Internet Book Piracy

by Gini Graham Scott

  The NW3C’s vision is to be “the national and international leader in the prevention, investigation and prosecution of economic and high-tech crimes,” and its mission is to “provide training, investigative support and research to agencies and entities” involved in these activities (http://www.nw3c.org/about). To this end, the Center has over two dozen partners, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), FBI, Regional Organized Crime Information Center (ROCIC), National Sheriff’s Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Association of Attorney Generals, Virginia State Police, National Economic Security Group, and the aforementioned Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The list goes on and on (http://www.nw3c.org/about/key-partnerships).

  The IC3, in cooperation with the NW3C, invites anyone victimized by Internet crime to report this to them, so they can notify the appropriate law enforcement agencies of this complaint. Whenever a victim files a report, it goes into the extensive IC3 database. The Center’s analysts then review and analyze individual complaint data by identifying and grouping the complaints with similar information. Next, the IC3 collates and refers these complaints to the appropriate state, local, federal, tribal, and international law enforcement agencies (http://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreport/2012_IC3Report.pdf).

  In order to collate and refer the information, the IC3’s analysts use automated matching systems to identify the links and commonalities between the complaints it receives. Then, the analysts organize the complaints into referral groups by type, such as impersonation email scams, intimidation/extortion scams, using computer scareware to extort money from Internet users, and other crimes (http://www.nw3c.org/news/press-releases/article/2013/05/14/ic3-2012-internet-crime-report-released).

  Since the IC3 offers remote access capability, this data is available to law enforcement anywhere, and these agencies can use that data to combine the number and types of victims and their losses in their area of jurisdiction and better develop their cases (http://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreport/2012_IC3Report.pdf). Or even if the IC3 doesn’t immediately turn all of its complaints into referrals, these complaints contribute to identifying trends and building statistical reports, which are posted on the Center’s website (www.ic3.gov) as a public service to educate the general public on the continually changing nature of cyber scams and crimes. For example, in April 2014, the National White Collar Crime Center joined forces with Symantec to enable cybercrime victims, including Internet piracy, to use its VOICE website (www.victimvoice.org) to report Internet-related crimes. Then this site provides information and resources not only to help victims know what to do after experiencing online crime, but also to help prevent victimization of such crimes in the future.184 The website enables victims to easily file a complaint, which takes them directly to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

  Primarily the complaints are about different types of scams, such as marketing scams, loan scams, fraudulent tech support scams, and wire fraud.185 However, ebook or any other kind of piracy is not listed as a separate category; this may be due to law enforcement’s focus on Internet scams and fraud, or to the public’s general lack of awareness of the problem and where victims can go for help. Presumably, with a growing awareness of the pervasiveness of piracy and increasing litigation and private efforts to reduce it, more and more individuals will report these crimes to the National White Collar Crime Center or Internet Crime Complaint Center, as well as to other organizations that stand ready to combat piracy and other online intellectual property crimes, such as the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center and the Bureau of Justice’s Intellectual Property Theft Enforcement Program.

  It may seem like an alphabet soup of agencies are involved. But it would seem that multiple efforts are needed, since there are millions of victims and billions of dollars in losses at the hands of pirates stealing intellectual property all over the globe.

  CHAPTER 23

  How the Bureau of Justice Assistance Is Combatting Piracy

  BESIDES THE FBI, NATIONAL WHITE Collar Crime Center, and Internet Complaint Center, another agency taking on the online pirates is the Bureau of Justice’s Intellectual Property Theft Enforcement Program. While virtually all of the cases involving investigations, arrests, convictions, and jail sentences have involved the piracy of films, software, and counterfeited DVDs with films and software on them, they could pave the way for similar investigations and arrests in book piracy cases.

  Along with many other programs, including corrections, counter-terrorism, crime prevention, justice information sharing, and mental health and substance abuse programs (https://www.bja.gov/topic.aspx), the Bureau manages the Intellectual Property Theft Enforcement Program, in coordination with the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and its Task Force on Intellectual Property. Through working with these different units, the IP Theft Enforcement Program is designed to help state and local criminal justice systems better enforce intellectual property laws through increased prosecution, prevention, training, and technical assistance. Among other things, the program provides expenses for criminal enforcement operation, and educates the public and law enforcement professionals about IP crimes in order to prevent, deter, and identify criminal violations of IP laws. In addition, the IP Theft Program establishes task forces to conduct investigations, analyze evidence, and prosecute crimes, and it acquires equipment to conduct investigations and analyze evidence (https://www.bja.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?Program_ID=64).

