TorrentFreak

The place where breaking news, BitTorrent and copyright collide

FBI Seizes Domains of Pirate Android App Websites

After torrent sites and streaming portals, U.S. authorities have now taken down three websites offering pirated Android apps. The FBI operation, which also involved police from France and the Netherlands, is the first to incorporate domain name seizure of sites offering mobile apps. It is unclear at this point whether any of the website operators were arrested during today’s actions.

The Department of Justice announced today that it had seized the domain names of three websites offering pirated Android apps.

With help from French and Dutch police, the FBI took over applanet.net, appbucket.net and snappzmarket.com. In their place visitors to the sites now see the familiar FBI seizure banner.

The domain seizures are the first of their kind against “rogue” mobile app marketplaces. The authorities have not announced whether any of the websites’ operators were arrested.

Leading up to today’s actions FBI agents downloaded thousands of popular Android apps from the websites without charge. FBI Special Agent Brian Lamkin who led the operation described this type of online piracy as a growing problem that can’t be ignored.

“These thefts cost companies millions of dollars and can even inhibit the development and implementation of new ideas and applications. The FBI, in working with its various corporate and government partners, is not only committed to combating such thefts but is well poised to coordinate with the many jurisdictions that are impacted by such activities.”


Seizure Banner

seizure

Commenting on the domain name seizures, Assistant Attorney General Breuer says that online piracy is still high on the agenda.

“Cracking down on piracy of copyrighted works – including popular apps – is a top priority of the Criminal Division,” Breuer said.

“Software apps have become an increasingly essential part of our nation’s economy and creative culture, and the Criminal Division is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to protect the creators of these apps and other forms of intellectual property from those who seek to steal it.”

Since 2010 hundreds of domain names have been seized by U.S. authorities as part of “Operation In Our Sites”. The majority of these domains offered counterfeit goods and around three dozen were linked to copyright infringements.

One domain name has since been returned because it was seized by mistake, and the owner of another domains is demanding its return through the courts.

During previous seizures several sites operators were arrested, including five people connected to the movie streaming site NinjaVideo, four of which received jail sentences. Two alleged operators of other streaming sites that were seized previously are yet to be sentenced.

Responding to this wave of seizures, last year many BitTorrent sites changed their domain names. The Pirate Bay for example switched to the .se extension, one less prone to a seizure by U.S. authorities.

Whether a similar trend will emerge among sites offering pirated mobile apps remains to be seen.

Related Posts

Previous Post | Next Post

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/ALN7ZQ4JL2TQVSGVBZS4IWX5NA Xavier

    They took down my favorite market, SnappzMarket :(

    • http://twitter.com/ConniePetty8 Connie Petty

      Whether a similar trend will emerge among sites offering pirated mobile apps remains to be seen. http://Millionaire4Project.blogspot.com

    • Yyy

       time to put it on tor and freenet, where they cant do shit. resist 1984

      • Reason

        “Resist 1984″? There’s no fucking way you’ve read the book – or if you did you were too dumb to understand it. It’s a warning against totalitarianism, thought-control and fascism – what will happen if our leaders have ultimate power over what we are allowed to think.

        It doesn’t have ANY fucking thing to do with STEALING from hard-working individuals that spend their entire lives coding software in order to make a living. Maybe if I stole all the money you made from flipping burgers, you would understand how being robbed out of potential income feels.

        In short: Fuck you.

        • Guest

          Copying is not stealing.

          Insulting people won’t give you reason!

        • FreeBSD

          that’s right!

        • Reason

          @ac772b48d6728242138b1df18c9716e5:disqus Copying is not stealing, since the author still has the item in their possession, that is true. We agree that far.
          The problem occurs when that author is not compensated for their work, being robbed of POTENTIAL income (not that I used that word in my original post as well). People that like his software and WOULD have bought it end up getting it elsewhere. This is known as loss of POTENTIAL income – income that WOULD have been there if there wasn’t piracy.

          If the loss of potential income becomes too great, it causes something you might have heard of known as bankruptcy, and there will be no more software by that particular individual.

          They’ll be forced to give up on their dream and trudge over to some shitty job instead just to be able to pay the bills. One less creative entrepreneur in the world.

          I agree, there are a bunch of problems with the current digital model. On the one hand, it is true that you can make infinite copies of software for free, so that once you’ve sold an “instance” to someone, you can sell another “instance” to someone else, ad nauseum, and you never run out. This is what the freeloaders deem unfair and use to justify their theft of his potential income.

          But what freeloaders don’t understand is that DIGITAL is an ENTIRELY different world compared to physical goods. With physical goods, you hammer a few nails into some wood, paint it, and call it a table. You sell it, and make another one. Each sold table is a final product, ready to be delivered, never to be seen by the worksman again.

          Software on the other hand, is a ridiculously fucking advanced topic where you slave away hour after hour, doing extremely advanced tasks, constantly adding features, expanding, fixing bug after bug, responding to hundreds to thousands of customer support emails and phone calls every day. It is a never-ending cycle of supporting the product, never ceasing to improve upon it – or you’ll be eaten by the competition.

          It is true that software can be reproduced extremely easily, and that this can be perceived as unfair – but that is no longer unfair when you realize that software programming is never-ending HARD work until the end of time. A product is never *finished*. It constantly has to evolve to stay with the times and meet customer expectations, and the required skill level to work as a programmer is so great that only a small fraction of all the advanced computer users have the mindset to grasp it.

          We also have to admit that the world is more and more becoming digital and relying on digital services and software. The need for software will not end. Without it, your computer is a useless heap of metal that does absolutely nothing. We need to compensate programmers for their continued devotion, and to make it a viable career path for them. All the small software houses folding due to piracy is a damn shame. I’ve seen brilliant products simply die off because there wasn’t enough income compared to a regular day job.

          There IS however a third area – movies and music. THOSE guys can spit out a work and reproduce it over and over and NEVER have to worry about maintenance, evolving, customer support or anything else.

          When it’s done, it’s done, and is a license to print money.

          If you want to talk about UNFAIR PRIVILEGE, look at the movie and music industries, NOT the software programmers who are just trying to make a living doing what they love…

        • JonesMatthew

          Copying is stealing. You can ask the Mitchell Brothers about that. 

