Byline: Cynthia L. Webb

Uncle Sam is getting serious about piracy. No, not the parrot-toting knaves of the high seas, but their modern-day broadband namesakes. The latest development: The Justice Department this week seized a domain name and Web site that traded tips and products about copyrighted movies and games. Officials are using the case to warn other potential pirates about the risks of swapping illegal files and copyrighted products on the Internet.

The www.isonews.com site -- described by the U.S. government as dedicated to online copyright piracy -- now links to a message from the Justice Department with information on the case and this ominous message: "ISO News is now the property of the U.S. government." The domain's transfer to government control is part of a plea agreement with the site's 22-year-old owner, David M. Rocci of Blacksburg, Va. Rocci pleaded guilty in December to conspiring with others to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by importing, marketing and selling modification, or "mod," computer chips. The chips can bypass copyright protection mechanisms in Xbox and other online gaming devices.

According to federal officials, Rocci sold 450 Enigmah Mod Chips, taking in $28,000. "Because the Web site was 'facilitating' the crime and because Justice Department officials wanted to send a message to other violators, they came up with the idea of seizing the site. Officials said this could be a harbinger of enforcement actions," The Washington Post reported. * The Washington Post: Government Takes Piracy Web Site

The Register reported that the Feds are turning Rocci's former site "into a repository of anti-piracy propaganda." On the ISO News site, the Justice Department now warns of potential problems for illegal file sharers: "People who distribute pirated works over the Internet via IRC, FTP sites, web sites, or file-sharing networks, and people who download or reproduce pirated works are risking criminal prosecution. Piracy is a crime even when the works are distributed over the Internet for free or where the conduct does not involve monetary gain, such as the trading of pirated products for other pirated products." * The Register: DoJ Seizes ISOnews Site Over Xbox Mod Chip Sales

"Piracy is not a game or a hobby, it is a crime," U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Paul McNulty said in a statement . "This case is another example of our dedication to enforcing the intellectual property laws of this nation online. Whether you are engaged in conduct like David Rocci or you are purchasing mod chips to play pirated games, you should stop."

BBC News Online cautioned that "some civil liberties groups have expressed concern about the free speech implications of the government seizing Web sites and domain names. ISO News had more than 100,000 registered users and was estimated to get up 140,000 hits each day. The site did not contain illegal copies of video games, software and movies, but instead featured message boards where people could share tips about pirated material. But the site was also used to market modification, or mod, chips. These have been a headache for game hardware makers for years. Mod chips are grey-market add-ons that, once soldered to a console's main circuit board, defeat security systems and allow people to play games originally sent to different geographic markets, backup copies and bootleg discs." The Feds are not stopping with isonews.com; they're also seizing the domains of several drug paraphernalia sites raided earlier this week . * BBC Online: U.S. Seizes Bootleg Games Sites * Gamers.com: U.S. Government Occupies Mod Chip Site * CNET's News.com: Feds Confiscate Illegal Domain Names

File this in the foreshadowing file. In January 2001, file-sharing site FreeDrive reportedly shut down its service amid Justice Department concerns (FreeDrive's site now links to online storage and file sharing company Xdrive, which now charges for its services). None other than Rocci talked to CNET's News.com at the time about the implications of sites like FreeDrive: "From what I understand, these free hard drive services have been a major hub for the distribution of pirated software for 'Web warez' sites," Rocci said. "These sites require their users to click banners and find passwords for their own profit, then after the users sort through a vast amount of garbage, they finally get a small app or game stored on one of these free online storage bins." * CNET's News.com: DOJ Concerns Shutter File-Swapping Service (Article is from Jan. 22, 2001)

Rocci is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7. He is looking at up to five years in prison and a $500,000 fine. And speaking of punishing hackers, the pro-digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation opposes any move to increase sentences for federal computer crime offenses. According to EFF's Web site , the group, along with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers "to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which had been directed by Congress to review sentencing guidelines applicable to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act."

Fighting Piracy on Campus

Congress is taking a closer look at the piracy problem at colleges and are urging academic institutions to crack down and even arrest students who illegally download copyrighted material. "It's electronic theft, plain and simple," Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), a member of the House Judiciary subcommittee on courts, the Internet, and intellectual property , said yesterday, as quoted by Cox News Service. Graham Spanier , president of Pennsylvania State University , told the subcommittee that while universities want to thwart piracy, anti-piracy efforts have to be done "without at the same time eliminating legitimate uses of P2P technologies; without constricting academic freedom and the free and open exchange of information ... and without invading the privacy of our students, faculty and staff." * Cox News Service via The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Arrests Urged To Foil Web Piracy On Campus

CNET's News.com reported that lawmakers at the hearing indicated college administrators aren't doing enough to stop the problem of online piracy: "Key politicians chided universities on Wednesday for not doing enough to limit peer-to-peer piracy, calling unauthorized copying a federal crime that should be punished appropriately. Members of the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees copyright law said at a hearing that peer-to-peer piracy was a crime under a 1997 federal law, but universities continued to treat file-swapping as a minor infraction of campus disciplinary codes," the news site said. Hilary Rosen , the outgoing head of the Recording Industry Association of America also testified at the hearing. * Penn State's The Digital Collegian: Spanier Visits Congress to Discuss File Sharing * CNET's News.com: Congress Targets P2P Piracy On Campus

