Wise, CW And US Attorney ?

Is this for real? First i have heard of it.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Ramseyer said Friday he could not "confirm or deny" a report by the Associated Press that, among the 10 cities nationwide where federal search warrants were executed involving the alleged high-tech piracy of copyright materials, two of them were Wise and Clintwood.
He did, however, forward a federal Justice Department news release on the first criminal enforcement against BitTorrent Network users. Federal authorities on Wednesday shut down a BitTorrent Web site file sharing network allegedly used to distribute the new "Star Wars" movie even before it was shown in theaters.
BitTorrent is the latest P2P technology. Besides Virginia, U.S. Attorneys' offices in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin were involved in the 10-warrant roundup.
According to the wire report, the EliteTorrents.org site was allegedly helping people download copies of movies and other copyright materials for free. Warrants that were served remained under seal, and authorities said no arrests had yet been conducted.
According to the Justice Department, the Elite Torrents network attracted more than 133,000 members and, in the past four months, allegedly facilitated the distribution of more than 17,800 titles - including movies and software - that were downloaded 2.1 million times.
In addition to executing the 10 warrants, federal agents also took control of the main server that coordinated all file-sharing activity on the Elite Torrents network. Those who have attempted to log onto the Web site since Wednesday have received a message that the site has been permanently shut down by the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"Internet pirates cost U.S. industry hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue every year from the illegal sale of copyrighted goods, and new online file-sharing technologies make their job even easier," Michael J. Garcia, Homeland Security assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in the Justice Department press release.

[MikMo]

I wonder if they were arresting people who only downloaded the movies?

Don't know i just read it and first i had even heard of it.
I didn't pay a lot of attention to it, until i noticed Wise and Clintwood and i was What?

Back in the 8 track day, someone used to sell tapes made by bands that "just played the songs of the big artists" , the tapes all had neon colored covers. First conviction in a copyright case I ever heard of......ya know it is begenning to seem like I can remember more than I used to about things I probably shouldn't have been around. Is that bad? That bunch might have been from Sneedville or Blackwater.

I'm pretty sure it's true, but I don't think they have released names yet.


This post gave some good links.

[Xcat22]

legally they can not release names until charges have been filed against them, until then nothing can be said. So if anyone does know who it is I advise do not be telling anyone or posting it because you could be sued by these individuals for slander/defamation of character.

[MikMo]

The way I read the article, they're rounding up people who were running that Bit-Torrent network.

[imported_mega]

its a weird situation because RIAA and MPA sue people who share the files, but in the case of torrents, you have to share files to get files, so i guess they are all screwed lol.