        • Reason

          Hmm, some biased moderator here has deleted a long, follow-up comment of mine that had gotten +8 votes in a very short time, where I laid out the situation of digital software developers. People seemed to be seeing reason and agreeing with it because there were no rebuttals, but nope, that moderator just had to get his personal opinion in and deleted my well-written response. Thanks for showing your true colors.

        • Asashii

          copying is not stealing, its only infringement which is against the LAW in most countries there GUEST, cannot make copies blah blah blah, idiots keep fucking around and there wont be anything to still and all software will be hosted on paid servers, to many people pirate and too many idiots half ass know how to do it, first rule of fight club dip shites !!!!!!!!

  • JohnGaspardo

    It’s called corporate fascism. Corporations have more rights than people now. Corporations are “people” don’t you know ? If you stand in the way of profits then you are expendable. The Nazi gassed people in their final solution and made their skin into lamp shades, their hair into mattress stuffing, stole and melted down the gold from their fillings, took their cloths and belongings to be resold and made their bones and teeth into concrete and back fill. If you let them they will do the same to you because after all when power is allowed to concentrate it always results in crimes against humanity and history is the proof of it.   
    “In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.” Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller

    • Freetardo

      Yeah, those damn corporations, objecting when people take their product without permission.

      You’re a moron.

      • Anyone

        the only thing that was taken without permission in this case were the domain names

        • http://twitter.com/Araceliwaa Araceliwaa

          like Rhonda explained I am dazzled that people able to make $4612 in four weeks on the network. did you look at this(Click on menu Home)

        • TixatiUser

          Learn the lesson. Anyone dealing with US and US sympathetic countries can be fucked and fucked hard. 

        • JonesMatthew

          I’m sure there are hundreds of small agencies that would disagree with you. 

      • OccamsKatana

        Yeah, those damn corporations, monopolizing the market and writing their own damn laws. You’re a fucktard of the largest proportions!

      • Bob

         Little Bo Peep called looking for you.

      • chronoss chiron

        you mean i bought some hardware to call people an dim not allowed to mess with it
        LOOKS at that rotary phone and says “SCREW YOU” i bought the phone ill do as i wish

        oh mister fbi i went got all the stuff required to continue to keep my freedom on android phones even if i dont own one.

        • Gupta

          lrn2 post when your not high. Your idiotic carelessness has caused the shortes TL;DR in internet history. You give pirates a bad name with your retardedry.

      • Guest

        I’m an app developer, and fuck you. If someone downloads my app, I’m happy knowing that its out there and that people are enjoying it. I don’t bother asking the government to start taking down sites.

        • The_seventh_guest

          I pay for all my apps AFTER grabbing them for free to see if they are worth my 4.99
          Since theres NO REFUNDS, please tell me how this is fair?

      • Wallace

        You don’t need permission to take someone’s product.

        You only need permission to take someone’s PROPERTY.

      • Kropotkin

         No, you are the moron here.
        JohnGaspardo is clearly overstating it here, but no flags fly over the multi-national corporations.  So they get away with everything, and thus have more rights than citizens.  And that sir, is as bad as fascisme.

      • djnforce9

        If they want to block those sites in the United States, that’s fine. However, the entire world should not be restricted access just because of some stupid overblown US laws. Same goes for Megaupload and any other siezed site. I’m really beginning to loathe that ‘notice’ now.

        • JonesMatthew

          There is nothing over blown about these laws. The only thing over blown is your sense of entitlement to think what you are doing is cool. 

      • JohnGaspardo

        Gulity until proven innocent is okay in your book I suppose? 

      • ThumbsUpThumbsDown

        Many, Many Years ago those Damn Corporations Stole the Public Domain in Intellecxtual Property……. Today, they call themselves Freetardo and have the Balls to call the People thieves……When the People re-write the Law to abolish Copyright, who will you call a thief?

        • JonesMatthew

          Removing copyright would destroy innovation and investment in new technologies. 

      • Guest

        @freetardo:twitter 
        Do you see something wrong with the French police, the Dutch police, and the FBI all acting as enforcers for the business interests of private corporations? 
        It’s fascism by Mussolini’s own definition of it. The marriage of corporate and government.

        Objecting when people take your product without permission is one thing. This is something else completely. 

        • JonesMatthew

          It would be Fascism if what you are doing wasn’t against the law.

      • Anon

         Agreed, the android app piracy problem makes it very unattractive relative to iOS where users are more likely to spend. Android users killing their own beloved platform .. fascinating.

      • DOWNLOAD4LIFE

         Why are people like you on sites like this? Looking for attention and trolling ? ok

    • Guest

       Do you just copy that post into every article here or something? Could swear I keep reading it word for word.

      • JohnGaspardo

        Yeah every article it applies to which is most of them. The way shits lining up people need some history lessons.

      • Gupta

        That’s because he gets five dollars per post from the Fascist Cartel. What a pathetic and hypocritical knob.

    • Erthwjim

      Offering apps for free really does no justice to the app makers, especially the less popular ones.  Many of the app makers already have to worry about other companies stealing their game ideas and losing money that way, and sites like this only add to their worries. Apps aren’t even that expensive, so it’s not like full blown software that is hundreds of dollars, most are only a few dollars. And it’s not the popular apps that get hurt from sites like this, it’s the independent apps that need every sale they can get to recuperate time spent on the project as well as being able to make enough of a profit to invest in their next project. And to compare it to Nazis? Really, invoking Godwin’s law so early in the argument? You think you’d at least try to get one legitimate fact based argument in before that comparison. The mobile phone App market is not one just filled with big corporations, it’s filled with a lot more independent organizations than your typical software market.

      • Jeff8500

        The main problem with the mobile app market isn’t piracy, but overcrowding. I once put a free app in Apple’s Appstore. It got about 3000 downloads total from there, and plateaued. Once I put it in a jailbreak repository (where there are much fewer games), I got over 50000. The beauty of piracy (or alternative market places, same principles apply) is that it can help spread word of your app and make it stand out more.

        • Erthwjim

          But you were offering it for free from the beginning. The 3000 you got did that increase to 50k or were the 50k only from the jailbreak repository? If the 50k is from the jailbreak repository only, did you see a large increase in your downloads from the App Store after you made it available elsewhere or was it a minor increase?

