Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KeepItSimple who wrote (102763)	5/4/2000 9:33:00 AM
From: John Chen	Respond to of 164684

KIS,re:"productivity gain smaller than expected". Queue/King of internet (the new e-con) need to get off their asses and hyped better. Looks like these guys/gals are sitting on the new-found cash and not working any more. Or AG is not pumping enough liquidity to the market. This GOV is getting very nasty, not coorporating with the new economy. Messing up MSFT and the big boys.

To: KeepItSimple who wrote (102763)	5/5/2000 11:18:00 AM
From: gladman	Respond to of 164684

kis, did you work at Intel? >>May 5, 2000 FBI Probe of Alleged Software Piracy Via Internet Brings Arrest of 17 People By LEE GOMES Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Federal investigators have arrested 17 people, five of them former or present employees of Intel Corp., in connection with an investigation of a group accused of sharing pirated computer software over the Web. Those arrested were members of a loose-knit ring called Pirates With Attitudes, and ran what the U.S. district attorney in Chicago said was one of the Internet's oldest "warez" sites, which are devoted to pirated software. The indictments suggest that federal law-enforcement authorities are beginning to take very seriously an activity that is one of the most widespread on the Internet. Sites containing warez -- the term is a hacker variation on the wares sold in stores by merchants -- are ubiquitous on the Web. A search in any leading search engine will produce links for hundreds of different warez sites, though many of them will have been closed down; there is even a www.warez.com. Many of the same programs available on the site raided by federal authorities are increasingly being made available through "above-ground" software programs such as Napster and Gnutella. Most warez sites are run as hobbies; their users, often teenage boys, tend to consider downloading pirated software to be something of a rite of passage. Federal officials described Thursday's indictments as an example of a stepped-up interest in computer crime. "This is the most significant investigation of copyright infringement involving the use of the Internet conducted to date by the FBI," said Kathleen McChesney, of the Chicago Federal Bureau of Investigation office. "It demonstrates the FBI's ability to successfully investigate very sophisticated online criminal activity." The indictments didn't allege that any of the people involved with Pirates With Attitudes were trying to make any money with their activities. Nonetheless, the potential penalties are stiff indeed: five years in prison, and a $250,000 fine. The indictments were handed up by a federal grand jury in Chicago, and are the second stage of an investigation first disclosed in February when Robin Rothberg, of North Chelmsford, Mass., was indicted for his alleged role in the piracy group. Federal authorities said the group stored their programs on a computer at a university in Quebec; some 5,000 programs were said to be available, including most popular personal-computer software. Some of the Intel employees were said to have donated a PC in exchange for access to the files. The site had the code name "Sentinel," and was said to have been in operation for five years before being shut down earlier this year. An Intel spokesman said four of the five no longer work for the company, but wouldn't comment on why they were let go, or why one of the five was allowed to remain at Intel. The five were described as having low-level engineering jobs. Antipiracy trade groups cheered the news. The indictments "should send a powerful message to those who think they can violate intellectual-property rights with impunity on the Internet," said Robert M. Kruger of the Business Software Alliance. "This should be a wake-up call that pirating software online has serious consequences."