PIRATES
re...@ecn.ab.ca
FBI has on-line pirates in sights
WASHINGTON -- Part of the reason for rampant
piracy in cyberspace -- on the Web and on the
less-obvious Dark Net -- has been a lack of
interest from law enforcement. That appears to be
changing.
"Up until about 18 months
ago, you'd refer a
complaint to the FBI, and
nothing would happen,"
said Peter Beruk, vice
president of anti-piracy
programs for the Software & Information Industry
Association in Washington. "Now the FBI is being
very aggressive."
Representatives of the FBI acknowledge the shift.
"We should have been more involved in this many
years ago," said Christopher Graham, supervisory
special agent in the FBI's criminal investigation
division of the financial crimes section, which handles
white-collar crime.
In the past, the white-collar crime unit focused on
such problems as crimes by public officials, health
care fraud, financial institution fraud, environmental
crimes and insurance fraud.
"Two years ago, intellectual property was not even
considered a priority," said Graham, who is now the
FBI's program manager for intellectual property.
Graham said the FBI has 108 software cases
pending -- mostly involving Web sites that offer
stolen programs, known as warez -- double last
year's count.
Even so, it's difficult to proceed. Many longtime
agents and some U.S. attorneys believe there is no
clear victim. The companies aren't losing sales
revenue, because users of pirated software would
not have bought legitimate copies. Because there are
civil laws, they argue that companies should sue
pirates rather than tie up criminal courts.
That attitude is slowly disappearing with the
realization that an increasing amount of the nation's
wealth is tied up in intellectual property, and many of
today's Internet pirates are effectively
judgment-proof: They have no assets to seize.
Graham said the multi-jurisdictional nature of
Internet piracy -- transactions can take place
across several countries -- makes enforcement
difficult. But he said the key problem is U.S.
sentencing guidelines, which base punishment on the
amount of monetary damage done to the property
owner.
"If I'm on a street corner, and I'm selling counterfeit
Ray-Ban sunglasses for $5, and real Ray-Ban
sunglasses are $100, my sentence is based on a loss
of $5, not $100, even though the loss to Ray-Ban
may very well be the loss of a sale they should have
had.
"Take that to warez sites that are offering software
for free. What's the loss? What is the value of an
infringing item if it's being given away? This whole
area is very complex."
As a result, Graham said, there simply isn't enough
deterrence to dissuade Internet pirates. "You can
surf the Net and see that," he said. Despite the
difficulties, he said, the FBI is pressing ahead with
such cases and hoping the sentencing guidelines
change.
Beruk said such changes are vital. "We've really got
to send a much more serious message. Civil
judgments are often uncollectible. We've got to
throw some people in jail."
--
Graham-John Bullers
moderator of alt.2600.moderated
email : re...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca | ab...@freenet.toronto.on.ca