      • JohnGaspardo

        Fuck Godwins law. I am not going to ignore a particularly relevant part of history just to let you and the usenet fucks have your lolz. Maybe I should use a more horrific example like Mao in china at 50 million deaths or maybe Stalin at 30 million deaths? Hitler was jack shit compared to them.

        • Erthwjim

          Or you could use an example that actually applies to the conversation at hand instead of using something where millions of jewish people died and thereby diminishing the actual impact of what happened with the holocaust. So fuck you and don’t ever compare something like this to the holocaust, because that belittles the victims of the nazis, or you want to bring in mao, how about you talk to his victims and see how they like being compared to software companies that have never killed a soul.

        • JohnGaspardo

          IG Farben was a large chemical company that was formed just before world war 2 from the merger of several major chemical companies giving them an 80% control of the world dye market. They were later dismantled by the allies for crimes against humanity when they aided and abetted the Nazi by using Jews and other prisoners as forced labor aka SLAVES to make a fuck bunch of money so yes I stand by my first comment. Without corporations and the bureaucracies that supported them and an unhealthy drive for endless profits the systematic murder of millions was not only allowed to happen but flourish thanks to them and companies and people like them. Genocide is profitable so I wouldn’t put anything past “only” a software company. I am not diminishing their deaths but rather trying to learn from them and not be willfully ignorant of the past like yourself! You do the greatest disservice by ignoring the lessons of the past and especially those soaked in the blood of millions.Idiot(spits on ground)

        • Erthwjim

          IG Farben, a chemical company formed by a bunch of other German chemical companies, perhaps being a German company in Germany when Hitler was in power had more to do with them contributing to War crimes then their want to make a profit. App makers, of which the biggest money is in video games at the moment, don’t make chemicals. If you think that companies like Rovio, EA, and Zynga are somehow akin to a company that made CHEMICALS, you’re just a little off in the head. If you think somehow taking money away from game developers is somehow saving humanity, your ego is a little bit inflated. If you want to boycott companies like this, you should boycott all products because according to your logic, any company or person that wants to make a profit might turn to genocide because it’s profitable. But if that’s how you justify your piracy, that’s fine you do that, everyone has an excuse for pirating, even I had one. Although companies are out for profit, I doubt most companies, especially those in the mobile app market, are going to go out and make a mobile app that somehow fuels gas chambers or causes any disease and damage. So yes you are diminishing their deaths. 

        • JohnGaspardo

          So by your own logic an american company in america could and would do the same in a 21st century final solution? Software ????? You do realize the precursor to software was the IBM counting machines used to tabulate the millions murdered. These machines were serviced by the international branch of IBM and there are memo proving that IBM corporate in New York was aware of their purpose before the US entered the war. There was a close relationship between standard oil and DuPont chemicals and I.B. Farben. American companies that were pardoned if you will in order to help the war effort. Software and app developers could very well help to engineer a new final solution. You are obviously stupid. I hope they gas you first.

        • Erthwjim

          Gas me first? Based on that statement I’d say you’re just projecting everything onto these companies. Just because you want everyone dead doesn’t mean that everyone else does too. I hope you stay alive so you learn how wrong you are.

          So let’s see, now IBM and their counting machines, that were used to tabulate murders somehow contributed to these murders because counting is now wrong too? And yes developers might be able to help engineer something that is detrimental, but then I don’t see every game developer as a potential problem, nor do I see every company as one either, hell I think most developers and companies would probably pass on such an opportunity.  But I guess maybe if you bought their game or app that would somehow change their attitude and they’d be ready to sell out to the next person that asks them to program  something that could be used for the destruction of millions of people. Don’t worry though, if you pirate their application or game, that won’t happen, because them not getting reimbursed for the time they put into the game, is perfectly Ok with them. It’s the profit that makes people murderers not their internal genetic makeup, not how their parents raised them, not the peers they grew up with, it’s the money. Just like Hitler murdered everyone for money, just like Mao murdered everyone for money, just like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and every other person that killed someone, it was all for the money. You only want to gas me because of the profit you’ll make off of my death it would seem. 

        • JohnGaspardo

          you obviously can’t read im not talking about pirating. im talking about the corporate offices of IBM located in new york were fully aware of what their counting machines where being used for and they continued to make money from genocide. that is the point. at no point did i even talk about pirating and i don’t see how this fits in. Im talking about how corporations only care about making money and left unchecked they can and will engineer crimes against humanity. Im done replying to you it obviously hasn’t gotten anywhere

        • Erthwjim

          Oh I’m sorry, you say I can’t read, but obviously you didn’t read the title of the article at the top. Let me copy and paste it for you and then next time you can talk about something that has to do with the subject at hand and not go off on some tangent 
          FBI Seizes Domains of Pirate Android App Websites

          so I see the word pirate there, do you? I hope you know what pirate means, and I hope you know that when you make a comment on an article it should be about the article, especially as your post was not a reply to someone else’s post, but a direct root post, and one of the earliest at that. You’re talking about the evil of corporations and by standing in the way of their profits someone is expendable. Therefore based on the contents of this article one must assume the ones standing in the way of the profits are the site, the ones that host pirated android apps. Therefore one must assume when you talk of evil corporations, the app makers (through use of the FBI) must be evil because they shut down a site that was giving away their software for free when it’s normally charged for on the main app markets (aka piracy). So for them wanting to make a profit off of  their software (of which I’ve stated is mostly independent companies in this market) makes them fascist, it must mean that pirating their software somehow stops that fascism because they don’t make a profit and somehow piracy is the check that will prevent them from being fascist. But somehow buying is going to turn all these small independent companies into fascist companies that might sometime in the future lend their talents to the annihilation of the human race. Because corporations are like people, they can be fascist, it has nothing to do with individuals within the corporation, just corporate environments inevitably = fascism. Profits = fascism. And these things combined will eventually cause a company to contribute to something similar to the holocaust. You should probably make all your own stuff then, screw your computer, make your motherboard, your processor, your hard drives, your ram, all from scratch, because ASUS, Kingston, Intel, AMD, etc are all evil corporations and you just contributed to the death of some Chinese people, some Malaysians, Burmese, Russians, etc, because you know what, these companies knowingly sell to countries where people use computers for communicating with their front line killers, or use them for programs that send off bombs or control jets or a myriad of other ways computers can be used by people with  ill intent. You’re actually contributing to companies that already make and sell products that can be used to kill, yet you have a problem with buying a mobile app where they haven’t even made anything that could be used for ill intents yet. I think since you’ve broken your code, it’s time to fess up and turn yourself in as the killer you are. Your contributions to the fascist corporations that created your computers, clothes, and most everything else you use in life appreciate your constant fueling of the millions of people that they indirectly kill in a given year and this has been noted. 

