Top Pirate Reveals Warez Scene Secrets, Attracts MPAA Lawyer’s Attention
Written by enigmax on November 19, 2007Last week, a senior member of the warez scene took part in a rare interview. In it, he reveals some interesting things about this shadowy world but the question is: Did he reveal too much? MPAA pirate-chasing lawyer Espen Tøndel now says that The Scene will be “brought to justice”.
We’ve carried articles in the past about the Scene. So legend goes, these people are ultra-secretive but of course there’s always a few who like to talk, despite being targeted by law enforcement in cases such as Operation Fastlink and Operation Buccaneer.
Last week, an administrator of a Topsite (an important guy, near to the top of the so-called ‘Piracy Pyramid‘) linked to some very famous release groups, broke cover in a very rare interview with Trond Bie of itavisen.no, seemingly giving away quite a few secrets such as the security techniques used by the Scene and the locations of some of their servers. He also explains why the Scene dislikes torrents and sites like The Pirate Bay, and reveals how some torrent sites manage to get Scene releases so quickly.
In the interview, the Site-Op mocks the efforts of Norwegian police in trying to shutdown the Norwegian Scene, joking that Norwegian law prevents them from being caught in the traditional ways. This attitude could’ve been the thing that attracted the eye of Espen Tøndel, the aggressive MPAA/IFPI lawyer who also talked about action against torrent sites recently. RayJoha, a reader of TorrentFreak who did a lot of work on this article, contacted Tøndel and asked him a few questions which you can read at the bottom of this article.
The Interview (translation from Norwegian, courtesy RayJoha)
The guy we talked to is one of the few administrators of a Topsite in Norway. He’s in his mid twenties, is a student of programming and has been a part of the Scene for many years. He first became a Topsite Site-Op in 2003 and has since been responsible for adding users, banning ruleset violators and programming automating IRC-scripts.
In addition to being a Site-Op he also has his own home-based server where he downloads movies, games and TV-shows to and from the Topsites. He has a very fast Internet connection which make it possible to download a DVD movie in minutes.
Everybody keeps everybody informed
In addition to categories such as games, software, music and movies we have a news category on the Topsites warning against raids. Lamers are also posted in this news category. It’s also possible to find out who leaks warez to trackers and the P2P community. Those who leak will be banned from the Scene. It is very easy for the police to find those people who are spreading torrents.
One of the reasons it is quite difficult to break the Scene is due to a very sophisticated security system. The system we use on Topsites and IRC is SSL. This comes on top of Blowfish-aggregation on IRC. You have to log in to one of the Topsites to get the Blowkey password. Without Blowkey everything will be encrypted. The Topsites encrypt everything with SSL.
It’s not unusual to have 30 TerraBytes of warez on a Topsite. Last summer German police raided a Topsite which had 40 members. The following was posted on Topsites news sections to warn the entire Scene, (from German):
New police action in Germany. This morning 40 members got a visit from the BKA, (Bundes Kriminal Amt). All user accounts etc…. Everybody that has visited the site is in great danger!
I miss you
Laws must change?
Changing the laws will have no effect. The MP3 legislation… the only thing they do is make it difficult for ordinary downloaders/torrent users - those who download from a website, torrentsite, Limewire or with any other P2P software. It would be easier for the government if the police could create their own ‘entrapment servers’, but they could only hurt the Scene, not destroy it.
What’s the probability of getting caught?
HaHa, there’s almost no chance of getting caught in Norway. The Norwegian police cannot do anything illegal to get somebody. By law, they cannot set up servers to entice users to join. All the users in the network know each other. Members of the Scene have joined only through someone vouching for them. I do it because it’s a learning experience and fun. I learn a lot about running servers, programming, (C, C ++, Java and scripting). I started with this before I realized I could have a career in programming. When you learn a few programming languages it’s quite easy to pick up new ones.
His interest in file sharing has been there for years, but it took some time before he became a Topsite Site-Op. He reveals that there are lot of Norwegian ISPs, especially those that deliver fiber connections, that have Topsite servers as customers.
The first time I became a Site-Op it was 2003. I started setting up servers on my own, but at that time we had no affiliation with the Scene. There are lots of sites on Lyse, Hafslund and Sandefjord and I also know that servers are found around university campuses.
