Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 11:28:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: David P. Dillard <jwne@temple.edu>
Reply-To: NetGold@yahoogroups.com
To: NetGold <NetGold@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [NetGold] INTERNET LAW LEGAL POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ISSUES :
PIRACY AND FILE SHARING : EDUCATION: COLLEGE: STUDENTS: The FBI is Going to
College to Learn About Piracy on Campus
FBI questions UNCC student for file sharing:
File sharing fight varies at different universities, official policies in
place
by Elizabeth Thomas
Daily Pennsylvanian
April 28, 2004
<http://www.nineronline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/28/408ecabb37098>
The FBI was on UNC Charlottes campus last week, and the agency wasnt
giving presentations to criminal justice classes.
According to police records, UNCC police officers assisted the federal
agency with the service of a search warrant last Monday for stealing
intellectual property.
Major William Harper, interim director for University Police, could not
comment on details regarding the incident, citing his agency was merely
assisting the FBI in their investigation.
"They just recently put together a task force dealing with copyright
infringment," said Harper.
He did say the FBI confiscated the student's computer from one of the
campus dorms.
"We do not actively investigate copyright infringement on the campus
network unless we are notified by the Motion Picture Association of
America and various other agencies on alleged music, video or software
policy copyright violations," said Carter Heath, security administrator
for UNCC's Information and Technology Services.
Carter said the University's dealings with the FBI on copyright
infringement are a rarity.
"The only time we're contacted by them is within the constraints of a
criminal investigation," said Heath.
Chief Information Officer Karin Steinbrenner, in an interview with
NinerOnline.com last year, said she would receive two or three messages a
week from the recording or video industries regarding illegal activity of
UNCC students.
UNCCs Information and Technology Services determines the IP address of
such students and turns them over to the Student Affairs office.
Discipline can range from the limiting of ones computer privileges to
expulsion.
--------------------------------------------
January 2nd, 2003
The FBI arrested a Russian college student Thursday who was accused of
stealing and distributing hundreds of secret documents about new
anti-piracy technology from DirecTV Inc. , the nation's leading satellite
television company.
Suspect sent over the Internet hundreds of sensitive documents
The General Center for Internet Services Inc.
<http://www.gcis.ca/cdne-373-jan-02-2003.html>
DirecTV is a unit of General Motors Corp. (GM) subsidiary Hughes
Electronics Corp. (GMH). The student, identified as Igor Serebryany, 19
years old, of Los Angeles, was accused of sending over the Internet
hundreds of sensitive documents describing details about DirecTV's latest
"access card" technology -- credit-card devices controlling which of the
company's 11 million U.S. subscribers can view particular channels.
<snip>
"Certainly anyone with this information would have an advantage," Mr.
Zwillinger said. Mr. Serebryany obtained the documents while working
part-time at a law firm in California that performed legal work for
DirecTV. Mr. Serebryany attends college in Chicago but his family lives in
Los Angeles. He was charged under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, a
law so powerful that until March 2002 only the most senior Justice
Department officials in Washington could authorize prosecutors to wield
it. Only about 35 criminal cases have been filed under the law.
--------------------------------------------
Friday April 23, 1:01 PM
Report: Singapore arrests three in FBI-led bust of global software piracy
ring
Yahoo Asia News
<http://asia.news.yahoo.com/040423/ap/d824a6e81.html>
Singapore police have arrested three alleged members of an international
software piracy ring in a sweep coordinated by U.S. authorities and
spanning 10 nations, a newspaper said Friday.
The three Singaporean men _ a college student, an army serviceman, and an
unemployed man _ are alleged to be part of an international gang called
"Fairlight" that's accused of pirating and distributing software, movies
and video games, The Straits Times reported.
Singapore police, acting on a tip from the U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation, conducted raids on Wednesday _ the same day similar
operations were mounted in 27 U.S. state and at least 10 other countries _
the newspaper said.
--------------------------------------------
FBI seizes computer of UM student in raid
Search at fraternity house part of vast piracy sweep
By Justin Fenton
Sun Staff
Originally published April 24, 2004
BaltimoreSun.com
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/
bal-md.computer24apr24,0,98000.story?coll=bal-education-top>
A shorter URL for the above link:
The FBI has seized the computer of a University of Maryland, College Park
student, one of 200 computers confiscated in an international Internet
piracy sweep.
Campus police confirmed yesterday that they were asked to assist the FBI
in a raid at the Kappa Alpha fraternity house Thursday morning.
Authorities took a computer and a Playstation 2 video game console
belonging to Jeffrey Daniel Lerman of Hewlett, N.Y., witnesses said.
<snip>
The sweep was carried out in 27 states and 10 foreign countries, targeting
covert "warez" groups that distribute music, movies and software before
they are officially released, authorities said. There were no other
seizures in Maryland.
Altogether more than 120 searches were conducted within 24 hours in an
effort to dismantle organizations distributing more than $50 million worth
of material, officials said.
--------------------------------------------
School district among FBI targets in piracy investigation
FBI Raid Still a Mystery
FBI Agents Swarm Valley School District Office
By MICHELLE RUSHLO
Associated Press Writer
KPHO.com AP
<http://www.kpho.com/Global/story.asp?S=1804255>
PHOENIX (AP) -- A dawn FBI raid of a school district office here was
part of an international crackdown on pirated music, movies and software,
officials said Thursday.
<snip>
Herskovits defended the agency's decision to devote resources to such
cases.
"If it was your artistic work and you spent a lot of time and money
producing it and people could just have it for free, you would feel
differently about it," she said.
She also noted that copyright infringement is a violation of federal
law, which the agency is entrusted with enforcing.
Cohen said criminal investigations of copyright violations are likely
to increase.
"This is the start of something," she said. "It's going to continue."
--------------------------------------------
FBI sweep in Valley part of nationwide probe on Internet piracy
Billy House, Monica Mendoza and Brent Whiting
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 22, 2004 07:59 PM
<http://www.azcentral.com/families/education/
articles/0422internet-pirates22-ON.html>
A shorter URL for the above link:
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on Thursday outlined details of the
federal government's international crackdown on pirated music CDs and
movies, but would not reveal why one of the targets was a computer command
center for the Deer Valley School District.
Durin a news conference in Washington, D.C., Ashcroft declared that
schools should not be a safe haven for "any kind of criminal activity."
"This is thievery. This is criminal," Ashcroft said of illegal downloading
and sharing of the copyrighted music, movies and software.
While no immediate arrests in Arizona or elsewhere had yet occurred by
Thursday evening, Ashcroft said nearly 100 people had been "identified" in
connection with the worldwide sweep.
Deer Valley High School officials said Thursday they do not believe Deer
Valley students are targets of the investigation because no search
warrants were issued at individual schools. Deer Valley Superintendent
Virginia McElyeain a letter home to parents, said the district would work
with federal authorities in the investigation.
About 20 Deer Valley employees were questioned Wednesday when FBI agents
appeared at the district's technology center with a sealed warrant.
--------------------------------------------
5:18 AM PDT, April 26, 2004
Justice Dept. Identifies Internet Pirates
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/
sns-ap-internet-pirates,1,2052803.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines>
A shorter URL for the above link:
The searches were also executed in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany,
Hungary, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Great Britain and
Northern Ireland.
On the Net:
Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov
--------------------------------------------
The complete articles may be read at the URLs provided with each article.
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@astro.temple.edu
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetGold/>
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
<http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:45:30 PST