Nine Indicted in Chicago in $1 Million "Fastlane" Software Piracy Conspiracy (February 16, 2001)

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This is a full reprint of The US Department of Justice article published
at this URL:

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/fastlane.htm

It is now being memorialized on Google, in the event the above URL becomes
inactive at some future date.

__________________________________________________________________________

U.S. Department of Justice
Northern District of Illinois
Scott R. Lassar
United States Attorney
Dirksen Federal Building
219 South Dearborn Street, Fifth Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60604
(312) 353-5300
PRESS CONTACT:
AUSA/PIO Randall Samborn (312) 353-5318

Press Release
For Immediate Release
February 16, 2001

NINE INDICTED IN CHICAGO IN $1 MILLION "FASTLANE"
SOFTWARE PIRACY CONSPIRACY

CHICAGO -- A former North Carolina man who was arrested last fall and
eight new defendants a cross the United States who allegedly were
associated with the underground software piracy group known as "Fastlane"
have been indicted for pirating more than $1 million of copyrighted
computer software, games, and movies through non-public Internet sites.
All nine defendants were charged in a nine-count indictment that was
returned late yesterday by a federal grand jury in Chicago, where the
investigation was conducted, Scott R. Lassar, United States Attorney for
the Northern District of Illinois, and Kathleen McChesney, Special Agent
in charge of the Chicago Field Division of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, announced today.

The defendants allegedly were leaders, members or associates of the group
"Fastlane," which was dedicated to illegally distributing copyrighted
software, games and movies over the Internet. An undercover FBI agent
infiltrated the group and was asked to provide a computer to serve as one
of several Internet sites used by the group to distribute copyrighted
materials; the agent agreed and then monitored the group’s activities on
that site. The indictment alleges that the defendants used this site to
upload and download copyrighted software between Jan. 7 and Sept. 20,
2000. This prosecution is believed to be the first in the nation arising
from the FBI’s undercover infiltration of a software piracy organization.

The undercover investigation ended on Sept. 20, 2000, when one of the
defendants, Steve Deal, was arrested in Charlotte, N.C., and the FBI
executed search warrants and seized computers at various locations in and
around Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Kansas City and Seattle.

All nine defendants were charged in one count of conspiracy to commit
copyright infringement, and eight of the nine were charged with one count
of copyright infringement. The defendants are Steve Deal, 36, aka
"Doobie" and "Dewbie," of Trenton, N.J., formerly of Charlotte; Bjorn
Schneider, 20, aka "airwalker," "a|walker," and "aw," of Falmouth, Mass.;
Shane McIntyre, 22, aka "Crypto," of Boynton Beach, Fla.; Tae Yuan Wang,
19, aka ‘Terry Wang" and "Prometh," of Bellevue, Wash.; Kevin Vaughan,
19, aka "DaBoo," a college student in Raleigh, N.C.; Ryan Breding, 26, aka
"river," of Oklahoma City; James Milne, 19, aka "lordchaos" and "lc," of
Shawnee, Kan.; Glendon Martin, 25, aka "TeRRiFiC," of Garland, Tex.; and
Tony Walker, 31, aka "SyS," of San Diego, Calif.

Vaughan was the only defendant not charged with copyright infringement in
addition to conspiracy. Deal was released on $10,000 bond following his
arrest last September and he, along with the others, will be summoned to
appear for arraignment in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

The indictment alleges that Deal, McIntyre, Schneider and Wang had roles
in managing Fastlane; that Martin, Milne and Vaughan operated computer
sites where pirated software was stored; and that Breding and Walker
provided computer hardware in exchange for access to the copyrighted
materials. "The technological sophistication of software piracy groups
requires creative investigative techniques," Mr. Lassar said.
"Intellectual property, like any other property, deserves protection by
law enforcement, and anyone who steals and distributes valuable
intellectual property should understand that we are committed to using the
full range of investigative tools to penetrate these organizations and
prosecute their leaders and members."

According to the indictment, Fastlane was founded in November 1999 and had
members in the United States and abroad. In exchange for their
contributions of hardware or pirated works, members and their associates
received access through the Internet to computers that stored libraries of
commercially available software, games and movies, virtually all of it
copyrighted. The pirated materials, known as "warez," were illegally
distributed from affiliated warez sites maintained on multiple computers
located throughout the country.

Among the Fastlane-affiliated warez sites was "Super Dimensional Fortress
Macros," also known as "SDFM," which was operated by an undercover FBI
agent from Jan. 7 to Sept. 20, 2000. At various times, the indictment
alleges, Deal, Schneider, McIntyre and Wang played a role in operating
SDFM. As part of the conspiracy, each defendant had access to an active
account on SDFM. During its operation, the defendants made available for
downloading thousands of copyrighted programs and movies, including
operating systems, utilities, word processing, data analysis and
spreadsheet applications, communications programs, graphics, desktop
publishing and games. During its operation, more than 697 gigabytes of
software were uploaded to SDFM and more than 1,900 gigabytes were
downloaded. The programs, which included Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft
Windows Millennium, Adobe Framemaker v6.0, Corel Custom Photo SE, Symantec
PCAnywhere and McAfee VirusScan, had a total retail value in excess of $1
million.

Other warez sites affiliated with Fastlane included one known as "Sacred
Halls" or "SH," which Milne allegedly maintained at a university in
Massachusetts and remotely accessed from a computer at his home in
Shawnee, Kan.; another known as "The Good News" or "TGN," which Martin
allegedly maintained in Ohio and remotely accessed from a computer at his
home in Garland, Tex.; and a third known as "4:20," which Vaughan
allegedly maintained at a university in North Carolina. None of these
sites were available to the public.

As part of the conspiracy, the defendants communicated with each other on
private Internet relay chat (IRC) channels, such as "#fastlane" and
"#sdfm," and via direct IRC communication, which allowed them to have real
time discussions about Fastlane activities. The members allegedly held
weekly meetings on Sunday nights to discuss such matters as inviting new
members and finding new sources of pirated software. Access to SDFM and
other warez sites was carefully limited to authorized users entering
through known Internet Protocol addresses with pre-established IDs and
passwords. To conceal their activities, the defendants used screen names
instead of true names and port bouncers to disguise the true Internet
Protocol addresses of their computers and the computers that hosted the
warez sites.

The government’s investigation was conducted as part of the Justice
Department’s nationwide Intellectual Property Initiative, announced in
July 1999. The conspiracy and copyright infringement charges in this case
were brought under the No Electronic Theft Act, known as the NET Act,
which was enacted in 1997 to facilitate prosecutions of Internet copyright
piracy. The NET Act makes it illegal to reproduce or distribute
copyrighted works, such as software programs and musical recordings, even
if the defendant acts without a commercial purpose or for private
financial gain.

Mr. Lassar and Ms. McChesney said four software and movie industry groups
provided assistance in identifying copyrighted material and in pricing
pirated programs. They are the Interactive Digital Software Association,
the Business Software Alliance and the Software and Information Industry
Association, all located in Washington, D.C., and the Motion Picture
Association of America, based in Encino, Calif.

The government is being represented by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney
Brian Hayes. The Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual
Property Section has provided assistance.

If the defendants are convicted, conspiracy to infringe a copyright
carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and
copyright infringement carries a maximum of three years in prison and a
$250,000 fine. Restitution is mandatory. The Court, however, would
determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the United States
Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not
evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled
to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt
beyond a reasonable doubt.

usdoj-crm/mis/jam
© 2001 US Department of Justice