In a depressing yet not completely surprising move the international corporo-governmental appartus in conjunction with the American gestapo powers, namely the FBI and the US Customs Service, have raided groups and individuals in 28 cities on December 11, 2001 as part of a three-pronged operation to attempt to stamp out digital ‘piracy’. It seems through joint efforts between the Justice Department and industry groups (surprise, surprise) such as the Business Software Alliance, Motion Picture Association of America, and the Recording Industry Association of America under operations code-named “Operation Buccaneer”, “Operation Piratez” and “Operation Bandwidth” the government is attempting to dismantle what they see as an international criminal conspiracy to commit large-scale copyright violation. Interestingly, no arrests have been made in the US suggesting that law-enforcement is undoubtedly attempting to infiltrate these groups and acquire information and assistance from terrorized individuals which will then be used to move against various other groups and parties on the government hitlist.
- DOJ official release on the raids from head demon, John Ashcroft.
- From Cryptome
- On Yahoo!
- Wired News
- From the BBC
- Information from insiders relating to the ‘warez’ scene busts.
Coverage on the raids:
WARNING: For any potential EFNet users out there: “Confirmed insider information, that four major efnet servers are currently running in debug mode, which enables them to see ALL private traffic, like private chat, passwords sent to channel protection bots, messages, etc. and the information is being filtered and sent to the FBI, which requested this. Currently, a big EDU server, and .ORG server!” In other words, stay off EFNet unless you’re just engaging in cybersex. Big brother is watching.
According to statements made by law-enforcement officials, more raids can be expected in the coming months. No doubt the recent events will help them finger other people and groups. Anyone who could be targetted as a ‘pirate’ (basically anyone who ever shares mp3s or movies) should definitely lay low for a few months. Immediate strategies should be developed to deal with the implications of this event. This is the first time that a large-scale attempt to attack those responsible for releasing the software and tools that millions of people download. Security should be the primary concern with efforts on fronts to protect privacy, anonymity, etc using many different methods.