On December 11th, the U.S. Customs Service, in coordination with its law enforcement counterparts in the United Kingdom, Australia, Finland, Sweden, and Norway, executed approximately 70 search warrants worldwide in the initial phase of Operation Buccaneer, the most significant law enforcement penetration to date of international organizations engaged in the criminal distribution of copyrighted software, games and movie over the Internet. This coordinated law enforcement action was the result of a 14-month undercover operation that began in October 2000. [DOJ Press Release re: Operation Buccaneer]
As of July 12, 2002, 16 defendants had been convicted in the United States (13 in the Eastern District of Virginia, two in the Central District of California, and one in the Central District of Illinois) on felony charges of criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy, and/or aiding and abetting, criminal copyright infringement. [DOJ Press Release re: Kartadinata & Nguyen Pleas] [DOJ Press Release re: Sankus Plea] Nine defendants have been sentenced, to federal terms of imprisonment ranging from 30 to 46 months. [E.g., DOJ Press Release re: Sankus Sentencing]
Copyright infringement, or copyright "piracy", as it is also known, is the unauthorized reproduction and/or distribution of copyright protected works, such as computer software, movies, games and music. Pirated digital copies of copyrighted works distributed over the Internet are commonly known as "warez," and those who engage in this illegal conduct are said to be in the "warez scene."
Operation Buccaneer successfully targeted the suppliers, crackers, and leadership of multiple top-level warez groups that specialize in the supply (aka "release") of new pirated works to the warez scene. These so-called "release" groups included DrinkOrDie, Razor1911, RiSCISO, MYTH, and POPZ. Additionally, the investigation successfully targeted members of several leading "courier" groups that specialize in the illegal distribution and trading of copyrighted works over the Internet, including the groups RequestToSend (RTS), WeLoveWarez (WLW), and RiSC. Collectively, these warez groups were responsible for illegally reproducing and distributing over the Internet hundreds of millions of dollars worth of copyrighted works.
The Department of Justice and the U.S. Customs Service worked closely with law enforcement in the United Kingdom, Australia, Finland, Sweden and Norway to effect 17 searches of foreign subjects simultaneously with the execution of the U.S. searches. Prosecutions against these targets have been instituted or are expected to be instituted in the near future. For instance, six (6) defendants have been formally charged in the United Kingdom, and two face charges on related offenses pertaining to trafficking in stolen credit cards. The Department of Justice and U.S. Customs Service continue to work with the United Kingdom and these other countries to support and assist their enforcement actions.
Additionally, law enforcement seized a number of the largest and most significant warez "archive" sites from around the world. "Archive" sites are highly-secured computers used to store massive quantities of pirated software, games and movies. Access to these sites is used as a reward for active warez group members and as an incentive for them to continue their illegal activity. Many archive sites contain 2,000 gigabytes or more of pirated software, equivalent to approximately 1.4 million, 3.5- inch diskettes of copyrighted material.
Although an exact figure is unavailable, the retail value of the pirated software, movies, games, and music seized during the course of Operation Buccaneer is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Operation Buccaneer has been conducted by the United States Customs Service and the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice in coordination with the United States Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, foreign law enforcement, and U.S. Attorneys Offices across the nation.
Among the resources devoted to this investigation from the U.S. Customs Service were agents from the Resident Agent-in-Charge Office, Washington, D.C., and the Customs Cybersmuggling Center in Fairfax, Virginia.
Resources from the Department of Justice include two prosecutors from the Criminal Divisions Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, who have been assigned throughout the investigative and prosecutive phases of Operation Buccaneer and are now jointly prosecuting the majority of defendants with the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Eastern District of Virginia. In addition, federal prosecutions are being brought against defendants in several other districts across the country, including (to date) the Central District of California and the Central District of Illinois.
The execution of the search warrants was handled by Customs Agents from
25 field-offices nationwide. Additionally, attorneys from 19 United States
Attorneys Offices across the country assisted in obtaining search warrants
during the initial law enforcement action of Operation Buccaneer.