Teddy Rogers Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 In the ongoing effort against movie piracy, top providers have become gleaming target. Largely responsible for introducing highly sought after material, top providers are a highly competitive entity that prioritize public recognition over associated risks. Earlier this morning, several top warez providers found themselves shut down at the hands of local police and the entertainment industry. At approximately 10 AM, local police in a wide spread coordinated effort raided over 300 homes and offices associated with top warez providers. The raids took place in Germany, Austria, Holland, Poland and the Czech Republic. According to GVU (translated to German Federation Against Copyright Theft), over 30 individuals were arrested in the raids.The raids also yielded over 20 servers, which provided FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to individuals belonging to the release groups. GVU claims the warez groups were responsible for the proliferation "of illegal copies of films, computer games, music and user software." The enforcement raids were the culmination of the GVU's investigative efforts, with legal follow-through provided by the prosecutor's offices in Duesseldorf and Frankfurt.Rumors of the bust began circulating online today, as members attempted to warn each other. According to warning notices online, the following top providers have, for all intents and purposes, been eliminated; RELOADED, KNIGHTS, TFCiSO, Cinemaniacs, German-Friend, ParadieseBeach and Klapsmuehle. In addition, the leader of RELOADED was reported as arrested during the raids. The GVU confirmed the following release groups were eliminated; Unreality, DRAGON, Laboratory, Heaven, code talk, GTR, ECP, TRCD, AOS, MRM, SITH, GWL, Cine VCD, AHE, Cinemaniacs.The pursuit of top providers is a primary concern to the entertainment industry, as the proliferation of pirated material often begins with these organizations. From these FTP sources, pirated material (especially movies) trickle down to the Newsgroups, IRC, BitTorrent and finally P2P networks. Initially, these raids may place a damper on spread of pirated material, however the allure of public recognition is simply too great for many to avoid. With time, their role in the online warez community will most likely be replaced.News Article Origin:http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1065Apparantely it wasn't the leader of Reloaded who got busted but some guy from Paradox - with the same nick - got nailed for selling warez to kids on the street...Ted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al-kaiser Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 That really sucks, ****ing GVU!!!!http://www.s1cc.de/nfos/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zer0buRn Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddy Rogers Posted January 25, 2006 Author Share Posted January 25, 2006 If these people keep selling warez and setting up groups for pay access distribution sites then they'll keep getting taken down...Ted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CUDiLLA Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Damn! PDX does so many things for her own security, like password-protected Releases, etc.! And then, a member is selling warez on streets, I can't believe this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zer0buRn Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Damn... long ago I remember the term 'keep warez free' guess that no longer exists. what amazes me is a leader is selling pirated stuff on the streets. he pretty much asked for his downfall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddy Rogers Posted January 25, 2006 Author Share Posted January 25, 2006 The term, "selling warez to kids on the street", is just a term of phrase for selling pirated warez, it doesn't necessarily mean they are selling directly to kids on the street Affiliates and currier groups have been selling warez and private access areas for years. Some of it is well organised and profitable and I think that is one of the reasons why there are more busts now... Ted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddy Rogers Posted January 25, 2006 Author Share Posted January 25, 2006 I dug this article up which was written by my friend Pazza way back in '92 and was published in a disk magazine called Grapevine. At that time he was the leader of a group called LSD and he got busted for mail trading:As some of you may have read in the last issue, I had my disks and computer equipment returned to me the day before we released the last issue, so there was no time for a full report, so here it comes.To recap; on the 22nd of May 1992 I was bust by the Police on behalf of F.A.S.T. They took all my computer equipment and disks, plus a lot of other stuff. 10 days after the bust they returned the following; 2 Video recorders, 2 telephones my answering machine (without power supply!), my reading glasses (obviously they where considered a vital piece of evidence at the time!) and a few other odds and ends. I heard nothing for exactly nine months and one day.On Tuesday the 23rd of February 1993 I received a phone-call from my local Police-station. I was told to come and collect my computer equipment and disks.When I arrived it was explained to me that they had to confiscate all my Pirate software. I asked if they had sorted it out, they hadn't and said perhaps I could assist! I argued they couldn't take it without permission from the court. It was 15 minutes before the guy who was in charge of the stuff quit for the day so he was in a rush.I didn't want to wait another nine months while it went through the courts, so we came to an agreement. He took all the disks in the jiffy bags and I kept the rest. In total