        • JohnGaspardo

          LOL that’s the first post you made that makes sense. Thats all true and yes living in america or anywhere for that matter directly or indirectly leads to corporations taking advantage of some person in one way or another. Having any JOB at all also does the same because my tax dollars do pay for endless wars so yes I am in fact contributing to the downfall of the world. I am already aware of this fact and if you read my prior posts here and elsewhere you would know that I advocate revolution to end this broken worldwide system. I don’t have a problem paying for goods and services including apps. What I do have a problem with is buying apps via apple for instance who use sweat shop labor in china to make their products. I have a problem with all these things and therefore try to limit my own personal financing of crimes against humanity. I have a problem with entertainment companies using the FBI as their own personal muscle to protect their profits on my dime. That is text book corporate fascism. When the majority is ignored in the name of a few rich corporations that hand out “political donations” ie BRIBES and then the Government works right in line with those bribes while ignoring actual crime. When millions starve and my tax dollars pay to Seize domains and forget a fair and impartial trial to determine guilt that’s when I have a problem.Seizing the domain BEFORE proving guilt is insane! Guilty until proven innocent is not okay in any sense of the word and that is what I’m arguing. I am allowed to talk about related side topics at least until it is too inconvenient for those in power who care nothing for me.

    • meowmix

      if it wasn’t you, somone else posted this in reply to something the other day. even so, its scarily true.

      corporations need to be realed in and have thier status as a company, solely, reinstated. under no circumstance should a company have more rights and freedom to do what it wants, than a real life, flesh and blood person.

      • JohnGaspardo

        yeah it was me. I post it on a lot of sites because it applies in way too many cases these days. I want people to understand that shit rolls down hill and that if they keep being complacent this is the end result. This is what happens when power is allowed to fester unchecked

        • meowmix

          sadly people are lazy bastards and are more than happy to live with what they get served.

        • JohnGaspardo

          They are being served a one way ticket to genocide. Tasty Lunch Huh ?

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/WIJ36ABDDJ6CVSIGLVL57YWGZA John

      This is not only an absurd, but insulting comparison. I don’t know how you could possibly draw together the mass murder of millions as functionally equivalent to the government stepping in and punishing criminals for stealing someone else’s product. I don’t know what is more insulting to me as a human being, the fact that you did this or the fact that 35 other morons “liked” it. 

      And let me be clear, this was a government agency acting as such agencies are supposed to. Preventing theft, in all its myriad forms, is an essential state action and part of our established social contract. Speaking up in this manner isn’t courage, it’s simply being a troll, a moron, and is demeaning to the memories of all those who died.

      • JohnGaspardo

        Seizing the domain BEFORE proving guilt is insane! Guilty until proven innocent is not okay and I will not be part of that “social contract”. Demeaning nothing i’m trying to learn from the past so go fuck yourself.

    • Parrothead2011

      First of all, How dare you compare something that’s relatively trivial to one of history’s greatest tragedies. And shame on those 40 people who liked this offensive comment. This is not fascism and you should consider yourself lucky that you probably have never lived under a totalitarian regime.

      • JohnGaspardo

        Have you walked outside lately ?

    • JonesMatthew

      Sites like these are putting small agencies out of business. Hate to burst your bubble, I’ve seen it first hand. What you are doing is hurting the artists. 

      • JohnGaspardo

        At what point did I say it’s okay to pirate? I only have a problem with due process being left at the way side. READ the comments BEFORE masturbating on your keyboard. Please and thanks…

  • http://akemi-mokoto.me/ Akemi Mokoto

    Great job, FBI. Keep up the good work, but act faster. 

    • Anyone

      excellent use of sarcasm, well done

    • Andrew Lee

      How is it a great job? They’re not fixing the problem by killing a few websites here and there… The FBI is part of the problem going to ridiculous measures to crack down on piracy just because they have billionaires backing them.

      They would never in a million years go to such lengths for a normal person. I’ve seen murder cases that get less attention and that’s a fucking shame. It’s just goes to show how much they value life.

      • http://akemi-mokoto.me/ Akemi Mokoto

        That is one hell of a conspiracy theory but nonsense, unless of course you have a reliable source you can link to. Nobody should ignore the piracy websites and the only thing to do is take them down. It would be stupid to leave them alone. As long as copyrights exist, sites will go down and until there is a technology to protect against piracy(or Until the FBI starts cracking down on piracy like they do with Child Porn), it will continue.  That’s the end of it. Bitch all you want. 

        • Anyone

          non-profit piracy isn’t hurting the creators, it should be left alone

        • Guest

          Do you have a reliable source to link too. If not then its not true.

        • Guest

          Yeah lets not ignore piracy. Lets download as much as possible, Lets screw the MAFFFIA for all its worth.

        • Guest

          There will never ever be technology to protect against piracy, dream on lol

        • Xfjwpiey

           buuuuuurrrrpppp!

          hope I didn’t break your concentration there…

        • Samuel Anderson

          Do you NOT see the connection between our government corporations? Our government is essentially bought out.

          And trying to lump piracy with child porn… very nice. So you want to say failing business models are on par with child porn?

          And what you say below is false; if some pirates for personal reasons, do you think they would have bought the product anyway? It has been proven time and time again that a download does not equal a lost sale.

          And technically, your “blog” could be taken down; don’t think you got the artist’s consent to use that background image.

        • Wallace

          “That is one hell of a conspiracy theory but nonsense, unless of course you have a reliable source you can link to.”

          You don’t know what ‘conspiracy theory’ means.

        • Lulz

          Ruby Ridge?

      • meowmix

        there is no money in murder, well, unless you are an assasin.