The Site-Op tells us that he has no plans of quitting piracy, even when he gets a real job in the software business.
It’s real hard to catch pirates, i’ve learned. I get to understand how it works, making it possible to protect myself against it. Anything that comes to market is cracked even before we post it. There’s no point for the industry in spending millions on copy protection.
The social side of the Scene
Is there a social environment in the Scene or is it just IRC chatting all the time?
Nobody sees anybody. The IRC OPs knows who the others are, but normally we don’t know who they are in real life. We only use nick names.
The Site-Op feels it’s easy to replace persons that are arrested in raids with some exceptions. Game crackers [people who remove copy protection] can’t easily be replaced. There’s just a few people with their skills around.
It’s correct that you can’t easily replace a cracker, it’s a real genius game. Sometimes we might lose everyone, but they’re real hard to catch. Let’s say they manage to cripple the Game-Scene, but they still have to deal with movies and music, and thats something Mr. anybody can do. [Rip movies and music]
The FBI are allowed to set up fake servers, but they are not successful in their endeavors. If the Norwegian police are going to catch anyone they have to adopt the same strategy. You can’t take down Topsites without resorting to illegality: they’d have to distribute copyrighted material. Actually doing something illegal. note: strictly prohibited in Norway
Site-Op’s responsibilities
I don’t know any informants, but there is a strong possibility there are some. If the Scene discovers this the individual will be banned with the help of Topsite news and barred from access to any resource within the Scene.
As a Site-Op he has a series of tasks perform in order for the site to work properly.
A Site-Op adds users and makes sure the ruleset are obeyed. He’s programming and scripting. Linux servers are almost always running glftpd.
Pre-Information
The Site-Op is one of a selected few who has pre-information. Pre-information is information about a specific warez that haven’t been shared with anyone yet. The different groups, (Razor1911, Fairlight etc), have their own folders on the Topsites with not yet released content. The competition is fierce when it comes to being the first to release a movie or a game.
When a “ware” is pre-released a so-called Race starts. A Race means that every Topsite tries to be the first to distribute. In this way the Scene is almost like an economy in itself. First to market doesn’t mean monetary survival but rather the gain of Respect.
There are unbelievably few people that has pre-information. Only Admins can browse all Pre-folders. One shouldn`t sneak a peak on a pre. It’s a rule not to browse on somebody else’s folder.
The Site-Op’s connections with the ‘Big’ people in the Scene
A Site-Op communicates with the real ‘big-wigs’ in the Scene - the ones that really puzzle the game and movie industries. The largest groups use their own IRC servers to communicate, while the Topsites often use Linknet with SSL.
We are in direct contact with Fairlight and the others. We talk to them on IRC. A great proportion of them are Linknet. The largest Topsites have their own servers giving them increased security.
Additionally, the Site-Op reveals that many Sceners post internal information on Wikipedia.
The scene harbours ill feelings towards the torrent community. According to the Scene they are stealing their warez and posting it on trackers. The Scene is of the opinion that it’s real easy to bust people that posts warez on torrent sites like The Pirate Bay.
What happens is that people leak from the Scene to torrent sites just before a release. That indicates that these lamers have access to early sites. And if you are the one of those that does this you are categorized as an Insecure user and therefore banned from the Scene. So, to be clear, this is the only connection we have to the torrent scene.
Dislike of The Pirate Bay
We, as Site-ops, have no fondness for The Pirate Bay. We do not want to talk to the press because it pressures the police to focus on us. As a software programmer I dislike file sharing, because of the small companies that suffers from it. Members of the Scene learn a lot and find it to be a fun experience. The top Sceners buy the music and the movies on DVD anyway.
As an example I have purchased, ( With money ), FlashFXP to support the developers. This is software I use a lot. If you follow this thinking the best thing to do is to get rid of all the file sharers, mainly because it`s so insecure. The police are able to just walk in and identify the sharers. END
Q+A: Espen Tøndel, MPAA/IFPI lawyer
Q: Is there anything in this interview that gives you tips on how to get these guys?
Let me put it this way - we have a considerable amount of information about these sites. We know how they work.
