Justice Dept. Announces 3 Convictions for Internet Game, Software Piracy

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 9, 2005 - 5:24am.

Washington -- The U.S. Justice Dept. has announced that three men have pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement charges as a result of an 18-month games and software piracy investigation, "Operation Higher Education," that spanned 12 countries. The three admitted to having leadership roles in online piracy or "warez" groups Fairlight and Kalisto, which cracked security on video game titles and other software and then posted downloadable versions of titles on IRC and peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Seth Kleinberg, 26, of Pasadena, California faces up to 10 years in prison, while Jeffrey Lerman, 20, of College Park, Maryland and Albert Bryndzda, 32, of Flushing, New York both may be sentenced to up to five years in prison. The Justice Dept. said Operation Higher Education is part of its larger "Operation Fastlink," which has so far yielded 70 "high-level targets" and a total of six convictions since it was launched in April 2004. Separately, Attorney General Albertro Gonzales on Wednesday named Kyle Sampson, deputy chief of staff and counselor to the Attorney General, as the new chairman of the the Justice Department's Task Force on Intellectual Property, created to protect "the creativity, resourcefulness, and innovation of Americans and to curb the threat that intellectual property crimes pose to the nation’s economic security."
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2005/March/05_crm_108.htm
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2005/March/05_ag_111.htm