    • Guest

      Yeah must have been a great job to seize a site by mistake which has now been returned. lol

    • http://akemi-mokoto.me/ Akemi Mokoto

      That fella just said “non-profit piracy is not hurting anyone”. That is nonsense. Profit or not, shit is going to someone for free via an illegal website that has no right to distribute that shit. If Piracy was not hurtful(and actually helpful to the industry) the industry would encourage(or not waste money and time trying to stop it) it not come together to stop it. Why would they want stop something that helps bring in the cash they love so much? Come on. Think about it and without conspiracy theories.

      • Guest

        The only way to ever stop piracy on the internet is to shut the whole internet down, good luck with that lol

      • Guest

        “Status and MoodAkemi
        Mokoto Size means everything. You aren’t going to orgasm with a man with a
        child sized dick, unless you are a child yourself.7 mins
        ago from Twitter”

      • Guest

        If you produce shit then people are not going to buy it. lol

      • Stander

         Troll. I hope you “go on” right to hell.

      • Theonlyone

         You have just proven the stupidity of the human race.

      • Guest33 3

        ” If Piracy was not hurtful(and actually helpful to the industry) the
        industry would encourage(or not waste money and time trying to stop it)
        it not come together to stop it.”

        This is what is known as “blaming the victim,” ladies and gentlemen. No pictures please, it’s shy.

        The establishment has reasons for attacking these sites that have nothing to do with whether they are harmful.

        As for predicting the future, what is called “piracy” today existed long before the Internet and does not need the Internet to continue.

      • Kropotkin

         What age are you?  You never heard about vhs-copies, or cassettes, or whait… was it burning cd’s with a computer?  It’s so confusing.
        Or no… the radio would have wiped the newspapers away, and then the tv would have wiped the radio-stations away, and then the internet… absolute horror!  The world is going to end, right? Well it didn’t when refrigerators repacled the ice-salesmen.

        And your examples are rubbish because they are taking out of contex.  You are just a dinosaur like me, face it.  But I try to adapt, and you are just trying to live the status-quo, and there are a LOT of examples from history that prove that the conservatives became the opressors.  Whe don’t want that, do we?

      • D.nk

        If I did NOT have the ability to download and sample digital media (and physical like blurays) I wouldn’t spend a dime on the crap. I’d pay my TV bill and just be happy with that. However because so many forms of entertainment are at my finger tips and often before or on the day of release; I follow my entertainment interests like my pulse. I know what movies, music and games are coming out. I sample a ton and buy what I feel is worth it. Do you realize how much disposable entertainment there is? I wade through the shit to find what I feel is worth my hard earned money. In the end, I spend about $300 a month on digital media. Whether is be music, games, movies, porn; I buy a lot of shit. Shit I wouldn’t buy if “piracy” didn’t allow me to keep such a close eye on it.

        This is the new entertainment weekly (magazine). Without it I wouldn’t support the industry.

        I’m sure you want me to cite sources for my opinions, but my source is me. I know how much I spend on digital media and how much “piracy” helps FUEL my $pending habits.

        You clearly work for the industry or are somehow benefiting from spending your time here. I fund your fucking industry. We all do.

        I know tons of folks who don’t have the ability/knowledge/desire to “pirate”. Guess what they think of $300 a month for the shit I buy? CRAZY.

        “Save for retirement”.

        So keep spouting your shit. It’s a waste of fucking time.

        • http://akemi-mokoto.me/ Akemi Mokoto

          Your theory is interesting but labeled crap. Why? If illegal uploads and pirated shit was helpful to the industry, the industry would support it and not bitch about it. They love their money, right? Why bitch about something that helps them get what they love so much? Sorry, looks like you failed. Your statement is something I hear often but it is a poor justification and shitty.

          I am an international journalist. I don’t work for the industry. I do support the industry how ever.

        • BJonesTF

          Tututut. Perhaps you forgot the 80′s?
          In 1982 they were telling everyone how VCR’s would not only kill the tv studos, movie studios, and cinemas, but also since they were made mostly in Japan they’d destroy the US economy by ruining the balance of payments.
          In 1984, the SCOTUS ruled against them and FOR the VCR.
          By 1987, cinema revenues had increased slightly, and YET film studios were now making 55% of all revenue from home videos. In other words, their revenue more than DOUBLED, less than 5 years after they were claiming mass economic ruin.
          They were afraid of losing the money they had, to the point they were afraid to risk and gain more, because they could lose. The old model worked, there was no guarentee the new one would, or that if it did, it would be them making the money. Hence the fight.

          Then as now, it’s about keeping a small, certain income instead of risking for a bigger one for fear of getting naught.

        • Anyone

          @Akemi_Mokoto:disqus
          it isn’t helpful to the “industry” (the people trying to sell copies), but it is helpful to the artists (the people actually creating stuff)

          now think why the “industry” is going against it despite it being helpful for the artist
          once the artist notices he doesn’t need to give 90% of his profit to the “industry” just to get his art out there the “industry” can no longer exploit him and leech off him

          the internet has made the “industry” obsolete, of course they will fight it tooth and nail

        • Danny

           @Akemi_Mokoto:disqus

          Its not crap.

          Infact the only evidence available is that with filesharing and P2P the music, film, and TV industries have never had it so good.

          Its just that they don’t like the lack of control!

      • Guest

        @Akemi_Mokoto:disqus 
        “That fella just said “non-profit piracy is not hurting anyone”. That is nonsense. ”
        lol nope

        http://www.google dot com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=filesharers+%22buy+more%22

        I’m so shocked that a MAFIAA troll is calling reality “nonsense” whenever it contradicts industry propaganda. Really.

  • Anyone

    do not use US domains and services for anything
    clearly they do not respect property rights and will steal your property when a lobby group with a big check comes along

    • anon

       Did the FBI already seized US based domain (.com, .net and .org), but registred and hosted outside ?

       

      • Guest

        The US thinks it has the right to seize any of the .com, .net and .org names even when the site is NOT hosted on US soil because they believe that those dot names come under there control.

        • meowmix

          lets be honst, the yanks think everything in the world comes under thier control.

          lets see how that works out for them when china becomes the worlds no.1 economy.

  • Pingback: FBI Seizes Domains of Pirate Android App Websites

  • Federal Bureau of Idiots

    Don’t worry about seizing child porn domains, copyright is a top priority. Well done FBI i applaud your efforts at saving humanity from horrific abuse.

