Operation Fastlink Cracks Down on Warez

An anonymous reader writes "Beginning yesterday morning, law enforcement from 10 countries and the United States conducted over 120 searches worldwide to dismantle some of the most well-known and prolific online piracy organizations. Among the groups targeted by Operation Fastlink are well-known organizations such as Fairlight, Kalisto, Echelon, Class and Project X, all of which specialized in pirating computer games, and music release groups such as APC. The enforcement action announced today is expected to dismantle many of these international warez syndicates and significantly impact the illicit operations of others."

Oh no!

[kneecarrot]

You mean I can no longer spend 5 days downloading a poorly cracked game that I can't play online? That's a real shame.

Slashdot stock comment #243:

[Anonymous Crowhead]

We don't have the right to distributed pirated works online. How does this story fit in this category?

You must be new here.

Damn, I'm so out of touch.

[FreeLinux]

I've never heard of any of these "well known" groups.

Great news!

[7Ghent]

I guess this must mean that we've already solved all those pesky problems with rape, murder, assault and those other violent crimes, not to mention terrorism and the ongoing drug war, so now we can move onto things like busting 1337 W4R3Z D00DZ.

Re:How is this YRO?

[110010001000]

Because information wants to be free. Please report to the Slashdot reprogramming center.

The Heroic Ashcroft

[Glowing Fish]

Wow, whether it is people selling pipes that might be used to smoke marijuana, or kiddiez running "FTP my w4r3z!!!!" sites, Ashcroft won't back down from a hard fight.

Ashcroft doesn't dance, smoke or drink. I think he has too much time on his hands.

Now, that's comedy

[Anonymous Coward]

Calling someone with a four digit Slashdot ID new.

Re:How is this YRO?

[grub]

It seems you're quite new to slashdot?

You should have looked at his UID # before submitting :)

ugh

[The Other White Boy]

i can't believe they could use the phrase 'international warez syndicates' with a straight face.

Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next...

[Anonymous Coward]

we have to start using VPNs, boys!

Christ most of those warez servers are slow enough as is...

MY GOD

[Sevn]

It could take HOURS for new groups to deal with the hole created by the loss of these groups. The humanity.

Quake III

[MrRuslan]

CD key for WAREZ monkeys
http://www.narvakitchens.com/quake3cdkey.jpg

This won't do a single thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Knowing those release groups as well I do, I predict they will plead NO-CD and CRACK their way out of prison within 3 days after their sentences go gold!

I feel safer already...

[instantkarma1]

I mean, this people are part of the Axis of Evil, right?

Yes, go do the bidding of your corporate pimps and protect their profit margins. When you get the chance, how bout keepin an eye open for Osama?

OH No,

[zentu]

Where am I supposed to get my games and Operating systems from NOW? Am I supposed to go out and by them like a normal person? But, I am better than them.

Re:How is this YRO?

[RedCard]

>>We don't have the right to distributed pirated works online.

>You do in Canada.

If we have rights to them, they're not pirated, now are they?

YRO - OLT!

[NeverNow]

Because it's Your Rights Online - Or Lack Thereof! And we should have the rights to distribute whatever we want. "Pirated" has no meaning, unless we're talking about hooks and eye patches.

Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next...

[Frizzle Fry]

You mean, serving the citizens of their countries

So who is the United States serving? It can't be the citizens of its country, since the writeup indicates that the US no longer counts as a country: "enforcement from 10 countries and the United States...".

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

tax dollars at work.

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank god they created that echelon project so we could all be safe from those terrorists that are attacking the mpaa and riaa.

lol.

I, for one

[dj245]

I, for one, welcome our new speedy P2P overlords. With the new speed and horde abilities of Operation Fastlink, files will download faster than ever. Sign up now so my download will go faster!

Wait a minute, Operation Fastlink isn't a P2P program?

Sourceforge.net

[Anonymous Coward]

Make sure you Feds bust those guys! All that software and for free? Thats not possible. And I hear they even give you the source code for the applications!!

'10 countries and the United States'?

[Anonymous Coward]

> 10 countries and the United States
I thought the United States counted as a country too.

Partiot Act being Used

[DarthTeufel]

How much do you want to bet, some of these searches are going to be conducted under the guise of the Patriot Act. You know, the section that allows for searches without notifying the people they are being searched. How hard will it be to link the pirated software getting into the hands of the Evil Terrorists. Or maybe since the games being pirated have "terrorists" in it, Fuhrer Ashcroft has determined this to be a threat to homeland security AHHHHHHHHHHH I hate this administration more and more each day

Re:No Russia?

