U.S. Seizes Computers in Software Piracy Raid

The U.S. government moved to crack a massive software piracy ring Tuesday, seizing computers in more than 100 raids across the country as authorities in five other countries followed suit.

U.S. law enforcement officials said the raids targeted the “Warez” group, a 1,500-user network that breaks copy-protection schemes on movies such as “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and computer operating systems such as Microsoft Windows XP.

Warez users then post copies for free downloads on thousands of sites across the Internet, sometimes before their official release dates.

The ring is responsible for 95% of all pirated software available online, causing at least $1 billion in lost sales annually, the U.S. Customs Service said.

The action was the biggest anti-piracy effort yet, senior Justice Department officials said, the end result of more than a year of undercover work. Agents from the FBI, the Justice Department and the Customs Service worked with local district attorneys in Las Vegas, New Hampshire and Virginia to seize computer hard drives in 27 cities across the country.

The U.S. coordinated its raid with law-enforcement agents in Australia, Britain, Canada, Finland and Norway, who conducted an additional 19 searches and made five arrests.

No arrests have been made in the United States, but officials said they would be likely as agents sift through the mountains of data contained on the seized computers.

Justice Department officials said Warez members probably would be charged with distribution of copyrighted material, which carries a maximum five-year sentence for each count.