Release groups got busted
Some big players in “the scene” have been eliminated yesterday during a big raid coordinated by a German anti-piracy federation (GVU). The raids took place in Germany, Holland, Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic.
Over 300 homes were raided and 30 individuals were arrested. The GVU confiscated more than 20 servers that were (according to the GVU) used to spread pirated movies, games and software.
As soon as the raids begun rumors started to spread around the internet. Release groups tried to warn eachother and the leader of the RELOADED group was reported to be arrested. The GVU released a press release (german) stating that the folowing groups were taken down: Unreality, DRAGON, Laboratory, Heaven, code talk, GTR, ECP, TRCD, AOS, MRM, SITH, GWL, Cine VCD, AHE, Cinemaniacs, dump station and IOH.
These raids will definately have a strong impact on the availability of pirated material in the next months. However, release groups are flexible, they will probably back down for a while and reorganize their infrastructure but they will be back or replaced within no time.
