AfterDawn: News

Movie industry raids Icelandic P2P users

MPA's (MPA is the movie studios' international association, in which, the American MPAA is also member of) Icelandic arm, called SMAIS, has raided 12 major P2P users in the small Nordic country. According to SMAIS's press release, some of the raided users had over 2.5 terabytes (1T == 1,024 gigabytes) of pirated material in their possession when busted.

Iceland, a country with population of just over 290,000, has the highest percentage of Net-connected households in the world -- 79% of homes are connected to the Internet. But as isolated as the country is, the P2P raids seem to have sent immediate shockwaves across the country: according to SMAIS's announcement, country's total Internet traffic dropped by a whopping 40 percent after the raids.



In its raids, movie industry targeted only users using extremely popular DC++/Direct Connect file sharing network. Users' computers and various DVD-R/CD-R media were confiscated in the raids.

More information:

The Register
SMAIS

Written by: Petteri Pyyny @ 30 Sep 2004 14:26

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• 18 comments

• Nylenda

  what can be done to fight those MPA basta*ds? I live in Iceland and I´m so furios over this raid. The police went in during the night arresting teenagers, dragging them out in handcuffs. Common, I mean those are not the criminals I want the police, whom I pay for through my taxes, to go after. We also have such a stupid system regarding international downloading. If you live here you have to pay almost 4 cents for each MB you download from outside the country. That is in my oppinion a rip off and therefore users have started DC++ rings here so they can download locally.
  
  The police became a member of those group ( undercover ofcourse ) and logged the usage for the last couple of months and got everybodys IP addresses and so on. I really want to take some action but I´m not sure what to do. At least I won´t buy a cd for quite awhile.

  30.9.2004 15:23 #1

• Pop_Smith

  I think thats dumb, i mean if the data didn't go to far (it sounds like it just stayed in Iceland) i don't see a problem with it, as the population is just over 290,000.

  30.9.2004 15:32 #2

• wsbritton

  Dear friends --- Perhaps we need to share files through the mail service, where we are protected by the postal service. It may cost us about a dollar to move 4.7gb files from one person to the other but here we are protected under the postal laws.
  
  I am sorry that big business has taken control of our goverments. Believe me, we can take control of our goverments, again, as well as big business.
  
  The dollar, euro, franc, etc. is the boss.
  
  Stay tuned.
  
  ageless

  30.9.2004 16:41 #3

• thor999

  Nylanda, you do know what to do. Don't buy anymore cd's ever again, or dvd's. Don't buy anything that could help anyone but the ORIGINAL ARTIST profit from your purchase. Their coffers are plenty full, and their war is waged against us, they have ammunition, we do not, we cannot win. WIthout money, they will be left without ammunition, and then we might stand a chance. In this day and age, money will always replace reason and logic. Please remember the bands that did not mind their material beiong traded, continue purchasing their cd's, they deserve it, and f%(ck the rest. Is it the end of filesharing? For me, for now, yes, I must admit, but when cooler heads finally prevail, I will be back. T%he war starts here, with us; cut off their supply!

  30.9.2004 18:11 #4

• tommays

  with 2.5 terabytes on site i think this is some what beyond casual shareing it would seam to be on a comercial scale
  
  what kid could afford that many drives

  1.10.2004 09:03 #5

• timrader

  i own hundreds of pyrited dvds stolen software and other kind of media.I want to know if there have been any of these kinds of incidences in the united states and how bas it was

  1.10.2004 21:41 #6

• thor999

  none so far that I know of, except for one bust of five dc++/direct connect users, yet the "ringleader" and all were released immediately (after houses/offices raided) and no charges were filed. I read the interview with that guy at slyck forums, should be able to find it with a search. This whole deal makes me mad, we should be able to do what we want in our homes, on our computers, so long as it doesn't involve the exploitation of our young. The RIAA has created a police state here in the u.s., land of freedom and hope. Corporate mentality will cause wars. no doubt, maybe even civil... should we stop filesharing? HELL NO unfortunately I have to; just bought a house, don't want it raided. Its a sad sad day for freedom and taxpayers...

  2.10.2004 00:22 #7

• djdanni

  I live in Icelandi in Reykjavík. I have bin watch the news in Iceland in Fuck the Police, Skífan, Saims and Stef. I rely hate tham all.

  2.10.2004 02:41 #8

• USPardesi

  I think the CIA or FBI or who ever is doing this, should come to Newark in New Jersey, US. These guys have booths like blocks from the City Hall and are selling pirated copies of movies and music before they even come out for sale in regular stores in the United States. The cops are going up and down street and don't care at all. Seriously, they have booths, permanent booths. and than they go and arrest some little kid who shares it on line. May be I should start working on a way to share material online, since the mail rights protects us.....
  Good luck to you all and happy sharing......

