Operation Site Down Fallout–19 RISCISO Participants Indicted for Warez Trading

February 7, 2006 · by · in Copyright

By Eric Goldman

I previously blogged on Operation Site Down, one of the largest warez busts ever. In “Operation Jolly Roger,” a component of the larger Operation Site Down, a cooperating witness gave the FBI access to the RISCISO warez trading group. RISCISO was a major warez group that allegedly moved 19 terabytes of infringing software, movies and games.

On February 1, the DOJ announced indictments of 19 RISCOISO participants. The profile of these 19 individuals is very typical for warez traders: they are older (the youngest indicted was 24 and the oldest 57; not the stereotyped teenage boys), mostly male, and mostly well-educated professionals (including a IT director for a law firm). Two defendants live outside the US, and the DOJ has already moved to get the purported leader, Sean Patrick O’Toole, extradited from Australia.

For better or worse, we know how most (or all) of these indictments will turn out–a plea agreement and a felony conviction. And, for some, jail time.

See my SSRN page for my academic articles about warez trading.