  The Bureau of Justice Assistance also has established a Grant Program, which helps local jurisdictions around the United States better detect and respond to intellectual property crimes in their communities. It has launched a national training program to increase knowledge and awareness about the impact and cost of IP theft. In its November 2012 report posted on its website, the BJA describes the grantees and the amounts from 2009 through June 2012. Commonly, the grants were for about $200,000, and among the major grantees were the City of Los Angeles, the LA County Sheriff’s Department (for three years), the New York City Criminal Justice Coordinator’s Office, the New York County District Attorney’s Office, New York City, and the New York City Police Department, several New York counties, including the Bronx County District Attorney (three years) and Suffolk County. Many grantees were also located in several California counties, including Fresno (two years), Sacramento (two years), San Francisco, and Marin. A sprinkling of grants also went to law enforcement offices in a few other states, most notably: North Carolina, Virginia, Oregon, and Texas (https://www.bja.gov/Publications/IPEP_PPR_2012Q3.pdf).

  Still another program supported by the IP Theft Enforcement Program is the World Intellectual Property Day, held every April 26, since 1970 (http://www.wipo.int/ip-outreach/en/ipday/2013). The purpose of the event is for people around the world to discuss “the role of intellectual property in encouraging creativity and innovation.”

  A key reason the BJA is involved in these many IP protection programs is because the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has made protecting intellectual property “a major law enforcement priority.” As the BJA notes in its description of the IP Theft Program, “the DOJ recognizes that innovation is a central pillar of our nation’s economy and crucial to enabling American businesses to remain competitive in a global market. Our entrepreneurs require protection from criminals here and abroad who would copy their creations with less expensive and dangerous imitations.” While this concern with protection extends broadly to cover all kinds of pirated goods and services, it includes book piracy, too (https://www.bja.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?Program_ID=64).

  Another motivator for acting forcefully to stop piracy is that research has shown that “intellectual property crimes are closely related to and support other crimes, including violent crime.” For example, a Rand Corporation report found that counterfeiting was widely used to generate cash for a number of criminal organizations, while criminal groups were m
oving to control the entire supply chain for DVD film piracy. This ranged from manufacture to distribution to street sales, thereby creating a lucrative black market producing wealth and influence throughout the world. Thus, cutting down on such piracy could help to limit the ability of these criminal gangs from engaging in other types of crimes. Then, too, the DOJ considers IP a central component of the US economy, especially since the United States is a global leader in creating intellectual property, contributing to US competitiveness and prosperity. Thus, aggressively enforcing the existing IP laws is seen as being in the interests of American economic prosperity, job creation, and economic recovery (https://www.bja.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?Program_ID=64).

  Though these programs have approached the crackdown on IP theft broadly, they are one more avenue for protecting writers and publishers from piracy. For example, just like film piracy has spawned a huge black market industry, so might books, as a result of pirates expanding the book piracy sites already in place to create a kind of black market Amazon. For now, most writers and book publishers are using takedown notices based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to ask sites to take down their pirated material, with some success. The problem is that it is hard to locate all of the infringing sites, and these requests are often ignored or the books are soon replaced. But books are increasingly endangered, especially ebooks, since they can readily be accessed online, downloaded, or distributed on DVDs replacing hard copies. So the financial incentive is there to create even larger and more lucrative pirated book empires.

  But now that government programs, such as the BJA’s IP Theft Enforcement Program, are in place to assist local law enforcement and other agencies target book and other IP pirates, writers and publishers need to increasingly register their complaints with these agencies to raise awareness of the issue. In addition, the writers and publishers might organize consortiums to urge the government agencies to take action, much as the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry of America Association, which worked with the FBI on earlier piracy cases. Then, with increased complaints and organized pressure, these agencies might more actively pursue the book pirates, too.

  CHAPTER 24

  How Still Other Agencies Are Going After the Pirates

  STILL OTHER ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED IN the piracy battle include the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), a collaborative effort of fifteen US government agencies and two international governments. Even the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is involved in the effort to go after pirates, since the IPR Center is managed by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

  Based in Virginia, IPR acts primarily as a task force to assist other agencies that are members of the team. As IPR describes its efforts: “As a task force, the IPR Center uses the expertise of its member agencies to share information, develop initiatives, coordinate enforcement actions, and conduct investigations related to IP thefts” in order to “protect the public’s health and safety, the US economy, and the nation’s war fighters” (www.iprcenter.gov).

