Finnish FBI Raids Warez Topsites Following MPA, IFPI and BSA Investigation
Written by enigmax on November 20, 2007A crack police unit dedicated to tackling organized crime in Finland has conducted a series of raids on so-called Warez-Scene Topsites, arresting three individuals and seizing equipment and an alleged 10 terabytes of files. Years in prison are threatened for those involved.
According to its website, the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) main responsibility is “to fight the most serious, professional and organized crime.” Understandably, they’re currently involved in the investigation into the terrible recent shooting at a Finnish school but apparently simple piracy demands their resources too.
Following complaints from Finland’s Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC) and a subsequent investigation by anti-piracy teams, Friday 16th November saw NBI police raids against Warez-Scene ‘Topsites‘ - servers where release groups first place pirate material. According to Antti Kotilainen, CIAPC Director, ‘Topsites’ are “the absolute top of internet piracy and their activity enables sharing of millions of illegal files.”
The multi-site raids in Oulu, Finland, saw the arrest of three people and the seizure of many computers and around 10 terabytes of data. An investigation in to the nature of the seized data is focused on finding copyright infringements which in this case are said to carry a penalty of up to two years in prison.
CIAPC Director Antti Kotilainen explains: “These top sites have been sharing movies, music and computer games as well as software. Each site was also specialized in sharing particular material, such as animation, Finnish movies or the newest videogames.”
Showing a united front, the many organizations involved in the raids were all quick to put their spokesperson forward for comments about how these topsites affected their particular industry. Jeremy Banks, the IFPI’s chief internet Anti-Piracy officer said: “These actions by the Finnish police send a powerful message to operators of infringing servers: contrary to what you may think, you are not anonymous - you can and you will be caught. These sites were run by highly sophisticated operators who were stealing music and damaging the legitimate music community on a very large scale.”
For the movie industry, Halli Kristinsson, Vice-President and Director of the MPA’s European, Middle East and African anti-piracy operations explained the importance of the various industry associations working together: “These raids prove that efficient co-operation between MPA, ISFE, IFPI and BSA has lead to the fact that the net around top sites and release groups is tightening all the time. These actions will not be the last of their kind.”
John Wolfe, Director of Internet Enforcement at the Business Software Alliance (BSA) applauded the “strong and visible action against internet Topsites” stressing that “Individuals like the ones operating the sites raided last Friday contribute to the staggering losses that Internet piracy causes the software industry.”
Following on from yesterday’s report about a Topsite Site-Op leaking information to the press in Finland’s neighbor, Norway, pressure seems to be building on Scene members in Scandinavia.
When countries consider piracy to be among the most serious crimes today - worthy of the precious time and resources of their most skilled investigators - it’s no wonder Scene members go to unprecedented lengths to hide their identities.
Previously: Anti-Piracy Outfit Pirates TorrentFreak
Next: Anti-Piracy Lobby Urges Sweden To Take Down The Pirate Bay
47 Responses
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Man, i feel bad for the sysop who talked to the police :/
I can’t really say I feel sympathy for either side in this case.
poor “scene” kiddies….bye bye :)
10 terabytes of files ?
must be a dump site .. not a topsite
whats up phi ? are you reading this .. :D
They will be easily replaced.
And i see that some scum MPAA members have made it to this site to try to get insensitive responses to try to get people to pry away from this site.
They have been successful in the past.
They’ll leave one liners and will be the first 10 posts.
So all the negative energy comes into the conversations.
where did Libble go?
yes i am..
in my ass
Spamming is not allowed in comments…
How do u ban in here? xoinker and myself are to be banned..:)
If only the police had spent more time on serious threats instead of sever internet superhighway crime, 8(or was it more) people might have survived the school shooting. Too bad their resources were spend on taking down a topsite, which will be replaced and will have tighter security.
Jeremy Banks - Jew
Halli Kristinsson - Jew
John Wolfe - Jew
Antti Kotilainen - Jew
sadly, money > life, sigh…
Just in time after the interview for the SiteOps. I wonder how he feels now.
damn it :(
To the police ‘Grunts’ its just a Job. The MPAAA & RIAA lobby endlessly and make HUGE campaign contributions in the United States senate to pass the Anti-P2P laws..now, since the US wants to ‘police’ the World every effort will be made to make P2P a ‘Criminal offense’ since it threatens corporate america’s cashflow. And believe me, thats ALL a souless, heartless corporation cares about is their most precious, their cashflow. The police are basically doing their paid job, virtually mindless, uncaring clods, basically unthinking minions doing master’s bidding with the threat of brutality and Jail. P2P if anything is obviously a white collar crime. Law Enforcement should be serving the public interest, not Corporate interest. With the advent of the Digital revolution people can copy files and share very easily. The first sharing? Your local library, VCRs (which the MPAA bitched over and tried to have outlawed originally). Instead of embracing a new technology they chose to criminilize their customers, isolate and demonize us. The very thing that had made their fortune for decades.
Read this: it says it all crystal clear:
http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2007/10/when-pigs-fly-death-of-oink-birth-of.html
are there any topsites hosted in america?
[quote comment="219054"]are there any topsites hosted in america?[/quote]
I HIGHLY doubt that. At least in the USA.
Prolly a dump
prolly my lil bro’s porn collection
Commenter # 12 - Bigoted asshole loser.
Love the classy tone around here :roll:
lol u guys no nothing about how the scene works, so dont talk about something u have no understanding off.
Good article. Unfortunately Finland is one of the countries with extremely confused priorities, and would prefer to serve multinational corporations rather than their own people. Police paid to investigate organised crime should not be investigating kiddies sharing music and software.
Nice to see file sharing is above saving school kids lives.
If you ever wonder where the police are when your in an emergency, now you know.
real pirates do not run away
real pirates fight for their rights
real pirates do not let bullies bully them.
real pirates believes in the freedom of speech.
The freedom to do whatever the hell you like. No law ain’t gonna stop us.
We are fearless warrior born out of love for freedom love for justice.
and above all else we hate selfish people who likes to consolidate everything for their selfish gain.
Don’t be a pussy stand up for your rights.
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