Federal agents have searched five homes and one Internet service provider in three states, seeking evidence of criminal copyright infringement, according to a Justice Department statement. The investigation--dubbed "Operation Digital Gridlock"--is targeting a specific file-swapping group called the Underground Network.
"The execution of today's warrants disrupted an extensive peer-to-peer network suspected of enabling users to traffic illegally in music, films, software and published works," Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a statement. "The Department of Justice is committed to enforcing intellectual-property laws, and we will pursue those who steal copyrighted materials, even when they try to hide behind the false anonymity of peer-to-peer networks."
Although no charges have yet been filed, the action is a milestone in federal law enforcement's treatment of peer-to-peer technology. It could portend deeper scrutiny of casual online copyright infringement, expanding beyond the tightly organised groups typically targeted by investigators in the past.
Like most high-profile federal actions, Wednesday's searches targeted a group suspected of being high-volume copyright infringers rather than everyday computer users who might use a mainstream program such as Kazaa or eDonkey. But unlike the secretive "warez" groups that have been the focus of earlier FBI investigations, the Underground Network appeared to have had minimal membership requirements and little organisation linking its most casual users.
The Justice Department has routinely pursued online copyright infringers in the past, often at the behest of trade associations such as the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Business Software Alliance.
The MPAA immediately welcomed news of the enforcement actions.
"The results of 'Operation Digital Gridlock' should send a strong message, to everyone who contemplates stealing movies and distributing them on the Internet, that illegal actions are not without real consequences," MPAA Chief Executive Jack Valenti said in a statement. "This should also puncture the myth that illegal activity on the Internet is 'safe' because it is untraceable."
According to documents provided by the Justice Department, the sting operation has been underway since at least March. Undercover FBI agents joined the network by loading two computers with copyrighted material and applying for membership with those machines. Like many other similar groups, the Underground Network required that members be able to provide copyright materials for download by other users instead of simply "leeching" on others.
The network has been based on Direct Connect technology, which enables individual computer users to set up private file-swapping networks similar to the original Napster. With Direct Connect, ordinary PCs serve as "hubs," keeping indexes of what files are available and linking search requests with the computers where files are stored.
Once a part of the network, the FBI agents identified five of the most active "hubs" in the United States and downloaded a total of 72 gigabytes of copyrighted material--including 84 movies, 40 software applications, 13 games and 178 songs, according to the Justice Department documents.
The FBI actions culminated in searches early Wednesday morning of homes of those believed to be associated with the operators of those hubs. According to the Justice Department statement, the investigation is ongoing.
Attorney Robert Andris said the Underground Network hub operators, if ultimately charged with criminal copyright infringement, would face legal tests similar to those seen in the civil cases of Napster and Grokster. However, criminal cases do have a higher standard of proof, he said.
"A court would be looking at essentially the same conduct (as in the civil cases)," said Andris, a partner with Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley in Redwood City, Calif. "What it comes down to is the ability to control (swapping activity), and knowledge that it's going on."
In Napster's case, judges made preliminary rulings that the company had enough control over its network to make it potentially liable for its users' actions. In last week's decision on Grokster and StreamCast Networks, a federal appeals court ruled that those companies did not have enough control over the operations of their decentralized networks to make them legally responsible for copyright infringement.
