NinjaVideo, at the time one of the Internet’s most popular video portals, was one of the first targets in the now-famous and ongoing Operation in Our Sites.

Five people connected to NinjaVideo were arrested and in September 2011 they were indicted by a federal grand jury. After pleading guilty on September 23rd, yesterday one of the site’s founders was sentenced in Alexandria, Va..

Matthew David Howard Smith, known online as Dead1ne, received 14 months in prison for his activities at Ninja. U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga also ordered Smith to serve two years of supervised release.

Of the total $505,000 said to have been collected by NinjaVideo in ad revenue and donations since its creation in February 2008, Smith is said to have received $172,387. The court ordered Smith to repay this amount and forfeit five financial accounts and previously-seized sundry computer equipment.

When compared to the punishment handed out to NinjaVideo co-founder Hana Beshara earlier this month, Smith was treated relatively leniently. Beshara, known online as ‘Phara’, was sentenced to 22 months in prison followed by 2 years of probation, 500 hours of community service and ordered to repay nearly $210,000.

In contrast to Beshara, 23-year-old Smith appears to have caused the authorities much less of a headache since his guilty plea. After her sentencing, the hugely outspoken 30-year-old Beshara posted comments to Facebook which suggested she had no regrets. The outburst incensed the authorities and she was rushed directly to a local prison to begin her sentence.

Three former operators of NinjaVideo are yet to be sentenced including 34-year-old Joshua David Evans (known online as Wadswerth), 33-year-old Jeremy Lynn Andrew (known online as htrdfrk), and 28-year-old Justin A. Dedemko (known online as Afr1ka). All face a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when they are sentenced in the coming months.

Zoi Mertzanis of Greece, known online as “Tik”, is accused of being one the site’s most active uploaders. A warrant is outstanding for his arrest.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Five people connected to NinjaVideo were arrested but it took until September 2011 for them to be indicted by a federal grand jury. One of those indicted was site co-founder Hana Beshara.

Later that month, Beshara – known online by her pseudonym Phara, and referred to by NinjaVideo members as their “Queen” – pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Beshara admitted her role in the founding of NinjaVideo during February 2008 and confessed to negotiating agreements with online advertisers. In total the site is said to have generated revenue and donations totaling around $500,000. Of this amount, Beshara admitted personally receiving around $200,000.

Today, 30-year-old Beshara was sentenced. For crimes of conspiracy and criminal copyright infringement, she was sentenced to 22 months in prison followed by 2 years probation and 500 hours of community service. She will have to repay the money she made from the site, a total of $209,826.95, and forfeit financial accounts and computer equipment.

“Hana’s lawyer was happy with the sentence,” a source close to NinjaVideo told TorrentFreak.

“Judge Trenga rarely gives the max penalty like some judges do. He was clearly unhappy with her being unremorseful but Hana does not separate her accomplishments in building the community with the crime,” the source added.

“Beshara had several character witness letters and made a statement to the court. The judge recognized that she is a capable, intelligent woman who created a high quality site.”

Last year, NinjaVideo co-founder and coder Matthew Smith (known online as Dead1ne) also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and criminal copyright infringement and was due to be sentenced December 2011. A delay means the 23-year old will be sentenced at a later date.

Joshua David Evans (known online as Wadswerth), 34, of North Bend, Wash. previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of criminal copyright infringement relating to the release of the movie Iron Man 2 before its commercial premiere.

Jeremy Lynn Andrew (known online as htrdfrk), a 33-year-old of Eugene, Ore. pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy.

Justin A. Dedemko (known online as Afr1ka), 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y was responsible for uploading content to NinjaVideo and marketing the site. He previously admitted receiving just over $58,000 from site revenue and will pay restitution in that amount.

All face a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when they are sentenced in the coming months. Beshara’s relatively lenient sentence (considering the maximum available) is an indication that their sentences are likely to be no more than 2 years.

