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FBI Raids BBS Users in 7 States for Alleged Software Piracy

Software may have appeared at or before release dates.

By Elinor Mills, PCWorld   

In the raid, code-named Cyber Strike, officials also seized computer hardware, documents, and other records, but made no arrests. The FBI%squots San Francisco-based International Computer Crime Squad began work on the effort eight months ago. Additional searches are anticipated.

The investigation revealed that %dquotpirated software often has appeared on pirate boards within a day of its public release, and in many cases before its official release by the software manufacturer,%dquot according to the FBI.

Software that was allegedly illegally copied and distributed to BBS members included utilities, graphics, netware, operating systems, and games from Sony, Autodesk, Microsoft, Adobe, Intuit, Symantec, Novell, and Nintendo.

The searches were conducted in Atlanta; Columbus, Ohio; Miami, Florida; Oklahoma City; Des Moines; Pittsburgh; San Leandro and Cedar Ridge, California.

In 1995, software piracy resulted in worldwide losses of more than $13 billion and revenue losses of $2.9 billion in the United States alone, according to the Software Publishers Association based in Washington, D.C. The SPA will share with the FBI its database of more than 1600 alleged pirate bulletin boards to aid the investigation, SPA executives said.