Illinois Resident Who Participated in Online Software Piracy Ring Is Sentenced

Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that BRYAN THOMAS BLACK, 30, of Waterloo, Illinois, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to three years of probation for conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement.  This matter stems from a multinational software piracy investigation known as “Operation Higher Education.”

On March 6, 2009, BLACK pleaded guilty and admitted that, from 2001 until April 2004, he was a participant in the “warez scene,” an underground online community consisting of individuals and organized groups who engage in the large scale reproduction, modification and distribution of copyrighted software over the internet.  In the warez scene, certain participants (known as “suppliers”) are able to obtain access to copyrighted software, video games, DVD movies, and MP3 music files, often before those titles are even available to the general public. Other participants, known as “crackers,” then use their technical skills to circumvent or “crack” the digital copyright protections. Others, known as “couriers,” then distribute the pirated software to various file storage sites (“FTP sites”) on the internet for others to access, reproduce, and further distribute.  The leading warez groups competed with one another to attain the reputation as the fastest, highest quality providers of pirated materials.

Specifically, BLACK had access to several warez FTP sites from which he downloaded thousands of pirated copies of copyrighted works, primarily computer and video games.  In addition, BLACK was a member of a prominent warez group known as “Kalisto” and, using the nickname “dmx,” he provided services to “Kalisto” by removing the media protections from copyrighted software titles to be uploaded to FTP sites.

“Operation Higher Education” is the largest component of the global law enforcement action known as “Operation Fastlink,” announced by the Department of Justice on April 22, 2004.  Twelve nations participated in “Operation Higher Education.”  The investigation yielded searches and seizures of more 70 high-level targets that were conducted in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the United States, as well as Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  To date, more than 60 defendant have pleaded guilty to charges related to their participation in this conspiracy.

“Operation Higher Education” was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New Haven office in coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut and the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (“CCIPS”).  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Edward Chang and Senior Counsel Clement McGovern of CCIPS.

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