Q :Do you think this article [the original interview] will make it easier to bring the Norwegian Scene to justice, considering that he reveals what kind of software and which ISPs they’re using?
From my point of view the Norwegian Scene will be brought to justice, we possess a lot of information.
Q: Norway has always been at the forefront of technology development. Do you think Hollywood should target Norway first?
Norway is obviously a good place for tech development and we have necessary legislation hence Norway is a good place for pursuing these kind of activities. We have the full backing of the Motion Picture Association in doing that.
Did this guy give away too many secrets or is Tøndel simply bluffing? Time will tell.
Update: Some people are naturally questioning the authenticity of the guy claiming to be a Site-Op. The author of the original article, Trond Bie from Norway’s ITavisen has just confirmed that he conducted this interview at his home and all the time he was watching the Site-Op doing ‘administrative stuff’ on the topsite which he says, couldn’t be mistaken for anything else.
Previously: Mininova Hits The Million Torrent Uploads Mark
Next: Anti-Piracy Outfit Pirates TorrentFreak
118 Responses
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[quote comment="218076"]…says the guy who probably is a p2p-lamer himself…[/quote]
Indeed I am, and a damned communist too. Equality between peers is an idea that naturally appeals to me. And seeding something I also wanted for myself is a nice, if minimal, way to give back. Information, including cultural products, is more valuable in total when distributed as far and wide as possible. Warez for everyone, in short.
Also, didn’t you just verify my point about the reputation drama?
Hey my fellow Americans.
I am glad for this information so our police officers which you refer to as pigs, and FBI Agents can arrest you and put an end to Warez and Filesharing.
Our police/CIA Pigs will try to rape and Subdue you all and throw you all into Guantanamo Bay.
Hahahahahahahaha
God Bless America! Your going down terrorists :) :$
The elitism of this guy is disgusting.
No, copying releases you make and putting them on bittorrent isn’t stealing.
[quote comment="218089"]Hey my fellow Americans.
I am glad for this information so our police officers which you refer to as pigs, and FBI Agents can arrest you and put an end to Warez and Filesharing.
Our police/CIA Pigs will try to rape and Subdue you all and throw you all into Guantanamo Bay.
Hahahahahahahaha
God Bless America! Your going down terrorists :) :$[/quote]
I lol:ed.
[quote comment="218096"][quote comment="218089"]Hey my fellow Americans.
I am glad for this information so our police officers which you refer to as pigs, and FBI Agents can arrest you and put an end to Warez and Filesharing.
Our police/CIA Pigs will try to rape and Subdue you all and throw you all into Guantanamo Bay.
Hahahahahahahaha
God Bless America! Your going down terrorists :) :$[/quote]
I lol:ed.[/quote]
Don’t laugh at your president. I am higher then you, please respect your superior. I am your GoD!
Worship me and my Corporate bullies or be tortured and put in prison for 10 years.
hahahahaha laugh now my american subjects.
The only thing we really need to now in this topic is that mininova sucks and always will….Mmmmkay pumpkins? :) <3
whats this lawyers rep? oh, he’s known for losing to dvd-jon and talking a lot of talk xD
as for the interview, it doesnt really give out any “new” info as stated above, but it does kinda bring the focus on norwegian pirates :\
So he dislikes file sharing (what he’s doing himself) and it’s only ok as long as just _they_ do it and not the general public and then he makes the same “excuse” that ordinary filesharers do? He’s almost sounding more hypocritical than his enemy…
[quote]So he dislikes file sharing (what he’s doing himself) and it’s only ok as long as just _they_ do it and not the general public and then he makes the same “excuse” that ordinary filesharers do? He’s almost sounding more hypocritical than his enemy…[/quote]
Exactly, a hypocrite; “we can do it, but you can’t”.
“the scene” is a joke, always has been always will be. Nothing is going to change if they all got busted.
HOLY SHIT!! Are you serious they use SSL encryption! OH MAN! Sys Ops can ban people! NO WAY! Warez sites have massive archives of pirated data!! OH MY GOD!! It’s hard to crack a game!
There’s no way abyone could ever have known this if they weren’t a big shot warez scene admin!!