The same debate over digital piracy on campus is raging Down Under. The University of Melbourne said it would save potential evidence to help the recording industry identify alleged online music pirates. The Australian IT reports that "Melbourne was one of three institutions -- including the University of Sydney and the University of Tasmania -- approached by labels EMI, Sony and Universal to help them identify alleged music piracy by users of the universities' networks. Both Tasmania and Sydney had already consented to preserve their files prior to today's hearing, but Australian IT understands all three respondents in the action will fight an application to turn the data over to the recording companies." * The Australian IT: Universities Track MP3 Downloads

Search Engine Battle Revs Up

Pasadena, Calif.-based Overture Services , which manages a service that charges Web sites to get placement on search engine results, has added another piece to its growing search engine business. The company on Monday said it will buy the Web search properties of a Norwegian company, Fast Search & Transfer . Recall that Overture recently plunked down $140 million to buy AltaVista . "In a deal seen as an effort to fend off Google , Overture will pay as much as $100 million for several FAST properties, including Alltheweb.com , which offers algorithmic search technology that provides relevant results to keyword queries. Overture will pay FAST $70 million this year and up to $30 million over the next three years if certain financial targets are met," The San Jose Mercury News reported. * The San Jose Mercury News: Overture Services Announces Second Purchase In Week * Reuters: Overture To Buy More Search Power To Fight Google

Washington Post tech columnist Leslie Walker writes about Overture today in a column about the jockeying for position in the search engine world. "When completed, the two deals will expand Overture's mission from selling ads to indexing the entire World Wide Web, making it a head-to-head competitor against Google, the Web's most popular search engine. The deals also could pit Overture against Yahoo , which currently displays Overture's ads atop Google's basic Web search results. Portals and search engines have long had such tangled relationships as each tried to figure out how to make money from helping people find information online. Many portals discounted the search function and focused more on acquiring content during the late 1990s, but smart navigation technology turned out to be a crucial building block for most of the Web's leading survivors, pioneers such as eBay, Amazon.com and Expedia.com." * The Washington Post's Leslie Walker: Cherchez The Search Advantage

Not to dismiss the power of Google, The Wall Street Journal yesterday wrote of the battle for Web entrepreneurs to get their sites mentioned on the powerful Google search page -- a tactic that sometimes backfires. "You have this war going on," Susan Feldman , an analyst with market research firm IDC told the newspaper. "Search engines are trying to be as accurate and impartial as possible, and enterprises that want to be in the top 10 are engaged in all sorts of machinations to get noticed." * The Wall Street Journal: Web Sites Try Everything To Climb Google Rankings (Subscription required) * BBC Online: Is Google Too Powerful

Listen To This

Listen.com , a flailing online music service, has received an unspecified amount of cash from streaming company RealNetworks to help it remain afloat. "One of the few surviving Internet music firms in San Francisco's once-crowded Audio Alley, Listen.com earlier this month laid off one-third of its staff, surrendered most of its trendy, post-industrial office space and confirmed it was actively seeking outside investors. RealNetworks' unspecified minority investment gives Listen.com money to keep developing its Rhapsody Internet music service, and it gives the Seattle company fresh momentum for its audio compression technology, which has been losing ground to technology from rival Microsoft," The San Jose Mercury News reported. The Los Angeles Times noted in its story that "Real also owns 40% of MusicNet, a competing online music distributor that Real co-founded with three major record companies." * The San Jose Mercury News: Listen.com Buys Time With Real Deal * Reuters: RealNetworks Hedges Bets With Listen.com Stake * Los Angeles Times: RealNetworks Takes Stake in Listen.com (Registration required)

eBay Loses Its Techie

EBay 's head of technology is quitting to pursue other job opportunities, CNET's News.com reported. Chris Hjelm is leaving "in the midst of a major technology upgrade of the online auction site. " An eBay spokesman confirmed the news. Hjelm was executive vice president of broadband network services for Excite@Home before he joined eBay. * CNET's News.com: eBay's Tech Chief Quits

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, eBay chief executive Meg Whitman told dinner guests at a Goldman Sachs technology conference that world politics could affect sales at the San Jose, Calif.-based company. "I think war in Iraq is a potential issue for us ... many eBay users will go from the Net to CNN," Whitman said, according to Reuters. * Reuters via Yahoo: Ebay Chief Sees Possible Impact From Iraq War

Let Your Fingers Do the Marching

Congress found itself inundated yesterday with phone calls, e-mails and faxes, the result of Win Without War 's virtual march on Washington in opposition to war against Iraq. "Protesters called and faxed senators in an innovative action, billed as a way to influence policy 'without leaving your living room.' Senators enlisted extra staffers to answer calls and to tally the number of constituents registering their opinions. The calls tied up the lines of war opponents, such as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), as well as supporters of President Bush's policies, such as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)," The Washington Post reported. * The Washington Post: 'Virtual March' Floods Senate With Calls Against an Iraq War

The New York Times reports that the online march was not without technical glitches. "A virtual march might seem an ideal form of protest for a snowy day, although even electronic protest has its hazards. The protesters were urged online to help set the agenda by 'sharing your thoughts on greats goals for our nation in our unique ActionForum,' but this forum did not work as well as the old-fashioned kind in Rome. Virtual marchers who clicked on the link this morning and afternoon got a message that it was closed for 'routine maintenance.'" * The New York Times: An Antiwar Demonstration That Does Not Take to the Streets * Los Angeles Times: War Protesters Are Taking to Information Superhighway (Registration required)

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