Tags: Internet | p2p | RIAA

TorrentFreak

A major online warez release group has been severely disrupted after a police and music industry investigation. A contender for the most prolific in its field, the group has suffered arrests, with the latest coming yesterday after police and the BPI conducted an early morning raid.

While much attention is currently focused on illicit file-sharing carried out by the UK public and the closing down of sites such as OiNK, TV Links and AradiTracker, the groups at the top of the so-called ‘piracy pyramid’ receive relatively little attention. These groups are the source of much of the music on file-sharing networks, particularly when it comes to pre-release material - sometimes identifiable by ‘Advance’ or ‘Promo’ tags in the release name.

Now, according to information leaked to TorrentFreak, one of the most prolific music release groups around has suffered a significant setback after police quietly started arresting members during the last month. The latest arrest came yesterday, as police and BPI investigators conducted an early morning raid on a senior member of the group.

Scene Release Group Busted

At this stage we cannot publish the group’s name but we believe that they are responsible for more than 3,000 single and album releases. The group was relatively young and had a membership of less than ten individuals, although they aren’t all based in the UK.

The first arrest happened mid-May and the most recent yesterday, conducted in a similar fashion to earlier raids against those involved in the TV Links and AradiTracker cases.

In early morning raids, officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Hi-Tech Crime Unit backed up by senior investigators from the BPI took the suspects by surprise. Sources close to the investigation told TorrentFreak that as many as 15 officers conducted searches on the target addresses, arresting suspects and taking them away for questioning.

Read More At TorrentFreak

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