Aaannddd… sarcasm finshed…
Now this “site op” is clearly a total douche trying to gain the respect of thousands of people he’ll even know read this, let alone meet in person. He’s obviously just some nerd who wants a bit of attention and wants to feel like he is above people.
If this guy was actually from “The Scene” (oh no i said the sacred name, strike me down god of warez! rofl!) and it was like he said (ie they wouldn’t expose themselves to the media because they don’t wanna get caught) he wouldn’t have down an interview with a “reputable” newspaper (betcha 1000 points of scene cred, oh shit i said it again im sure to go to pirate hell now, that it was just on some n00b ass site like this one).
This guy is just a n00b with a computer and even a supern00b could figure that out because he contradicts himself about a million times and the fact that he’s doing an interview is contradictory in itself.
So there you go Mr I can beat the Norwegian cops (seriously it cant be that hard, if they’re even game to go out in that kinda cold what are they gonna do, subdue you with a barrage of highly efficient computer parts), you’re a n00b, a douche and i highly doubt you have a cock.
As for that lawyer, he’s just a bald pinny… “We have alot of information.” So do I… just from reading your interview I know that 1) you know nothing, never have, never will, you are a n00b of detectiving 2) You don’t even know you’re own laws, thus you must also be a n00b of lawyering and 3) just by how cool you think you are saying stuff like “We possess alot of information.” i can tell you must possess not only no information, but no cock either.
And by the way total n00b guy who did all the translating (i don’t remember what the fuck your name is joey ray or billy joe or i’m a stupid ass cock smoking hick… whatever) anyone can make it look like they’re important on a computer, all it takes is to open up FlashFXP, get into a decent FTP, cascade that behind an active µTorrent window thats been reskinned and open your my computer with a bunch of virtual drives in detail mode grouped by type.
Filesharing will live for ever, and there’s nothing any of you can do to stop it. It is the past, it is the present, it is the future. The α and the ω (That’s the lower case form of the greek letters alpha and omega, the first and last letters of the greek alphabet, for all you n00bs who didn’t get that). Sure, eventually we’ll collapse upon ourselves, but that’s gonna be long after I’m dead, and long after my children are dead. Seem self destructive? It is. But we’re all gonna die sometime, I might die before all of you, but I’ll have lived more than all of you put together.
In short, FUCK THE SCENE! FUCK THE SITE OPS! FUCK THE COPS! FUCK THE LAWYERS AND THE MPAA AND THE IFPI!
LONG LIVE PIRACY!
[quote comment="218107"][quote comment="218096"][quote comment="218089"]Hey my fellow Americans.
I am glad for this information so our police officers which you refer to as pigs, and FBI Agents can arrest you and put an end to Warez and Filesharing.
Our police/CIA Pigs will try to rape and Subdue you all and throw you all into Guantanamo Bay.
Hahahahahahahaha
God Bless America! Your going down terrorists :) :$[/quote]
I lol:ed.[/quote]
Don’t laugh at your president. I am higher then you, please respect your superior. I am your GoD!
Worship me and my Corporate bullies or be tortured and put in prison for 10 years.
hahahahaha laugh now my american subjects.[/quote]
Sorry, I’m Swedish, you know, Europe’s third largest country which is home for some of the largest torrent sites. And as always, you can threat but you can’t act. :P
[quote]…says the guy who probably is a p2p-lamer himself…[/quote]
You can’t think of any actual criticism, so you just call someone a “lamer”?
Yay for people who think they are superior beings and deserve free data and no one else does.
[quote]flames to /dev/null please, don’t have time for that.[/quote]
cat /dev/urandom >> /home/Knoeki/.Torrentfreak/message.txt
[quote comment="218212"]HOLY SHIT!! Are you serious they use SSL encryption! OH MAN! Sys Ops can ban people! NO WAY! Warez sites have massive archives of pirated data!! OH MY GOD!! It’s hard to crack a game!
There’s no way abyone could ever have known this if they weren’t a big shot warez scene admin!!
Aaannddd… sarcasm finshed…
Now this “site op” is clearly a total douche trying to gain the respect of thousands of people he’ll even know read this, let alone meet in person. He’s obviously just some nerd who wants a bit of attention and wants to feel like he is above people.
