Silenced1

Dillon Levenque wrote: Innula Zenovka wrote: For what it's worth, I did a double-take when I read what he'd written, but I think he was simply -- though rather clumsily, maybe -- asking what the FBI can do about complaints about possible criminal offences apparently committed by people based outside the USA (which some of the KingGoon crowd certainly are). Yes, that could have been the intent, I guess. I think the way it was written made it possible to understand the statement in very different ways. As for the what the FBI can do—plenty, it appears. This recent article about the international takedown of a crime ring based in Facebook shows that. Not sure I can see that happening over a Second Life crime but who knows? The FBI does go after the big fish but not ONLY the big. Smaller ones think the FBI does not notice them -- until they find themselves in handcuffs. Surprise! Here is one of the international big fish shut down by the FBI this year: fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/justice-department-charges-leaders-of-megaupload-with-widespread-online-copyright-infringement Here is an excerpt: The indictment alleges that the criminal enterprise is led by Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz, and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, 37, a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand. Dotcom founded Megaupload Limited and is the director and sole shareholder of Vestor Limited, which has been used to hold his ownership interests in the Mega-affiliated sites. In addition, the following alleged members of the Mega conspiracy were charged in the indictment: Finn Batato, 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, who is the chief marketing officer; Julius Bencko, 35, a citizen and resident of Slovakia, who is the graphic designer; Sven Echternach, 39, a citizen and resident of Germany, who is the head of business development; Mathias Ortmann, 40, a citizen of Germany and resident of both Germany and Hong Kong, who is the chief technical officer, co-founder and director; Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and resident of both Turkey and Estonia, who is a software programmer and head of the development software division; Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming and the underlying network structure for the Mega conspiracy websites. Dotcom, Batato, Ortmann, and van der Kolk were arrested today in Auckland, New Zealand, by New Zealand authorities, who executed provisional arrest warrants requested by the United States. Bencko, Echternach, and Nomm remain at large. Today, law enforcement also executed more than 20 search warrants in the United States and eight countries, seized approximately $50 million in assets, and targeted sites where Megaupload has servers in Ashburn, Va., Washington, D.C., the Netherlands, and Canada. In addition, the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., ordered the seizure of 18 domain names associated with the alleged Mega conspiracy.

Syo Emerald wrote: Silenced1 wrote: How is it xenophobic to make the observation that not all content thieves are from the US? Because you didn't said that. You actually named a small group of countries and said basically that these are the ones the content thieves likely come from. I did not. The OP named these countries as examples of non-US jurisdictions but said nothing regarding the liklihood of thieves coming from them.

RebelAngel92 wrote: I am everyone and I am no one. I have be around SL for like 5 years almost now and it really isn't the CopyBot itself that gets me I know it breaks TOS its the illegal sharing of what these griefer groups are doing sharing illegal content on their site, and now their most notorius of placing password loggers in their viewers that people download which they have already deleted a few peoples Second Life iventory. I checked out that link you posted about the FBI, and I have filed a complaint there because one of the avatars the copy off of me while most of it was other peoples creations I actually do hold copyright to one or two textures on my body a couple of tattoos which gives me enough excuse to claim CopyRight. The question however is if the FBI will do a damn thing I filed the complaint on their "Internet Crime Complaint Center" giving as much information as I could and they say they do not have the resources to respond to reports filed so to me it seems like I need the money to go hire a lawyer or something. What I really do know is these griefer goons need to go, yes it is dangerous to expose your main accounts when posting any information about this now because they could target you. The problem I see is that a lot of these goons are from Italy, France, and Romania, Germany, I am not racist I know not everyone from these countries are guilty, but I am saying quite a few of them come from outside the U.S so what is the FBI going to do, and what could I do in the U.S even if I had a lawyer. It seems like Linden Lab would do a better job at protecting people during their registration process, verifying accuracy of information given, and actually protect its residents in SL from account hacks, but as you all know this one persons inventory had over 45k items KingGoon compromised their account not a thing LL could do and they have quit SL. Is there any other steps I can really take that won't cost me a lot of moeny to get these goons jailed in Real Life reguardless of their country like international LAW or something. I am willing to use any excuse I can to get anything done legally including the two assets of mine they stole while it wasn't much I will use it as an excuse. I also filed complaints on their website for illegal piracy of Real World content, Movies, Games, and Music to the RIAA, MOPA, and software companies explaining the piracy I have seen there. On the other hand one of my merchant partners has had their entire store cloned and given away in Second Life & On this site full permissions and we are sick of it, and god knows when they might decide to try to compromise our accounts next for any reason. What will protect us. As I mentioned, and the FBI website states, the FBI has arrangements with foreign law enforcement agencies with whom they cooperate.

How is it xenophobic to make the observation that not all content thieves are from the US?

I notice the only reply to this post disappeared. Maybe because it is too dangeroud to post with anything but an alt? Unless you are a targeted merchant, as I am, you probably have no idea the level of theft, threats, extortion, and griefing we are subect to. Much of the joy of creating in SL is for us destroyed. Successful creators are being targeted for punishment and there is nothing LL will do about it other than to take down a little content here and there. They are not going to delete the accounts of those using the illegal viewers. On the issue of content theft, they are impartial. They have made that very clear. These copybot websites advertise free content in order to 1) advertise their keylogger viewers and 2) get people to register at their keylogger website. Those who register obligingly post stolen content to the website in order to attract more marks for the website owners to exploit. What content creators need to do is file a complaint with the FBI or whatever their country's equivalent is. Of course you must pay taxes on your SL income in order to file a complaint with the FBI, which is likely one reason more have not done so. The FBI has agreements with law enforcement agencies around the world, and they are all very focused on IP Theft at the moment. We have seen before that cyber criminals think they cannot be caught, that they are beyond the reach of the law -- until they find they are not. The penalties for their criminal activity can be very steep indeed. More info about the FBI's role in investigating IP Theft: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/white_collar/ipr/ipr