  3.10.2004 09:02 #9

• KBN

  What the freak is wrong with you guys? Don't you realise, that piracy is illegal? Do you not care at all? I honestly despise that attitude. I am NOT sent by MPAA, APG or anyone, but it is quite obvious to me why one should not copy and distribute software, videos and music: What would YOU do in case you worked hard and long to develop one of the above mentioned, and someone (many) just went ahead and stole it (yes, piracy IS stealing!), leaving you behind with no income? The consequence is often that because only a small number of licenses are actually sold, prices rise to cover the costs of production - which in turn makes even more people not pay for the product... How about making the decision to pay for software/videos/music next time you need it? YOU have to decide! Peer pressure my azz - if you don't have the money to pay for it, it probably wasn't meant for you OR perhaps you should have different priorities regarding your economy. And I have no sympathy whatsoever for those getting busted for having and distributing pirated material - L0RN!

  4.10.2004 04:10 #10

• beaters

  KGN wrote:
  "I am NOT sent by MPAA, APG or anyone..."
  Yeah, right. If you're not mebbe you should go apply for a job with one of those bastards. You sound like the type.

  4.10.2004 20:09 #11

• Spoilage

  Reading this makes me so mad. This is an invasion of privacy. Goverments have no right to monitor our Internet usage. We have to design a P2P system that uses encryption and hides our IP address's from the prying eyes of Government.

  6.10.2004 15:45 #12

• KBN

  Ha, Spoilage!
  Your comment reveals that you wish to hide from the authorities - quite like thieves and murderers in "real life." If you have nothing to hide, why hide? I have no problem with ISPs monitoring my KaZaA- and DC++-activities, as there aren't any... :) I get the entertainment I need from tv, radio, stores, and well, real life people (consider that!)!

  7.10.2004 15:17 #13

• elainc33

  If PC's can be so easily invaded by Govts. it would appear that we are all wasting our time purchasing prgs like Norton Security etc. Although this topic is mainly about downloading movies, I would like to say there is a legitimate Russian site for downloading music, ie www.allofmp3.com who charge 1 cent per MB, in any format you choose. They have a very good technical service, a download manager, so it is quick and efficient. There are NO probs with credit cards, you can listen before you buy, the minimum is 5 dollars. I have been using them for around 14 months and they are brilliant. Have a look at the site, no hidden nasties. Pity they cant sell movies, eh?

  8.10.2004 01:42 #14

• Spoilage

  Thats it KBN, stand by and watch the Government invade our rights to privacy. For me this has nothing to do with file sharing. This has to do with our rights to privacy.

  9.10.2004 07:47 #15

• Spoilage

  Don't you realize how great the Internet is. Its full of information, people's thoughts ideas and images. There are people out there who want to control this. They don't want people to have access to open thoughts ideas and images. Governments want to control us. Their trying to get their foot in the door now. They want to control what you see and do. Don't think this isn't happening.
  The Internet was made so people could share ideas. Thats exactly what some people want to control. They're just using filesharing as an excuse to monitor our Internet usage. They want to control what you see and read.
  In Canada there are people who are afraid of freedom of speech. They even got Howard Stern off the air in Toronto and Montreal. Thanks to Howard we can still hear him out of Buffalo. Imagine that, they are affraid of a comedian on the radio.

  9.10.2004 08:45 #16

• KBN

  OK, listen... I am not saying, that privacy is crap, and when you say that the Internet is great for sharing thoughts, ideas and stuff, I completely agree... The problem is that there's something called copyright - well actually, the real problem is that people don't respect copyrights! These "thought & ideas", in many cases music and films, are the works of artists, who do not want their "babies" distributed all over without getting recognition for their work (=paid). Many artist do put their material out for anyone's disposal, so maybe you should just stick to their works. If you want to listen to or watch the popular works, well... pay up, PAL!

  9.10.2004 15:24 #17

• runnfool

  Sorry if this was dead, but I just came across it and it is interesting.
  
  KBN, Spoilage -- you are both right! Piracy is wrong, if you are doing it you have to risk getting caught and paying the penalty. Period. Do music and movies cost too much? Yes I think so. Piracy is not likely to change that.
  
  The question is, do people have a right to privacy on the 'net? Can the police read your mail? Of course. Do you want them to? Of course NOT, even if you aren't doing anything illegal. I don't want anyone to 'control' what I am doing on the Internet.
  
  

  19.10.2004 18:00 #18