[MrHanky]

I usually get it handed out with my mod points. Yeah, I only use crack when I moderate. Oh, you said cracks.

Re:Damn, I'm so out of touch.

[Rick.C]

I've never heard of any of these "well known" groups.

They were decoy goups set up by the crackers as honeypots to attract the FBI and observe its techniques.

Re:MOVE OVER MAFIA!

[MbM]

Yes... 14 year old uber-geeks cracking games and software in mom's basement... yes, that something deserving the title "synicate".

Nice to see the government(s) spending money going after such terrifying villians instead of your friendly neighbourhood rapists, child molestors and murderers, eh?

Maybe they should introduce the groups and solve both problems.

Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next...

[RealityMogul]

Damn right! It's not the government's business to enfore laws... oh wait a second...

Well how dare they prevent me from getting a free copy of Halo, that's detrimental to my well-being... ummmm...

Nevermind, I'm just an idiot that wants everything for free.

I'm not affected

[ShawnDoc]

Well, Suprnova.org is still up, so they couldn't have been that sucessful in dismantling the distribution of pirated material.

Re:I'm going to get moderated "Troll" again

[SteakandcheeseUm]

Its probably that "Axis of Evil - (turbo remix) 4.mp3"
Everyone has heard of that one.

w/o Warez where would we be?

[tweedlebait]

10 year old geek (probably YOU):

Mom, can I have $120,000 so I can
learn autocad and 3d studio and
visual basic and oracle and....?

Mom: No that's too expensive dear

How long before we can afford it?

Mom: after we win the lottery maybe.

Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next...

[Carnildo]

That's unfair I think. To say that the police should only focus on serious crime until serious crime disappears doesn't really seem logical. You get a diminishing returns. For example, put two detectives on a murder case and you'll do better than if you put one. Put 7,000,000 detectives on a murder case, and it probably won't be solved more quickly, at least enough so as to justify the cost and effort.

Put seven million detectives on a murder case, and you'll likely find that one of them is the murderer.

You insensitive clod!

[Gordonjcp]

I personally *love* to blow shit up. And I have 200 gallons of diesel and several tons of nitrate fertiliser, because I run a farm.

Information wants to be

[David Hume]

Because information wants to be free.

Actually, information wants to be anthropomorphized.

Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next...

[Carnildo]

OK, so what are doing wrong here?

The phrase you want is "preaching to the choir".

Remeber W4r3z is an gateway crime...

[gmezero]

First you start trading warez on-line, then the next thing you know you're hooking up with other FPS gamers to play your pirated booty at pirate frag parties where you drink alcahol and the next thing you know you're smoking pot and taking halucangenics and turning on tracer effects in the games... So now your trading stolen software, trading in illegal drugs... then your girlfriend dumps you (if you even had one) and the only date you can get is the prostitute down the street that takes pirated windows software as payment...

It's a slippery slope...

Seriously though, the only way to stop software piracy is drop the price to $19.99 for everything.

Re:wallpaper bubbles...

[trentblase]

The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers!

Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next...

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly what's the limit on a FreeS/WAN box acting as an IPSec VPN concentrator?

What do you mean? An African or European box?

(Sorry, could't resist responding to the cadence of your question!)

Has to be said...too easy.

[dhalgren99]

In Soviet Russia Cracks get YOU! ...sorry. :)

Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost

[thenextpresident]

Too bad I don't have mod points...and even if I did, the max score is 5. *sigh* Such intelligence is inspiring.

Re:Information wants to be

[filmsmith]

Because information wants to be free.

Actually, information wants to be anthropomorphized.

No, it doesn't.

It hates that.

fs

DOJ vs. NSA

[bXTr]

Among the groups targeted by Operation Fastlink are well-known organizations such as Fairlight, Kalisto, Echelon, Class and Project X, all of which specialized in pirating computer games, and music release groups such as APC.
Place your bets, everybody. I know which one I'd bet my money on. WTF was the DOJ thinking?

Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost

[Anonymous Coward]

Since we're reappropriating terms with long-standing meaning and context, why not warp the biggest and baddest one of them all, and just call it "content murder".

"Intellectual Genocide"

P2P IS THE ARTIST HOLOCAUST!

Re:Song of the piracy apologist

[Anonymous Coward]

Heyyyyy... Maybe if I built an army of straw men! I'd be invincible!