A fifth defendant in the case, Zoi Mertzanis of Greece, known online as “Tik”, is accused of being one the site’s most active uploaders. A warrant is outstanding for his arrest.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

“Operation In Our Sites” has now been running for more than 12 months and has resulted in the shutdown of hundreds of sites.

While file-sharing and streaming sites have been targeted, the main victims continue to be sites selling counterfeit goods.

The most recent copyright-related domain seizure was in May, but last week five further counterfeit goods-related domains were taken over.

Today we can report that three more domains are diverting to ICE’s seizure notice, as listed below:

- discountedoakleysunglasses.com
- onlypuma.com
- ventma.com

The seizure of domains connected to the sale of counterfeit goods appears to be much less controversial than the same directed at file-sharing sites. There has been no visible effort by the owners of the former to reclaim their domains.

On the other hand the admins of sites such as Torrent-Finder and RojaDirecta are actively seeking the return of their seized domains through the legal system.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

ICE, marking Valentines Day, took over domains which they claim were linked to the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods. Unlike previous actions, no file-sharing sites were seized.

Operation Broken Hearted, as this wave of seizures was called, targeted sites said to be offering counterfeit items from well known labels such as Breitling, Burberry, Chanel, Coach, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Omega, Patek Philipe, Prada, Rolex , Tiffany & Co. and Timberland.

“Even on Valentine’s day, American business is under assault from counterfeiters and pirates,” said ICE Director John Morton. “These counterfeits represent a triple threat by delivering shoddy, and sometimes dangerous, goods into commerce, by funding organized criminal activities and by denying Americans good-paying jobs. HSI and our partners at the IPR Center will continue to work together to keep counterfeit products off our streets.”

A list of the sites is available below.

* 1DESIGNERSCARVES.COM
* CHANEL-NEWCOCO.COM
* CHANEL-WHOLESALE.COM
* COACH-HANDBAGSSTORE.COM
* CHOOSEMYHANDBAGS.COM
* ECREPLICA.COM
* FABAAA.COM
* ICOACHOUTLETSTORE.COM
* KRZA.COM
* ONSALETIFFANY.COM
* REPLICA-HANDBAGS-ONLINE.COM
* SHOPPING-LOUIS-VUITTON.COM
* STORE-AOL.COM
* TIFFANYJEWELLERY-US.NET
* TIFFANYSALE-US.COM
* TIFFANYSALE-US.NET
* TIFFANYSILVERSALE.COM
* USCOACHOUTLET.COM

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

This third round of seizures surprised many people, starting with the sites owners, through the public all the way to a US Senator.

In an interview with Public Radio, Homeland Security Investigation Special Agent James Hayes was asked to explain why the authorities didn’t take Google down. This wasn’t the question Hayes expected, and out of nowhere he suddenly cut out.

Luckily Hayes came back, but not with the right answers.

Some great analysis of the interview, and why Homeland Security failed again to explain the seizures, is available at Techdirt.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

This was the second phase of the Government’s plan to take control of domain names. Operation in Our Sites 1 took place some 5 months earlier in June 2010 and saw the seizure of seven domains including TVShack.net, Movies-Links.TV, FilesPump.com, Now-Movies.com, PlanetMoviez.com, ThePirateCity.org and ZML.com.

Not much has been heard about these seizures since, but thanks to the eagle-eyed CopyHype we now have some of the documentation associated with the operation.

As can be seen from the document embedded below, on December 9th last year the Government filed a complaint for civil forfeiture in the Southern District of New York against the seven domains listed above. The initial seizing of a domain is the first step in the forfeiture process.

The U.S. is no stranger to seizing domains said to be involved in illegal activity, as can be seen from this case in 2008 where four URLs were used to sell pirate software and 141 others were linked to illegal gambling. When used in connection with a crime or even civil offense, domains appear to be treated like any other asset in these cases, i.e fair game for seizure and forfeiture.

As pointed out by Techdirt, the domain owners actually have 60 days to apply to have their domains back. The chances of them doing that are slim to non-existent.