I signed over 204 disks "to be destroyed as the Police see fit". Most of the disks where blank!Overall I lost no equipment and no disks! I have since bulk-formatted the disks and sold them to fund the setting up of my BBS, opening soon! (I already have the hardware!) So what was returned; Amiga A500, A590, US Robotics HST 14400 modem, External drive, RGB monitor and about 2,000 disks. That was theinteresting stuff, not for the strange stuff (generally referred to as rubbish!)4 "dead" internal drives, 4 parallel leads, 8 USA Dollars, about 5.00 in stamps, about 7.00 in change, a unused file-o-fax, some OHP sheets, lots of empty jiffy bags, a box of leads, some with plugs, some without and some stuff that I even dumped at the Police station asking them to throw it out!I am still waiting for both of my address books. I assume these are still un-returned to make people worry that their next on their list, but these books contain addresses and phone-numbers of most of the people I have been in touch with over the last 10 years and well over half of them don't even own a computer, so i'm sure no-one has anything to worry about!If your disks where in the jiffy bags taken then I apologise, but your loss was a lot less than all the hassle I have had!Ted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigma Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 So do you guys ever worry about this? This being a bust or w/e? What is it exacatly that the feds go after? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddy Rogers Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 It is always a concern but we don't do it on a professional basis - as in making and earning money from it. I suppose it doesn't necessarily justify our actions but pulling a target apart is always a temptation... Ted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigma Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 Well its technically illegal to reverse protection stuff, isn't it? Is it more the warez distribution that lands groups in trouble, as opposed to just patches? As one isn't giving the full app... But haven't groups been taken down, even when they weren't selling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddy Rogers Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 All the busts I have seen have been due to the distribution of warez as in terms of games, music and DVD's for profit, financial gain or due to heavy mass distribution (as in source). Possibly there has been busts for general cracking but I don't know of any. This doesn't necessarily mean that SnD isn't a target, of course it could happen but we don't target an area of industry where big corporate companies have the financial and political clout to kick expensive authorities in to action. You just never know. Maybe I'll get an early bang at the door one morning... Ted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigma Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 That'd suck. Is SnD a big player? Or just kinda? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddy Rogers Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 I don't know about us being big. We really only do this for fun and for our own interest. You would have to ask other peoples opinions on this...Ted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cektop Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 I'd say we're not a "big" group. We have many talented crackers (and beyond that), but as Ted said, we are not after high profit software, music, movies and games. In that way, we are not yet interesting to the authorities. But maybe once they stop all "big" groups (if they do), they might come after us, but no worries. As we are not after profit or access to 0day sites, they cant do much. We can loose our page, forum, but we can still keep on rocking on p2p and irc distribution... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigma Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 By "high profit" you are refering to stuff like Adobe, M$, etc? You guys just crack the shareware apps eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kryho Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 check it outhttp://www.gvu.de/de/presse/img/download/fabrik_300.jpghttp://www.gvu.de/de/presse/img/download/m...rtigung_300.jpgthats ****in selling but because of selling some good guyz (groups?) were busted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddy Rogers Posted January 29, 2006 Author Share Posted January 29, 2006 Yes, it is things like that give the scene a bad name. I presume those photos are of the recent busts?Ted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigma Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 Holy crap! Thats nuts!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
human Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 that picture is going over net as joke for over a year or more, real sceners dont do that, only lamers, and its 1st reason why they are cought. same is with warez boards, because 1 ****head was selling, they bust board, show everybody in tv, how police is good etc. after show rest will lose computers due they were not selling and only one stays that will go to jail. same was polish Warez City Board that was busted due 4 selling loosers, and they busted 110 people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blah Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 this is kinda old now but news to me...crazy stuff going on again....i was happy to see it wasnt reloaded..hahah there the only "real" game release group out these days with skills...but if a group is selling warez and all of that its just a matter of time..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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