If this guy was actually from “The Scene” (oh no i said the sacred name, strike me down god of warez! rofl!) and it was like he said (ie they wouldn’t expose themselves to the media because they don’t wanna get caught) he wouldn’t have down an interview with a “reputable” newspaper (betcha 1000 points of scene cred, oh shit i said it again im sure to go to pirate hell now, that it was just on some n00b ass site like this one).
This guy is just a n00b with a computer and even a supern00b could figure that out because he contradicts himself about a million times and the fact that he’s doing an interview is contradictory in itself.
So there you go Mr I can beat the Norwegian cops (seriously it cant be that hard, if they’re even game to go out in that kinda cold what are they gonna do, subdue you with a barrage of highly efficient computer parts), you’re a n00b, a douche and i highly doubt you have a cock.
As for that lawyer, he’s just a bald pinny… “We have alot of information.” So do I… just from reading your interview I know that 1) you know nothing, never have, never will, you are a n00b of detectiving 2) You don’t even know you’re own laws, thus you must also be a n00b of lawyering and 3) just by how cool you think you are saying stuff like “We possess alot of information.” i can tell you must possess not only no information, but no cock either.
And by the way total n00b guy who did all the translating (i don’t remember what the fuck your name is joey ray or billy joe or i’m a stupid ass cock smoking hick… whatever) anyone can make it look like they’re important on a computer, all it takes is to open up FlashFXP, get into a decent FTP, cascade that behind an active µTorrent window thats been reskinned and open your my computer with a bunch of virtual drives in detail mode grouped by type.
Filesharing will live for ever, and there’s nothing any of you can do to stop it. It is the past, it is the present, it is the future. The α and the ω (That’s the lower case form of the greek letters alpha and omega, the first and last letters of the greek alphabet, for all you n00bs who didn’t get that). Sure, eventually we’ll collapse upon ourselves, but that’s gonna be long after I’m dead, and long after my children are dead. Seem self destructive? It is. But we’re all gonna die sometime, I might die before all of you, but I’ll have lived more than all of you put together.
In short, FUCK THE SCENE! FUCK THE SITE OPS! FUCK THE COPS! FUCK THE LAWYERS AND THE MPAA AND THE IFPI!
LONG LIVE PIRACY![/quote]
It would be quite fun to see The Scene crumble from their “high throne” and suddenly relize the thruth that if they fall more will finally begin to rip/crack/whatever and release it on torrent sites. It are only The Scene groups who are big right now. I like to see that changed.
[quote comment="218212"]HOLY SHIT!! Are you serious they use SSL encryption! OH MAN! Sys Ops can ban people! NO WAY! Warez sites have massive archives of pirated data!! OH MY GOD!! It’s hard to crack a game!
There’s no way abyone could ever have known this if they weren’t a big shot warez scene admin!!
Aaannddd… sarcasm finshed…
Now this “site op” is clearly a total douche trying to gain the respect of thousands of people he’ll even know read this, let alone meet in person. He’s obviously just some nerd who wants a bit of attention and wants to feel like he is above people.
If this guy was actually from “The Scene” (oh no i said the sacred name, strike me down god of warez! rofl!) and it was like he said (ie they wouldn’t expose themselves to the media because they don’t wanna get caught) he wouldn’t have down an interview with a “reputable” newspaper (betcha 1000 points of scene cred, oh shit i said it again im sure to go to pirate hell now, that it was just on some n00b ass site like this one).
This guy is just a n00b with a computer and even a supern00b could figure that out because he contradicts himself about a million times and the fact that he’s doing an interview is contradictory in itself.
So there you go Mr I can beat the Norwegian cops (seriously it cant be that hard, if they’re even game to go out in that kinda cold what are they gonna do, subdue you with a barrage of highly efficient computer parts), you’re a n00b, a douche and i highly doubt you have a cock.
As for that lawyer, he’s just a bald pinny… “We have alot of information.” So do I… just from reading your interview I know that 1) you know nothing, never have, never will, you are a n00b of detectiving 2) You don’t even know you’re own laws, thus you must also be a n00b of lawyering and 3) just by how cool you think you are saying stuff like “We possess alot of information.” i can tell you must possess not only no information, but no cock either.