As demonstrated in the case of the Torrent-Finder seizure in Operation in Our Sites 2, its quite surprising to see how non-technical the investigation into these 7 original sites appears to have been and how easy it was for them to lose their domains.

According to the forfeiture filing, ICE agents clicked various hyperlinks on, for example, TVShack, which enabled them to view movies stored on several other sites. The MPAA then confirmed that the movies in question were still airing in theaters and therefore illegal copies and that was it – enough evidence had been collated to warrant seizing its domain.

If clicking a link and finding material on the end of it that the MPAA says is copyright infringing is enough to seal a site’s fate, then ICE are going to be very, very busy this year if they carry on with this strategy. All the signs suggest that they will.

While some site owners might be prepared to fight back in order to get their domains returned in the future, chances are most won’t want to break cover and may prefer to relocate instead. TVShack tried that with a move from .net to .cc, and promptly lost that domain too, but having advance notice will allow other sites to prepare just that little bit better.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The authorities moved to seize several domains including TVShack.net, Movies-Links.TV, FilesPump.com, Now-Movies.com, PlanetMoviez.com, ThePirateCity.org and ZML.com. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) also seized assets from 15 bank, PayPal, investment and advertising accounts.

The operators of two other domains were also targeted – NinjaVideo.net and NinjaThis.net. According to authorities the site had been subjected to a months-long operation. This is something TorrentFreak can confirm. Following a tipoff from a very reliable source, we informed NinjaVideo months ago that they were being watched and their hardware was being interfered with. It’s almost certain that they were powerless to do anything about it.

Now, the charismatic and somewhat larger-than-life leader of NinjaVideo, a young woman by the name of Phara, has returned to the spotlight. Never one to understate an issue, Phara is known for her forceful leadership style and colorful, often dramatic writing on various site issues from the small, to the very large.

The seriousness of the situation she currently finds herself, however, is off the scale.

“We need you. Our lives, our very freedom depends on this. We can’t do it alone,” pleads Phara. “We have nothing. Nothing at all. They took… everything.”

“Precedents are being made upon our heads. Never before has a site like ours been targeted in this way. We ask you… if you are vested in this case, this landmark case on the future of Internet Sharing and Internet Rights, that you speak to your friends, your family, your co-workers, your bosses,” she continues.

The gravity of the situation is clear. There can be little doubt that the U.S. Government will seek to make a very large example of NinjaVideo’s operators – a likelihood which doesn’t escape Phara. To this end she is calling for heavyweight help.

“Perhaps you are affiliated with the ACLU, Google, Youtube, MegaUpload, Rapidshare, The Pirate Parties around the world. Perhaps you are financially comfortable and you feel passionately about the issue at hand. We need… NEED… legal sponsorship in addition to legal donation,” she pleads.

“Perhaps the future of your own site is at risk and it is this case that will put it in the crosshairs of the next raid. Perhaps it will be you who will see your home, dear lord, your home, ripped apart by THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.”

NinjaVideo was a free resource and never took money from its users but due to the unbelievably difficult situation its operators now find themselves in, pleas are now being issued for people to donate to the site’s fighting fund.

“We are up against the Federal Government of the United States. They are petrifying. PETRIFYING,” concludes Phrara. “And they are backed by Hollywood. And they have chosen us to be an example. I think you understand how much money is on the other side.”

Lots. Lots and lots of money. There can be little doubt about that. Phara fears the worst.

“They want to cage us. They most likely will,” she warns ominously.

“Please don’t let them. All it takes is $1 from each of you.”

In return for large donations – four digits or more – Ninja are offering benefactors a prominent position “behind the scenes”, presumably connected with defense. What these positions entail exactly remains to be seen.

“Your prayers, your posts, your words, your art… your support in general is priceless. Unfortunately, in the world we live in, it will be your money that gives us a fighting chance. The former gives us the strength to close our eyes and take it one breath at a time, the latter gives us the opportunity to take that breath outside of a prison cell,” Phara concludes.

“We love you, NinjaVideo. We always will.”

Those who wish to contribute to the NinjaVideo fighting fund can do so via this page.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.