Does
the number TWENTY THREE BILLION DOLLARS get your
attention?
That's
how much money was lost last year as a result of
criminals swiping copyright-protected digital copies
of music, movies, software, and games... and distributing
them through websites, chat rooms, mass email, FTP,
and peer-to-peer networks.
And
there's a name to fit the crime: "intellectual
property theft."
Today,
February 19, in Los Angeles, California, the FBI's
Assistant Director for Cyber, Jana Monroe, joined
Brad Buckles of the Recording Industry Association
of America, Ken Jacobsen of the Motion Picture Association
of America, Keith Kupferschmid of the Software and
Information Industry Association, and Ric Hirsch,
Entertainment Software Association to highlight
our joint efforts to stop the theft of copyright
protected material.
These
efforts specifically target criminal enterprises
-- and link the considerable resources and efforts
of private sector companies and trade associations
with law enforcement partnerships (on local, state,
federal, and international levels) to identify and
stop them.
And
that's not all.
Did
you notice that "new" FBI seal in the
corner? Only 5 stars; no laurel leaves; shield
moved up to the top of the blue field. That's the
official FBI Anti-Piracy seal, just unveiled today...
and you'll be seeing a lot of it in the days
to come. Not just on the warning screens of videos
and DVDs, but on the millions and millions of CDs,
games, software packages, and other digital media
that are produced each year.
Oh,
and one last thing:
Protect
yourself! If you use peer-to-peer systems on
the web (like Freenet or mp3 download sites), you
could be asking for big trouble. If P2P software
isn't configured correctly, it can open up your
entire hard drive for others to see and download.
If you're on a P2P network, you could be bumping
up against all the worms and viruses carried by
other users of that network. And you could become
a carrier of worms and viruses that are written
by misanthropic hackers specifically to spread via
popular P2P networks. Run don't walk to our cyber
letter , addressed to you, for details on these
issues and on the crimes associated with P2P networks.
Related
Links: Remarks
By Assistant Director Jana Monroe | Press
Release | Cyber
Letter | The
Cyber Investigations website
