FBI Raids Homes and Seizes Bandwidth Pirates' PCs

Saturated Subnet writes "Recently in Toledo, OH FBI agents and a local police task force raided 13 residence and seized 23 computers. Some users of the local cable broadband provider had uncapped their cable modems." It appears to be a smaller ISP, and the article says these 23 people cost them a quarter of a million bucks. Who has time to look at $10,800 worth of pr0n?

who?

[DanThe1Man]

Who has time to look at $10,800 worth of pr0n?

Oh sure Taco, as soon as you find a girl to marry you, you forget what it was like to be a single geek.

Re:who?

[Bob McCown]

Who has time to look at $10,800 worth of pr0n?

Havent been unemployed, have you Taco?

pr0n

[haa...jesus christ]

Who has time to look at $10,800 worth of pr0n?

Taco, some things in life you make time for.

Why is this agent smiling?

[idonotexist]

because dude, you're getting a Dell [toledoblade.com].

OR operator

[mike3411]

According to their statement, Buckeye should stand the bandwidth usage, or condone it - "The use of excessive bandwidth is something that Buckeye does not condone or will not stand."

Since they called in the FBI, they clearly aren't standing for that kind of thing. So I guess what they're really trying to say is that they condone cable modem uncapping?

Re:TOS

[qurob]

Yes, by the Highway Patrol/RCMP/What-have-you, but you wouldn't expect the National Guard to be scrambled to intercept your car.

Obivously, you don't play much Grand Theft Auto 3

just wait...

[md27]

Bad guys uncap modems: $0 (they're h4x0rs after all)
FBI arrests bandwidth stealers: $4,000
Bad guys sue FBI for violating their ( choose one, civil rights, first amendment rights, blah blah) and win settlement: $25,000,000
So let's recap:
Uncle Sam: Out $25,004,000
Cable Company: Same as before
Bad Guys: You can buy a hell of a lot of bandwidth with $25,004,000
Another wonderful example of our legal system at "work".

Classic Quote

[slntnsnty]

"Most of the broadband providers are really just beginning to learn how the networks perform, what the possibilities are, and how they deal with theft," he said.
My sides hurt from laughing at this. How many years do they need to be in the business before they figure out how their networks perform? Even better question... How can they feel justified to sell us a service they don't understand? How do they know $225000 or whatever amount of money was stolen if they can't explain a simple thing like networking??
Just a thought

Oh man!

[dmarien]

Sorry I wasn't able to post sooner regarding this story, but I got home from school, and all my computer shit was confiscated! I had to go next door just to check my e-mail!

This blows, and shit -- is my friends cable internet connection really this slow?

Re:And they needed the FBI for this?

[daniel_isaacs]

True. But why take the PC's? The bandwith isn't on them. :)

Re:Why is this agent smiling?

[teamhasnoi]

He's smiling because the dept. is finally going to have that Unreal LAN Tournament.

D04Nu75 00\/\/z y()()!

Re:And they needed the FBI for this?

[zbuffered]

I saw fine them a total of damages + (damages * 3), plus give them 90 days in the can each.

I say we fine them damages + (damages * 4) - damages. You can call me apologist if you want, but damages + (damages * 3) is just too much!

Oh, and no more than three months in jail. None of that draconian 90 days stuff. Let the punishment fit the crime.

;)

THe worst thing you can do to them is....

[ender-iii]

The worst thing you can do to them is force them to use dial up.

Re:Obvious reasons, dubious tactics

[Jburkholder]

>The FBI may be asked to either investigate or assist cases involving theft exceeding a certain monetary amount -- the exact value eludes my memory at the moment.

I'd be willing to bet that amount is $250k.

Hello, FBI? Hi, we'd like your help with a problem. We've got a bunch of kids that have figured out how to modify their cable modems to unlock the bandwith cap. We'd like you to investigate and arrest them!

Uh, sir... what crime have they committed?

Geez, I don't know! Isn't it illegal to do what they're doing!!??

Probably not federal law, sir.

WHAT!! You can't do ANYTHING?! I'm losing money everyday this goes on!

Money? How much?

I don't know... probably a grand or so.

Sorry sir, we can't get involved unless the theft is at least two hundred-fifty thousand.

Oh, *cough* I meant one thousand *per person, each day* and there are, like 20 of these guys doing this for at least [mmm...] 13 days! So, it's gotta be over $250,000 damages at this rate.

Oh! Why didn't you say so in the first place... We'll be over first thing tomorrow morning!

Re:Capping bandwidth is trivial

[Fulcrum of Evil]

and what do you think is a T1 or a T3?

Precursor to OC-x. OC-1 is rated at 51.84Mbps.

Re:And they needed the FBI for this?

[NanoGator]

"True. But why take the PC's? The bandwith isn't on them. :)"

Probably because the FBI saw the "The Internet" icon on the desktop and thought they had stolen it.

Yet Kenneth Lay hasn't been charged with ANYTHING

[A nonymous Coward]

Let's see, steal billions, defraud 401K pension plans, no problem. Steal otherwise-unused bandwith, get arrested.

Yep, One Nation, Under God has sure served as a good moral compass these last 48 years.