    As a future father, i would be shocked if my kids were to be kidnapped and forced to pirate an android app.

    Dumbasses.

  • Mcarey66

    A rooted phone and titanium backup is all you need to get any paid app for free. 

  • Pingback: Android App Piracy Leads Feds To Seize Websites - InformationWeek - Sync Spot - Exclusive

  • Sheza1

    Once again the FBI thinks it can police the entire world. And I grew up thinking the FBI was an American organisation. For the record, I have never used any of these sites.

  • Guest

    “One domain name has since been returned because it was seized by mistake”

    I wonder what caused them to seize a site by mistake.

    • Anyone

      they only asked “how high” and not “why” when told to jump

  • Anonymous

    seems like copyright infringement is the cardinal sin now. no other crime has to be stopped quicker or prevented sooner. but then, looking at things logically, i doubt if many people die because of an overdose of file sharing or are killed during a file sharing swoop carried out by law enforcement!

  • Zenamez

    Oh damnit. I used Snappzmarket (and occasionally Applanet when it was up). There’s still Blackmart Alpha I suppose. 

  • Pingback: EUA fecham sites de aplicativos piratas para Android | Tecnoblog

  • Pingback: EUA fecham sites de aplicativos piratas para Android | Gato Folgado | Notícias e entretenimento

  • Robert

    At least they’re leaving the bankers alone.

  • Erthwjim

    The mobile phone market is a different market than the MPAA and RIAA and even different than the BSA and the ESA. There are a lot more small time players in the mobile phone market than other markets, because it’s an easier and less expensive market to break into. I believe piracy in the mobile app market does more harm than good, especially because of the players involved in it.The big gaming corporations are only just starting to break into the mobile phone market, because it’s a large market where there is money to be made, but most of that market is made up of smaller developers. Look at the top 50 developers: 
    http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/PG.Biz+Top+50+Developers/feature.asp?c=27834 and I’m sure if you were to look at market share of what games are played the most, you’d find even more indie developers. 

    Also, mobile phone apps and games are cheap. If you think that apps that cost 1 to 4 dollars on average is ripping you off, then it’s not about inconvenience or companies ripping off the developers, it’s about you just not wanting to pay for things, and that’s wrong, especially because of the makeup of mobile phone developers. You’re harming small companies and stifling innovation by downloading from sites like those that were shutdown. Again these aren’t the same “evil” corporate companies that make your movies and music, these are mostly small companies where the money they make goes to their employees and future projects. And if you don’t want to cough up a few bucks to support them, you’re just as bad as the evil corporations that you rail against.

    I’m not against piracy, but sites like the ones that were shutdown don’t harm the big players, they harm the small ones, and in the mobile phone market, it’s the small ones that have consistently come out with the new innovative and addictive games. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/orfetheo Orfeas Theofanis

      Well said.
      Even Indie film/music producers benefit from piracy (free advertisement), but indie app makers? Not so much.
      In the other hand, not all people can afford to buy apps and games since they already bought a (usually) expensive tablet or smartphone.
      What about those people? Should they not download apps/games at all, just because they can’t pay them?
      If they’re not gonna buy the things, they might as well get them for free.
      Is it illegal to make a Louis-Vitton bag and give it away for free? No. You will probably give it to the poor or to a friend, and he will benefit because he cannot afford one, and would have NEVER bought one. So the brand or developer and whatnot doesn’t get hurt like anti-piracy people claim (1 dl = 1 lost sale).
      Copying is not theft.
      When you steal something, you benefit and the other person loses.
      When you copy something, you benefit and the other person doesn’t lose anything. 
      It’s not that hard to understand…

      • Kadronline

        The other person loses value in the product they had when it’s copied.  If enough people copy it then it loses all value.

        Put yourself in the position of having worked to gain some kind of information that has value to other people.  You expended time and resources to create it and so would like to exchange that with others who want it for something of value that pays for the time and resources you invested.  The idea is that the other people who want this product you created work to create value themselves which they then exchange with you.  When this occurs each side gets what they want in exchange for their efforts – each side wins.

        • http://www.facebook.com/orfetheo Orfeas Theofanis

          How does it lose all value when copied? I don’t get your point.
          For example, there was a map program (Navigon) for the iPhone.
          I would have never bought it because it cost 50$ or maybe more.
          I downloaded it for free via torrents. 
          The company that made it didn’t lose anything at all from my download, since I would have never bought it in the first place.

        • Kadronline

          Because you don’t reimburse the creator of the map who invested the resources into making it for you.  The product loses value in the market as the market for selling maps to people (you) just shrunk.  The map had value to you and you gained that value by taking it from the people that produced it without offering anything of value of your own in exchange.

          The creator doesn’t lose the product, the product loses its value, value derived from the labor of its creator.  You gained without giving.

          It’s like hit-and-running a BitTorrent swarm – you gain at others expense.

        • Guest

          Well as they say “cheap as shit” and if you can get it free from somewhere rather than pay for it then it must be shit.

      • Erthwjim

        I don’t  know, if they’re going to buy a tablet and not be able to afford the software for it, they could buy a less expensive tablet, save up more money so they can get apps with the tablet, or they could wait for the tablet to go down in price. 

        • Anyone

          if it was a perfect Louis Vitton bag copy, noone would complain (except LV)
          but the knockoffs are usually lower quality, that’s the main problem, you get tricked into buying a lower quality product

        • Erthwjim

          Yeah but to make the copy resources have to be used. You need the same material, designs, etc, it’s not the same as a digital copy of something.  And resources tend to have a finite amount.  A digital copy doesn’t require the same contents, materials, etc to make a copy of the original. And there’s a lot more digital space in the world than whatever LV bags are made out of.

