The domains of six websites that streamed and provided illegal downloads of copyrighted music were seized by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Department of Justice.
266 other websites part of the same network were also taken down in Brazil, with six individuals arrested in 30 search and seizure raids across the country.
"According to court documents, law enforcement identified these six domains as being used to distribute copyrighted material without the authorization of the copyright holders," the Justice Department said today in a press release.
"A law enforcement investigation confirmed that copyright-protected music content was present and available for streaming or downloading on each of these six websites from the Eastern District of Virginia."
The six domains seized in the US (Corourbanos.com, Corourbano.com, Pautamp3.com, SIMP3.com, flowactivo.co, and Mp3Teca.ws) were registered with US-based registrars and were taken down following a joint investigation with Brazilian authorities dubbed Operation 404.4.
The websites were advertised on social media to attract users willing to download and stream the illegal music content they provided. Brazilian authorities also requested and took down 15 social network profiles used for promotion purposes.
Fourth edition of Operation 404
Copyright infringement is behind annual losses of R$15 billion in Brazil (roughly $2.8 billion), according to Bráulio de Melo, the Deputy Secretary of Operations of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Seopi/MJSP).
This is the fourth edition of an operation that started in 2019 and focuses on dismantling cybercrime organizations and the infrastructure they use for digital piracy and breaking international copyright laws.
"The seizure of these six domains by the government will prevent third parties from streaming and downloading copyright-protected content from these sites," the Justice Department added.
"Individuals visiting those sites now will see a message indicating that the site has been seized by the federal government, and visitors will be redirected to another site for additional information."
Comments
GT500 - 1 year ago
Does anyone else feel like, with serious cybercrime going on in our world, that going after music pirates might be a waste of time and resources that could have been used to investigate things that are actually harming people?
alex2012 - 1 year ago
I'm sure it helps them get more funding, by showing off all the scary bad guys they caught.
Nighthawk658 - 1 year ago
"I'm sure it helps them get more funding, by showing off all the scary bad guys they caught. "
Yep it's about money afterall they probably missed out on a lot of taxes on the sales of music or as you say probably want more funding
This is a waste of resources shutting these sites down anyway because as proven before they will just reappear just look at torrent sites how many have been shutdown to just reappear hours later the pirate Bay is a perfect example how many times did that get shutdown and come back with a different address ending currently .org
As said in my other comment they would be better served using their resources on catching pedophiles and scammers
Nighthawk658 - 1 year ago
Totally agree there are so many more important things they should be focusing on such as online pedophiles and scams and online bullying things that really do affect people's lives
Shutting down streaming / download services is a proven waste of time as has been proven with sites like the pirate Bay that once closed hours later just comes back under a different domain think currently it's .org
So yes I rather they spend the money and resources on going after real Crimea like protexting children from pedophiles or those innocent people who fall for scams
Codeman785 - 1 year ago
Literally why in the world are they wasting time like this? Pirates will be pirates. This isn't 2005 anymore. There are thousands of more important cybercrimes that could be fought or taken down right now. And this is their concern?????
Phantomrage - 1 year ago
I guess even the new guys have to practice on busting pirate sites...
M - 1 year ago
Don't count on that in Brazil... just a smokescreen, lots of propaganda and money-raising schemes, closing sites that no one knows about and little visits.