has. We may not have captured OBL, 
but at least we stopped these kids from swapping files of Usher and 
Britney Spears!


Barry L. Ritholtz
Market Strategist
Maxim Group
britholtz () maximgrp com
(212) 895-3614
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Big Picture:  A blog of capital markets, geopolitics, with a dash 
of film!
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/







Ashcroft Targets Illicit Distribution Of Movies, Music
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109345404554600906,00.html
By MARK WIGFIELD and ETHAN SMITH
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
August 26, 2004; Page B6

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced what he called the first 
federal law-enforcement action targeting distribution of copyrighted 
materials over so-called peer-to-peer networks.

Mr. Ashcroft said five homes and one Internet-services provider, or 
ISP, were raided in a probe of networks organized to distribute massive 
quantities of copyrighted movies, music, software, games and other 
materials over the Internet.

No charges have been filed, and Mr. Ashcroft wouldn't reveal the name 
of the ISP while the investigation continues. He said the five networks 
had made 45 terabytes of materials available for distribution, or 
material the equivalent of more than four times the size of the print 
collection of the Library of Congress.

The networks consisted of individuals who, as a condition of 
participation, were required to make available for download as much as 
100 gigabytes of material, Mr. Ashcroft said. One gigabyte is about the 
amount of space required to store 250 songs on a computer hard drive.

Peer-to-peer, or P2P, software enables Internet users to download 
materials from other individuals' computers connected to the Internet. 
Popular peer-to-peer platforms include Grokster and Kazaa. Mr. Ashcroft 
noted that there are legal uses of file-sharing programs.

According to an affidavit by an FBI special agent filed in support of 
the search warrant executed yesterday morning, the people whose homes 
were searched were members of a 7,000-member operation called the 
Underground Network. The network ran using freely available software 
called Direct Connect. The investigation leading to the search began in 
March.

The affidavit alleges that 200 to 300 users were typically active on 
the Underground Network at any given time, trading movies, music and 
software, including Bruce Springsteen's "Greatest Hits" album, and the 
films "Cold Mountain" and "The Road to Perdition."

An e-mail to the Underground Network site wasn't answered.

Mr. Ashcroft's announcement came on the same day the Recording Industry 
Association of America brought copyright-infringement lawsuits against 
744 people using a variety of peer-to-peer platforms to share music. 
The music industry has attributed a sharp decline in sales to 
file-sharing, but said traffic on one of the largest systems is down as 
a result of the trade group's decision to sue downloaders.

Separately, the Justice Department is preparing to announce the results 
of a nationwide campaign against the purveyors of fraudulent e-mail 
"spam" that involves more than 100 arrests, search warrants, subpoenas 
and other law-enforcement actions, industry and law-enforcement 
officials said.



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