By Sylvia Carr, 15 December 2004 13:10
NEWS File-sharing sites in Europe have been targeted by law enforcement as Hollywood pledges to crack down on film piracy.
Finnish police have raided the homes of individuals suspected of running a popular BitTorrent download site and confiscated PCs and servers, according to Finnish newspaper reports and National Bureau of Investigation (Keskusrikospoliisi).
The site, thought to be Finreactor, was run by four central people, with a further 30 volunteers involved. 10,000 people are believed to have downloaded over 6,000 pieces of copyrighted material - including films, music and games - using the BitTorrent files the site provides links to. The materials are said to be worth millions of euros.
Police say the investigation is ongoing and could take several months.
If convicted, site operators face up to two years in jail and are liable for damage claims from content owners.
Two file-sharing eDonkey sites - ShareConnector and Releases4U - were also raided in the Netherlands, according to Dutch news reports.
In the US, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has launched a legal campaign against the BitTorrent and eDonkey file-sharing networks which are often used for transferring films. The MPAA is reportedly working with law enforcement in both the US and Europe to track down the individuals operating these networks.
CNET News.com's John Borland contributed to this report.
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