    • Stopit and Tidyup

      “You’re harming small companies and stifling innovation by downloading from sites like those that were shutdown.” It’s not really stifling innovation to pirate a ‘shareware’ level of app. Stifling innovation is more like blocking that indie dev access to the market, but creative devs will continue to innovate regardless. It’s just an added incentive to them if they make a little money on the side from selling their apps.Again these aren’t the same “evil” corporate companies that make your movies and music, these are mostly small companies where the money they make goes to their employees and future projects.Fair enough, you have a point about them not being ‘evil’ corporations, but by ‘employees’ I think you’re more likely to find that it’s ‘owner’ (one man band dev) rather than a team.And if you don’t want to cough up a few bucks to support them, you’re just as bad as the evil corporations that you rail against.There’s a slight difference between the antics of large powerful corporations paying backhanders to pervert the democratic processes of governments and lawmakers imposing new restrictions on an unassociated majority of people and their activities as an unintended consequence of draconian measures meant to target a minority group and the private activities of that minority group and their casual not-for-profit downloading of small apps. Slightly unfair to compare the two. ;)

    • Guest

      “I believe piracy in the mobile app market does more harm than good”

      Based on what? Let’s see some evidence that app piracy is harming small companies and stifling innovation. It’s likely you pulled that claim out of your ass, though, so I’m not expecting much. 

      Also, your “think of the little guy!” sob story sounds an awful lot like when the MAFIAA tells us to “think of the indies!” and stop pirating, despite the fact that indies don’t need any saving from it. 

      • Erthwjim

        You’re right I’m making inferences based on the makeup of the mobile app market. Based on the link I posted earlier as well as this link http://www.sourcingline.com/directory/mobile-application-developers it would seem that a majority of mobile developers are not apart of big companies. From that I would say that piracy affects more small developers more than big ones. I would also say it’s easier for a company that sells 1 million copies of an app/game/etc to recover from the loss of a few sales than it is for a company that sells a few thousand copies of an app or game. 

        Obviously not every pirated copy is a lost sale, only a small percentage is, but that small percentage can be enough to make or break a small company. Perhaps investors say you didn’t sell enough copies so we’re not going to invest in your next game and perhaps that number was short by 10 copies, investors can be like that, just like they are with metacritic scores. This equals harm to the company.

        To the same extent perhaps those pirate sites pushed sales to the main app store of people that would have never otherwise bought the app in the first place.  But both of these are hard to measure and it’s possible they negate each other.If this is true, it’s doing neither harm nor good. 

        Personally I think piracy doesn’t push many people buy the app. I know when I was more into piracy, pirating a game or app didn’t make me more likely to buy the game or app, in fact it probably did the opposite, once I completed the game, I was done with it and it was forgotten, and apps I would just reinstall with every new computer or reformat. It wasn’t till I started using Steam a year ago during their November sales that I started buying games.

        My thoughts are that sites like the ones shut down attract people that are prone to pirate already, so shutting down the site won’t stop the piracy as those people will just find another site like they found these ones in the first place. But I think in a market where most developers are independent, shutting down sites like this can also be beneficial to the developers, because there’s a small percentage of people that once they have no alternatives or the alternatives are hard to find, they will buy the app.

        And the sob story, I think the RIAA uses other employees in the music industry as their cop out, they don’t use indies labels, since many indie labels don’t belong to the RIAA. 

  • Pingback: Feds Seize 3 More Domain Names – TheDomains.com « DomainUSA – USA Domain Names from ConsultUSA

  • ZongBeee

    Those pesky Feds sure seem to have no shortage of spare time on their hands lol.

    IP-Hider.tk

  • chronoss chiron

    now smart ones are you gonna offer google hacks that they can fix?
    OH and the fbi are buddies to mpaa and riaa does this mean now google is totally evil
    me thinks so….

    seriously visit why you need a mobile phone no really COULD you live without it, oh yea…..

  • Cheesethief

    Sue me but I actually paid for a few apps which i’ve found to be rather useful and aesthetically pleasing in functionality  

    • Stopit and Tidyup

      You’re right. One can never have too many fart apps – worth every penny.

  • theonlyone

     “Cracking down on piracy of copyrighted works – including popular apps –
    is a top priority of the Criminal Division,”

    Its good to know that the FBI has made this their top priority. I sleep better at night knowing that they put murder, fraud, kidnapping etc. at a lower priority that copyright violators.

  • Ah

    fbi are just hiding their ass , just to tell we are not only working for mpaa and ria

  • Moxie

    “Cracking down on piracy of copyrighted works – including popular apps – is a top priority of the Criminal Division”

    If ranting and raving against filesharing is among your top priorities, then I’d say something is severely wrong…

    • Stopit and Tidyup

      That sounds like a cue for the appearance of Nejtilpirater. Oh wait, one of the troll alter-egos is already here shilling for their bosses. Isn’t that right @Akemi_Mokoto:disqus ?

  • Pingback: Torrent News » FBI Seizes Domains of Pirate Android App Websites

  • MonkeysayMonkeydo

    Maybe the FBI could start arresting creator of content and media as I am sure that would solve the problem

    Since no content or media created = no media or content Free Copied (I use this term because of Somalian Pirates)

    Or Better yet maybe the FBI should start looking in Google Maps and look for US map and realize that there country ends when others starts

    What is frightening is that other countries just seem to keen to follow US orders without question (in the future this will bite those countries hard)

    My Solution would be let each country decide what it wants to do (based on the people of said country, not on the CEO’s or Politicians say)

    • Quadrupel

      “My Solution would be let each country decide what it wants to do”..

      Actually there are internationally-upon human rights involved, and the US (as usual) does not fall on the side of human rights here.

  • downunder

    Hell I didnt even know that site existed no more free apps that way huh but Im sure theres plenty of other ways to source if want to..

    I think again it comes down to geeed. Ive bought many apps for a few bucks but I certainly wouldnt pay more then that for a phone app
    and I suspect the more greedy app developers wanting $5 or $20 an app are the ones beign pirated right?

    at least we know where all that LAUNDRIED CASH goes from Seized
    websites.. in ends up in the govs and FBI pockets :)
    more incentive to keep raiding and closing all websites down

  • Guest

    The movie industry and an actress have also bullied a movie-clip site owner into submission. Google the quotes to find the site since it might not be okay to post here.

    “I won’t go into too many details, but earlier this week, I received a
    DMCA notice from a major film distributor. In order to comply with this
    order, I had to remove posts from at least 20 films, including quite a
    few very noteworthy ones in terms of nude scenes. I also got an angry
    letter from the lawyer of an actress who demanded I not even mention her
    name on this blog.

