Originally posted by Saturnyne
download a GBA game from Kazaa? Yeah, that makes sense...
Originally posted by Delance
Only an idiot would do anything potentially illegal
Originally posted by Delance
Only an idiot would do anything potentially illegal (ie, downloading GBA games) on IRC. It's too easy to legally prove you did it. That's why e-mail and IRC is the prefered place for law enforcment authorities to go when they want to arrest someone. With Kazaa, is way harder. This is relevant, since a very high percentage of the stuff downloaded from Kazaa is not "legal" from a copyright point of view.
Heh, I thought authorities usually prefer to do that sort of thing in person .Originally posted by Delance
That's why e-mail and IRC is the prefered place for law enforcment authorities to go when they want to arrest someone.
Originally posted by ChrisReid
What exactly makes kazaa harder than IRC? And when was the last time (or any time) someone was busted for dowloading roms on irc?
Originally posted by Quarto
Seriously though, I'm not sure to what degree IRC logs and e-mails would be admissible in court. After all, how difficult it is to fake a piece of electronic text?
Originally posted by Aries
well, the world certainly doesn't have a shortage of idiots
Originally posted by Delance
Kazaa hides the identity of their users. Kazaa is not under US jurisdiction, so US courts can't find the true identity of the users.
About IRC, it's somewhat easy to figure out the IP of the people that user IRC. Even if they are a little smarter and user a way to disguise the true IP, it's much easier to bust someone one IRC than someone on Kazaa.
Hmm.Originally posted by Delance
I agree it's very dangerous that a piece of text can be used to arrest someone. It would not be difficult at all to alter data. However, IRC logs, E-mail and that sort of data have already been accepted in court. People was arrested based on this kind of evidence, even tough it generally lead to a deeper investigation.
As part of the conspiracy, the defendants communicated with each other on private Internet relay chat (IRC) channels, such as "#fastlane" and "#sdfm," and via direct IRC communication, which allowed them to have real time discussions about Fastlane activities. The members allegedly held weekly meetings on Sunday nights to discuss such matters as inviting new members and finding new sources of pirated software. Access to SDFM and other warez sites was carefully limited to authorized users entering through known Internet Protocol addresses with pre-established IDs and passwords. To conceal their activities, the defendants used screen names instead of true names and port bouncers to disguise the true Internet Protocol addresses of their computers and the computers that hosted the warez sites.
The indictment alleges that the defendants used this site to upload and download copyrighted software between Jan. 7 and Sept. 20, 2000.
This just proves my point, however. Obviously, IRC logs are pretty much worthless for prosecution - otherwise, the undercover assignment wouldn't have lasted over nine months.Originally posted by Delance
Part of the government's case to prove the conspiracy was based on IRC activity. One of the guys indicted, who claimed he wasn't even part of "fastlane", pledge guilty on conspiracy charges. He talked about the case on www.isonews.com, before the US government apprehended the domain due to an unrelated case. Not the site, so far, since until some time ago they were operating directly from their IP, without a domain.
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
Hehe, so the government ran a Warez server for the better part of the year? Way to police, police-o.
Originally posted by Quarto
This just proves my point, however. Obviously, IRC logs are pretty much worthless for prosecution - otherwise, the undercover assignment wouldn't have lasted over nine months.