A massive international investigation has led to the arrest of many people suspected of film piracy.
Led by Homeland Security and Europol and in cooperation with law enforcement authorities in 18 countries the investigation focused on a movie piracy ring, better known as the Sparks Group. The Group allegedly facilitated the illegal distribution of blockbuster films.
"Dozens of servers controlled by the Sparks Group went offline today around the world, from North America to Europe and Asia," the US Department of Justice said in a statement. Press release. The Sparks Group used these servers to illegally store and distribute copyrighted content to members around the world.
"Sparks Group members reproduce and distribute hundreds of movies and TV shows before their release dates, including almost every movie released by major production studios, causing millions of dollars in losses to the film and television industry," said Peter Fitzhugh of Homeland Security. .
To make unreleased movies, Sparks members reportedly presented themselves as DVD retailers and Blu-Ray προκειμένου να εξαπατήσουν τους νόμιμους διανομείς για να τους δώσουν ταινίες πριν από τις ημερομηνίες κυκλοφορίας. Και ενώ οι πειρατές υποσχόταν να μην διανέμουν το περιεχόμενο πριν από τις ημερομηνίες κυκλοφορίας, αφαιρούσαν τυχόν προστατευτικά πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας και το κυκλοφορούσαν σε διάφορες υπηρεσίες streaming and from torrent sites.
The Sparks Group included well-known groups (SPARKS, DRONES, ROVERS, GECKOS, SPRINTER, ALLiANCE, DEMAND, HD4U, LAZERS, FTP) from Scene but also from the p2p community.
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.542949/gov.uscourts.nysd.542949.12.0.pdf
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.529663/gov.uscourts.nysd.529663.5.0.pdf
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.542945/gov.uscourts.nysd.542945.9.0.pdf
According to Europol, officers seized more than 60 servers operated by Group Sparks in countries including Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, UK, Netherlands, South Korea and many more.