And by the way total n00b guy who did all the translating (i don’t remember what the fuck your name is joey ray or billy joe or i’m a stupid ass cock smoking hick… whatever) anyone can make it look like they’re important on a computer, all it takes is to open up FlashFXP, get into a decent FTP, cascade that behind an active µTorrent window thats been reskinned and open your my computer with a bunch of virtual drives in detail mode grouped by type.
Filesharing will live for ever, and there’s nothing any of you can do to stop it. It is the past, it is the present, it is the future. The α and the ω (That’s the lower case form of the greek letters alpha and omega, the first and last letters of the greek alphabet, for all you n00bs who didn’t get that). Sure, eventually we’ll collapse upon ourselves, but that’s gonna be long after I’m dead, and long after my children are dead. Seem self destructive? It is. But we’re all gonna die sometime, I might die before all of you, but I’ll have lived more than all of you put together.
In short, FUCK THE SCENE! FUCK THE SITE OPS! FUCK THE COPS! FUCK THE LAWYERS AND THE MPAA AND THE IFPI!
LONG LIVE PIRACY![/quote]
lol
I agree with #36, fuck the scene, faggots.
As an admin of both a topsite and a small game torrentsite, I can say with full confidence that the interviewee is made of asshole.
What a hypocritical lamer. I’d invite him to my game site but he’d probably DDoS it.
forget the article!
read what the real authorities are doing:
http://rapidshare.com/files/70898448/GVU.pdf.html
its in german and from the german counterpart of the MPAA+RIA (GVU)
@43
looks awesome… maybe some one has this from the MPAA & Co??
too bad for the ones who can’t read german :O
hello, everybody,
i am the absolutely top guy of the scene, and now i’m sitting home, doing, er… administrative stuff, and i’m buying all the cds and dvds for money, right now, so… er… i am top guy. and my secrets are that… i don’t tell, are… that i’m a top guy and i don’t tell secrets. never.
[quote comment="218288"]hello, everybody,
i am the absolutely top guy of the scene, and now i’m sitting home, doing, er… administrative stuff, and i’m buying all the cds and dvds for money, right now, so… er… i am top guy. and my secrets are that… i don’t tell, are… that i’m a top guy and i don’t tell secrets. never.[/quote]
*cough* *rollseyes*
What is “the scene?” I thought it only pertained to 12-16 year old boys and girls that wear skin tight pants that go to punk rock shows where they can socialize with other homos alike.
[quote]What is “the scene?” I thought it only pertained to 12-16 year old boys and girls that wear skin tight pants that go to punk rock shows where they can socialize with other homos alike.[/quote]
I thought that was odd when I found out about that. I was reading on a forum and someone asked if anyone liked scene music - then they went on to talk about bands that are part of the whole modern pop music “emo” thing.
[quote comment="218213"][quote comment="218107"][quote comment="218096"][quote comment="218089"]Hey my fellow Americans.
I am glad for this information so our police officers which you refer to as pigs, and FBI Agents can arrest you and put an end to Warez and Filesharing.
Our police/CIA Pigs will try to rape and Subdue you all and throw you all into Guantanamo Bay.
Hahahahahahahaha
God Bless America! Your going down terrorists :) :$[/quote]
I lol:ed.[/quote]
Don’t laugh at your president. I am higher then you, please respect your superior. I am your GoD!
Worship me and my Corporate bullies or be tortured and put in prison for 10 years.
hahahahaha laugh now my american subjects.[/quote]
Sorry, I’m Swedish, you know, Europe’s third largest country which is home for some of the largest torrent sites. And as always, you can threat but you can’t act. :P[/quote]
Hey don’t diss the President man, hes gonna save our world from terrorist killers and pirates man, Don’t hate the president man.
If you threaten the president I will goto your home and charage you with Treason.
Hahaha Bush will destroy the pirates, Bittorrent is dead when the Secret Service bombs the authors of Bittorrent, I mean were not gonna bomb anyone, were not terrorists, were Patriot supporters, why else did we all support the Patriot Act.
So Be A Patriot!!!! and follow the President or he will veto your beliefs.
this was ridiculous
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