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U.S. Homeland Security Shuts Down BitTorrent P2P Site
by Dave Murphy

Ten people suspected of involvement with the EliteTorrents webserver were served warrants by homeland security agents. According to the U.S. government agency, this is the first criminal enforcement action taken against violators of copyright law who use the BitTorrent peer-to-peer (P2P) file swapping software. The operation, codenamed D-elite, targeted administrators and content providers working through the EliteTorrents website.

In a statement released by Acting Assistant Attorney General John Richter, the government's goal is "to shut down as much of this illegal operation as quickly as possible to stem the serious financial damage to the victims of this high-tech piracy--the people who labor to produce these copyrighted products," He continued, "Today's crackdown sends a clear and unmistakable message to anyone involved in the online theft of copyrighted works that they cannot hide behind new technology."

Dave's Opinion
While I agree that the enforcement action is a long time in coming, it was probably hastened by the posting of "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" on the site, even before the movie was released in theatres.

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References
BitTorrent
EliteTorrents (currently offline)
Message Center

05.26.05 @ 12:43 AM ET
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