08 September 2010 | Author: J. Morton News Editor

Eurocops crack down on pirate sites in latest raids

Police descended on 48 separate sites in European countries yesterday in an ongoing global effort to stymie internet piracy.

Sweden was the site of arguably the highest-profile raids, as flatfoots raided the offices of PRQ, which they believed to host perennial whistle-blowers WikiLeaks and embattled torrent aggregator The Pirate Bay.

The actions follow moves similar in tone in the US earlier this summer, as feds pulled the plug on several streaming video sites which they alleged infringed copyrights of popular films and television programmes.

The Eurostrike was masterminded by the Belgian police, and followed a two-year investigation into various firms and servers.

Authorities raided seven locations in Sweden, with searchers seizing servers and computers believed to host information connecting them to illicit internet activities. The raids also led to the arrest of four individuals in Sweden alone.

File sharing on the internet and the copyright issues associated with the practice have been a hot-button issue in the information age, with many governments worldwide stepping up their vigilance when it comes to cracking down on what they consider criminal activity.

However, some experts and pundits have questioned the wisdom over moves such as raiding sites suspected to be aiding the activities.

"File sharing operations are no longer centralised and any server is only ever going to be a cog in the wheel," said Mark Mulligan, analyst with Forrester Research.

"This is just like customs seizing drugs - it doesn't really affect the level of drug trafficking.

"These things are necessary but the simple fact is that the judiciary and legislative bodies move much slower than technology. There are now dozens of different ways to share music off-network."

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