  Especially relevant for book piracy is IPR’s Operation in Our Sites program, which targets websites that distribute pirated and counterfeit items over the Internet, including pirated movies, TV shows, music, software, and other merchandise, including books. Once identified, the IPR Center and its partner agencies aggressively pursue the pirates, whether they operate out of a storefront or on the web, since they are violating federal criminal laws. Should the IPR Center receive credible information about an IP violation and an investigation determines there has been criminal wrongdoing, the IPR Center works with the US Department of Justice “to prosecute, convict, and punish individuals as well as seize website domain names, profits, and other property from IP thieves” (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/operation-in-our-sites/view). It uses a three-pronged approach of “interdiction, investigation, and outreach and training to combat IP theft” (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/intellectual-property-right-theft-enforcement-teams/view).

  Among other activities, its investigations are used to develop the evidence necessary to obtain seizure warrants from federal judges. Then, based on this warrant, the website domain names are seized, and anyone going to the site will see a seizure notice, which explains that the site has been seized because it has been in violation of federal IP law (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/operation-in-our-sites/view).

  The reach of the IPR Center is extensive. It consists of seventeen key US and international agencies involved in intellectual property theft enforcement. The IPR Center additionally works closely with a number of key officials, agencies, and departments, including the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, DOJ’s Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section, and US Attorney’s offices around the country (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/operation-in-our-sites/view).

  For its training program, the IPR Center has created IP Theft Enforcement Teams (IPTETs) led by the Homeland Security Investigation unit, which provides training to combat IP theft. In addition, the IPR Center works with the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition’s Foundation, the National Association of Attorneys General, and the National White Collar Crime Center to support its training efforts. The Center also provides training for the IPTETs and acts as a resource to support the IPTETs’ investigations. These trainings are designed to assist state and local officers, detectives, prosecutors, and their federal partners to inform them about the IPR Center, federal and state IP laws, investigative techniques and tools, and product identification (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/intellectual-property-right-theft-enforcement-teams/view).

  To conduct its investigations, the IPR Center has twenty-six HSI Special Agent in Charge (SAC) offices around the country that use the best practices, as identified by the IPR Center, partner agencies, and private industry to investigate thefts, working with federal, state, and local law enforcements partners in each area (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/intellectual-property-right-theft-enforcement-teams/view).

  As for outreach and training, the Center’s Outreach and Training Unit has partnerships with public and private sectors to combat IP theft through its Operation Joint Venture initiative. To this end, it contacts the copyright and other rights holders, manufacturers, importers, and others in the public to increase their awareness of IP theft and other trade violations, and it acts as a point of contact for investigative leads. Thus, writers and publishers might contact this unit to advise them about copyright violations (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/outreach-and-training/view).

  The IPR Center also participates in international training programs by working closely with its partners’ international attaché networks and local US embassies, as well as with international organizations such as the World Customs Organization and INTERPOL. Plus, it hosts visits by international law enforcement and customs officers, who are participating in various International Visitor Programs, to increase cooperation, skill sets, and relationships to help to deal with IP theft overseas (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/outreach-and-training/view).

  Along with the organizations already mentioned, the IPR Center’s task force includes the following partners, who share their resources and skills so the IPR can better provide a comprehensive response to IP theft. These include:

  • Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

  • US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

  • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

  • Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

  • US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS)

  • Department of Commerce International Criminal Investigative Service

  • US Army Investigative Command – Major Procurement Fraud Unit

  • General Services Administration – Office of Inspector General (GSAIG)

  • Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)

  •
Defense Logistics Agency – Office of Inspector General (DLA)

  • INTERPOL

  • Royal Canadian Mounted Police

  • Government of Mexico Tax Administration Service

  • Department of Justice (DOJ) Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section

  (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/national-intellectual-property-rights-ipr-coordination-center-ipr-investigations).

  Within the IPR Center, its Field Support Unit takes the lead in coordinating multijurisdictional, large-scale field investigations. Among other things, the Center coordinates the sharing of leads to avoid investigative overlap, mounts some undercover operations to investigate the sale and distribution of counterfeit and substandard products over the Internet, and works closely with the DOJ to prosecute violators both domestically and internationally (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/national-intellectual-property-rights-ipr-coordination-center-ipr-investigations).

  Additionally, since the FBI’s IP headquarters are housed at the IPR Center, the Field Support Unit oversees the FBI’s IPR field agents. The IPR Center also manages and supports the ICE commercial fraud program, since criminals involved in IPR violations are often involved in other types of commercial fraud violations (http://www.iprcenter.gov/reports/fact-sheets/national-intellectual-property-rights-ipr-coordination-center-ipr-investigations).

  These coordinated efforts have, in turn, led to some major accomplishments in the battle against IP piracy. Though the IPR Center’s efforts don’t yet focus on book piracy, its actions, along with these other agencies, set the stage for identifying, investigating, and going after the book pirates. These agencies just need more leads of book pirates and support from writers and publishers to make it another priority.