The action was heralded as ground-breaking, with the authorities seizing the domains of these alternative stores and putting up the now-infamous FBI banner to inform visitors of their fate. Together it was claimed the sites were responsible for millions of dollars in losses to software producers.

News of the shutdowns came in August 2012, but it took until last week for the U.S. Government to provide a significant update. The Department of Justice revealed that two of the three operators of the Appbucket site had signed a plea deal with the Government and now face sentencing in June.

But while the Appbucket guys appear to have accepted their fate, the former admin of Applanet certainly has not. Speaking with TorrentFreak, Attorney Rain Minns says her client is still under fire, but won’t be giving in.

“It is extremely unfortunate that some of the young people targeted by the government’s dragnet have been forced to plead guilty,” Minns told TF.

“But this is an inevitable, and incredibly sad and disheartening, consequence when the United States unleashes the power and resources of the most powerful nation on earth against defenseless citizens who, like Aaron, care about free and open world-wide access to publicly available information, and who have not earned any significant income for their efforts.”

But while Minns says that the mere threat of a long prison term is enough for even the most innocent citizen to plead guilty, that isn’t going to be happening in Aaron’s case.

“Aaron is an extraordinarily brave and ethical young man, who is not willing to buckle under the pressure of the government’s abusive practices. He believes that someone should stand up to abuse of power, and he is willing to put himself at risk if that is the only way to keep information sites free and open.”

To that end and in an effort to level the playing field against the Government, Minns informs TF that Aaron’s legal team has just received a significant boost.

“After an extensive vetting process, I have now been joined by Attorney Antonio Ponvert III, an accomplished and much-feared civil rights lawyer from Connecticut who, to put it plainly, has enjoyed kicking the government’s ass for almost 25 years,” Minns explains.

“Antonio’s task is to take the offense in Aaron’s case, focusing on the government’s violation of state and federal civil rights laws, the First Amendment free speech implications of the government’s tactics, and the substantial reputational and financial harm that the D.O.J. has inflicted, and will continue to inflict on Aaron. One can be sure that a damages case is coming down the pike if, and when, an indictment is forthcoming.”

Through his lawyer Aaron informed TF that while it’s a pity that the Appbucket guys were “forced to buckle under the heavy-handed threats of the government”, he wishes them luck as he looks forward to his own day in court.

From the tone of the language employed by Rain Minns and by extension Antonio Ponvert, there appears to be plenty of appetite for a fight, should the Government decide to go the whole way against Aaron. If they do, Minns is confident he will prevail.

“It is not even close to a fair fight anymore. And we look forward to the battle,” she concludes.

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

The domain seizures were the first ever against “rogue” mobile app marketplaces and followed similar actions against BitTorrent and streaming sites.

Yesterday the Department of Justice announced that two of the three admins of the Appbucket site have plead guilty to criminal copyright infringement. Nicholas Narbone, 26, and Thomas Dye, 21, both signed a plea deal with the Government and are currently scheduled to be sentenced in June.

No information was provided on the third Appbucket defendant, Thomas Pace, who was primarily responsible for finding copies of Android apps and managing the site’s servers.

The authorities estimate that more than a million Apps were traded via Appbucket, with a retail value of approximately $700,000. Over the course of two years the site itself generated little over $80,000 in proceeds from subscriptions.

“These mark the first convictions secured by the Justice Department against those who illegally distribute counterfeit mobile apps,” O’Neil says.

“These men trampled on the intellectual property rights of others when they and other members of the Appbucket group distributed more than one million copies of pirated apps.”

Besides Appbucket, there are also cases pending against the operators of Snappzmarket and Applanet. The founder of Applanet previously launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for his defense, but only managed to raised $1,029 of the required $50,000.

The FBI, meanwhile, is already on the lookout for their next targets.

“The FBI will continue to work with its various law enforcement partners in identifying, investigating, and presenting for prosecution those individuals and groups engaged in such criminal activities that involve the attempt to profit from the hard work and the developed creative ideas of others,” FBI Special Agent Johnson says.

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

Before his 16th birthday Aaron had launched Applanet, a service dedicated to the sharing of Android software. While the site’s growth and success was undoubtedly exciting for the teenager, by his 18th birthday things had taken a turn for the worse.

On the morning of August 21, 2012, heavily armed FBI agents raided Aaron’s parents’ home, described in official documents as a “one-story house, gray in color” and pictured with a sit-down lawnmower outside. The lack of any kind of criminal record didn’t dampen the official response from federal agents.

“They were fully armed, because you know how dangerous a recently turned 18-year-old geek with no criminal history can be,” Aaron’s friends now explain.

“The mighty feds got a search and seizure warrant to raid Aaron’s home and confiscate all of his stuff. They took pretty much everything that had a power cord or a battery, even if it wasn’t remotely related to apps. The house was trashed.”

While Aaron was trying to recover from his shock, the government was speaking with the media. The Department of Justice said that seizure orders had been executed against three website domain names – applanet.net, appbucket.net and snappzmarket.com – which were said to have engaged in the illegal distribution of copyrighted Android apps. They were the very first seizures of their kind.

“Criminal copyright laws apply to apps for cell phones and tablets, just as they do to other software, music and writings,” U.S. Attorney Yates announced.

“These laws protect and encourage the hard work and ingenuity of software developers entering this growing and important part of our economy. We will continue to seize and shut down websites that market pirated apps, and to pursue those responsible for criminal charges if appropriate.”

Now, 18 months later, Aaron is still in limbo while the government continues to build its case against him. The 19-year-old is putting up a fight, but of course that’s costing money. The cash put up so far by his family isn’t going to get him through a trial so to try and bridge the gap his friends have launched the Friends of Aaron Indiegogo campaign. They’re aiming to raise $50K, with any surplus automatically getting donated to the EFF.

TorrentFreak caught up with Aaron’s lawyer, Rain Minns of Rain Minns Law in Austin, Texas, to find out more about the campaign and her client’s predicament.

“I can tell you a little bit about Aaron. He’s 19 years old, has never had any type of criminal record, and doesn’t even have a drivers’ license. His life and friends are on-line. So, when the feds came and took his connection to the internet, they took away Aaron’s entire connection to friends,” Minns told TF.

“Friends of Aaron knows that Aaron does not have the money to fight against the massive resources that the U.S. federal government has put into this international power play. I can only guess, but I would suspect that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent in this attempt to throw Aaron into prison. The $50k is underestimated, but we do not need to match the feds dollar for dollar. The feds are not known for being cost effective,” Minns explains.

While Aaron is likely to be charged with offenses related to software piracy, Minns believes that her client is innocent and should respond accordingly.

“I believe that an innocent person should never plead guilty. The key for Aaron’s defense is to be able to have the funds to level the playing field against the resources of the feds,” Minns explains.

And leveling the playing field won’t be easy. Minns gave TF a list of expenses that will be burned through in defending Aaron, from the hiring of technology experts to counter the expensive ones the government will put forward to the anticipated cost of document analysts “in case the feds try to bury us in paperwork.”

“Justice is not something that should be about the size of a person’s wallet. For instance, I don’t see government raids of YouTube. To the contrary, YouTube was sued by another corporation and won the case on summary judgment (i.e. without even needing a trial). But, when it comes to a 19-year-old teenager, it’s a different story.”

The Friends of Aaron Indiegogo campaign, which carries more documentation on the raid and aftermath, can be found here.

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