iSONEWS surrendered to U.S. Government!

February 28, 2003 5:37 AM

iSONEWS surrendered to U.S. Government! Found This on http://www.ps2ownz.com/Posted by: [Septiego] on 02-26-2003 @ 01:03 PM UPDATE: Word now is that the domain has been hacked/hijacked, and that iSONEWS is up in full form by using THIS LINK. More to come as it's available... although now even www.cybercrime.gov is reporting it so it appears legit. Aninformation site www.isonews.com is now the property of the United States government! The domain and Web site were surrendered to U.S. law enforcement pursuant to a federal prosecution and felony plea agreement for conspiracy to violate criminal copyright laws. David M. Rocci, a.k.a “krazy8,” pled guilty in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on December 19, 2002, to conspiring with others to violate federal copyright laws by illegally importing, marketing, and selling modification, or "mod" chips. The site had over 100,000 registered users and claimed to receive over 140,000 hits each day. During a two month period beginning in May 2002, Rocci sold approximately 450 Enigmah Mod Chips (illegally imported from the United Kingdom) throughout the United States and overseas in return for approximately $28,000. Other individuals involved in this conduct face up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $500,000 for each count charged. Rocci will be sentenced on March 7, 2003 before U. S. District Judge James C. Cacheris, and could also receive a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $500,000 fine. To learn more about United States v. Rocci, click HERE. This is simply shocking news indeed and things will never be the same without www.isonews.com around! If you're looking for alternatives to getting release-news, you may want to check out NFORCE.NL or CONSOLE-NEWS.ORG (for PS2/X-Box releases) while they last. R.I.P. iSONEWS
posted by Niahmas (10 comments total)

double post.
posted by quonsar at 5:47 AM on February 28, 2003

Ugly post.
posted by Fat Elvis at 5:48 AM on February 28, 2003

WarezFilter!
posted by angry modem at 5:49 AM on February 28, 2003

my eyes!
posted by Frasermoo at 5:55 AM on February 28, 2003

Sorry its so Ugly. long time since I posted around here.

You cant edit it once you posted?!
posted by Niahmas at 5:55 AM on February 28, 2003

[more inside]
posted by Vidiot at 5:58 AM on February 28, 2003

I've looked at isonews before. I have a question. To me it seemed it distributed information about newly released iso's, not the actual iso itself. Is this true?

If so then how is this different than say releasing a movie about a criminal's exploits (such as Catch Me If You Can). Isn't this a huge kick in the teeth of the first amendment?
posted by substrate at 6:36 AM on February 28, 2003

substrate, the answer to your question can be found in the original thread". the site was given to the government as part of the plea bargain. the government did not act against the site, it prosecuted the owner under DMCA for selling mod chips.
posted by quonsar at 6:46 AM on February 28, 2003

Ahh, thanks a lot quonsar.
posted by substrate at 6:51 AM on February 28, 2003

Thanks for posting the entire article for the hyperlink-challenged.
posted by Blubble at 7:46 AM on February 28, 2003