    These two notices, on top of the ones I received
    previously, made me realize that I was becoming very limited in what I
    was able to post, and that it would only get worse. After some
    consideration, I have decided that it no longer worth it to continue
    onwards.”

    • Guest

      I thought there was such thing as freedom of speech but i guess there isn’t one now and I guess that those serving the DMCA notices will be trying to copyright speech next.

      • http://twitter.com/krozareq krozareq

        The right is there but governments can, and do, choose not to recognize rights. 

  • Pingback: Feds Expand Domain Seizures to Mobile App Pirate Sites – Wired News (blog) | pguides.net

  • Guest

    Is it due process to get a court to issue a court order before an in order to seize a website or is it allowed for the FBI to not have a due process of the law.

    • http://twitter.com/krozareq krozareq

      They can do whatever they want. Disagree to a point where you may be a problem for them and you wind up in prison. 

    • Guest

      Dude, I think it became pretty clear after the MegaUpload raid that they don’t give two shits about due process.

  • GUEST

    I love how DOJ and FBI controls the .com and .net domains….. Clearly they think the Internet belongs to them.

  • Alin S

    lovely how the FBI controls everything now… do we REALLY need COICA or SOPA or ACTA or Any of these bills??

    NO… The f–king government thinks they own EVERYTHING to begin with

    hell i bet the f–kers think they own my car too!

    WELL AS FAR AS I KNOW THE TITLE ON THE CAR ONLY HAS MY NAME ON IT.

  • Sketch

    i noticed that http://www.blapkmarket.com is also down…….hhhmmmmmm

  • Pingback: FBI Seizes Domains of Pirate Android App Websites | The Illuminati

  • Violated0

    I sure don’t like the FBI/DoJ taking down .net domains claiming that these are United States property when that is completely false. These .net domains have long been used by the entire Internet architecture across the entire World. There is no way that places like the European Union and Russian Federation would allow the abusive United States control over their critical infrastructure.

    It is for this reason that .net domains have always been root hosted by the local region like the European Union which puts the USA in a submissive DNS pass-on role.

    My point is that the FBI/DoJ have to be very careful that they are indeed seizing USA hosted .net domains or they risk stealing what belongs to the EU or Russia etc. We can then begin to see what the USA can do that others can do as well when the EU and Russia starting seizing the .net domains of American companies.

    I am quite sure that the USA would be up in arms the day that happens but the USA is currently creating this future.

  • Pingback: FBI Seizes Domains of Pirate Android App Websites - Webmaster Forum: Webhosting, SEO, Internet Marketing

  • Pingback: EUA fecham sites de aplicativos piratas para Android | Por um internet melhor!

  • Pingback: FBI Seizes Domains of Pirate Android App Websites!

  • Hogspace

    Maybe, just maybe, people might consider using a domain name that is in the jurisdiction of one of the non aligned countries and not a .com or .uk or .net. Possibly even an onion address?
    If I was making such a website that’s the FIRST fucking thing I’d organize lest I end up looking like a fucking retard!

  • http://www.facebook.com/doctorvad.gers DoctorVad Gers

    NVM plenty more fish in the sea

  • Real Cover

    Im ashamed to live in this country..we have bigger problems than pirated adroid apps which i still have no problem getting, i have never even heard of these sites..i will not post my sources for fear of them getting taken out. Fuck my country.

  • Bob

    Don’t know if it’s already been said, but…
    Illegal drugs, weapons, human traficking etc. < software piracy.

  • tmc8080

    Shouldn’t they be playing convention babysitter by now?

  • Pingback: FBI Seizes Domains of Pirate Android App Websites | Zombie Torrents - Ultimate Torrents Downloads

  • Michele Hostetler

    What the FBI is doing is reasonable. There are plenty of app developers out there who are struggling and the pirate sites seek to skim off of their already meager profits. The last time I checked, piracy is theft. I also remember that it’s the FBI’s job to protect American citizens from thieves.

  • Anon99

    What legal right does the FBI actually have to take control of a domain name, that could have been registered in another country?

    We know they have done it, but has anyone actually challenged the legality of it?

    There may be laws in the US that allow it, but with the internet being international one has to argue that their laws should not hold weight outside of their jurisdiction. 

  • fangbin818

    tinyurl.com/cyk9xz2

  • Pingback: FBI Seizes Domains of Pirate Android App Websites | TorrentFreak | 99Covers Blog

  • Asashii

    pirate stuff is illegal, get over it, dont get caught and quit talking about it !!!!

  • Me

    droidappz has voluntarily closed its doors too.

  • Ispeedca

    tthere was a time when fbi was catching real criminals.

  • Ituneca

    I hope one day people will realize that a few people are legally stealing millions from hard working people, investors and the government with the corporate stock exchanges and you guys all focus on someone downloading a 1$ application???

  • guest01

    The one thing I will say about site like applanet, was the ability to download apps that say weren’t available on my carrier because they didn’t like the app. I found a lot of apps that weren’t available on the playstore market That I would have bought had it been available to me via normal means

  • BTGuard - BitTorrent Anonymously

NewsBits

Even more news...

  • Pirate Bay Founder Gottfrid Svartholm on Freedom of Speech

    Freedom of speech is a highly valued commodity, but should people be allowed to say whatever...

  • Blu-ray Anti-Piracy Tech Stops Discs and Promotes Purchases

    An anti-piracy system present in all official Blu-ray players since 2012 has received a fresh update...

  • Foxtel Breeds Pirates by Locking Up Game of Thrones

    One of the main reasons why people turn to piracy is the lack of legal alternatives....

  • UK Student Admits Breaching Sony Copyrights With Leak of PS3 SDK

    Last year an Internet user known as El Nomeo leaked version 3.70 of Sony’s Playstation3 SDK...

  • Pirates Can Be Identified Despite Sharing IP Addresses, ISP Claims

    Carrier-Grade Network Address Translation is a network mechanism through which many Internet subscribers can share the...

MostDiscussed

Below are TorrentFreak's most discussed articles of the past month. Join the discussion if you like.

CopyQuote

Left Quote

“The Pirate Bay has been one of the most important movements in Sweden for freedom of speech, working against corruption and censorship.

Peter Sunde Left Quote

PopularArticles

A selection of some TorrentFreak's classics dug up from our archives.