Downed Pirate Site Resurfaces

A public Web site that had its domain seized by the Department of Justice in February is apparently back online at a new Internet address.

The site, The ISO News, offers discussions about pirated software and video games and a chance to win a modified chip (mod chip) for Microsoft's XBox video game console. Mod chips enable users to use the XBox or other game consoles for ways the vendors do not intend.

The DOJ could not be reached for comment on this week's reappearance of isonews as theisonews.com.

Seized in Deal

Originally known as Isonews.com, the Web site was turned over to the government as part of a plea agreement by David Rocci, also known as "krazy8." He pleaded guilty in December 2002 to conspiring to import, market, and sell modified computer chips for Microsoft's XBox, according to a statement released by the DOJ.

Rocci helped run the site, which provided information about, but not access to, pirated computer software and hardware devices, called "mods." The chips can circumvent copyright protections in game consoles such as XBox and Sony's Playstation 2. They enable users to do such things as play pirated games or run Linux on the console.

Isonews.com also offered online discussion groups for individuals interested in the "mod" scene.

Following the seizure, visitors to the www.ISONews.com domain were instead greeted by a low-tech Web page displaying the logos of both the DOJ and the U.S. Customs Service.

While the government took control of the isonews.com domain, however, it appears that the content hosted at that domain remained out of the government's hands.

Only days after the seizure, a copy of the site appeared at a different domain, www.stolemy.com.

Different Data

The newest reappearance of the site, which uses a domain name close to the original isonews.com domain, features "the same news and information, but on faster servers," according to an e-mail message announcing the launch that was sent by the site's managers.

Still, no downloads of pirated games or software appear available at the new site.

Other changes are evident, as well.

Discussion list monitors warn users not to post messages requesting copies of pirated products. A review of recent posts to discussion lists finds them replete with rumors of further DOJ busts of "mod" sites and groups, as well as a question and answer session with someone convicted by the government of copyright infringement.

"I used to be as deep in the scene as possible until that happened. I would like to warn you people who can be rather ignorant (as I was) to what is really going on around you as you 'happily trade warez," wrote the author, who gave his name as "Glendon."

Warez is a generic term that describes commercial software that has been stripped of its copyright protection and made available online for downloading and duplication.

Perhaps in an effort to shield the site's managers from meeting Rocci's fate, the new site is registered to Domains By Proxy of Scottsdale, Arizona, a company that acts as an intermediary between those wishing to host a Web site and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which makes public the registration information for all domain owners.