From: William Knowles (wkC4I.ORG)
Date: Thu May 04 2000 - 23:55:13 CDT

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http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/0005/05/A43574-2000May5.shtml

Source: AFP | Published: Friday May 5, 2:12 PM

Chicago: US prosecutors have filed charges against 17 people involved
in a suspected global software piracy network, the Justice Department
said today.

Twelve of those accused in the case - including one Microsoft employee
- are allegedly members of an international group of software pirates,
known as 'Pirates with Attitude.'

The remaining five worked for the chipmaker Intel Corp, and traded
hardware for access to the pirated software, according to court
papers.

The group worked under the cover of code names like 'Warlock,'
'Gizmo,' 'Rambone,' and 'Stoned.'

A federal grand jury in Chicago has charged all 17 computer
professionals, two of whom are European, with conspiracy to infringe
copyright on 5,000 computer programs.

The software programs, which includes operating systems, utilities and
applications such as word processing and data analysis, plus games and
mp3 music files, were published by Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle, IBM, and
Lotus among others.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents infiltrated the
underground group last year, and in January 2000 they took possession
of the hardware which supported the group's hidden Web site.

The hardware was located at the University of Sherbrooke in
Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.

'This is the most significant investigation of copyright infringement
involving the use of the Internet conducted to date by the FBI,' said
Kathleen McChesney, special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago Field
Division.

'This group is one of the oldest and most sophisticated networks of
software pirates anywhere in the world,' said Scott Lassar, US
Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

The 15 US defendants will appear in federal court in Chicago on May
25, and could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a
$US250,000 ($A424,750) fine if convicted.

Alternatively, the court could impose a fine totaling twice the gross
gain to a defendant or twice the gross loss to any victim, whichever
is the greater.

The two Europeans, Mark Veerboken, code name 'Shiffie,' from Belgium
and Kaj Bjorlin, from Sweden, who went by the nickname 'Darklord,' are
unlikely to be extradited, according to Lisa Griffin, assistant US
attorney for the northern district of Illinois.

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