FBI Raids Homes and Seizes Bandwidth Pirates' PCs

Saturated Subnet writes "Recently in Toledo, OH FBI agents and a local police task force raided 13 residence and seized 23 computers. Some users of the local cable broadband provider had uncapped their cable modems." It appears to be a smaller ISP, and the article says these 23 people cost them a quarter of a million bucks. Who has time to look at $10,800 worth of pr0n?

Comments

Why is the FBI involoved?

[RealityThreek]

I sure hope the FBI gave those people better information than that story gave us. It sounds to me like they raided peoples' homes, and then didn't charge them with anything.

This wasn't a case where they should have been involved. The cable company could have easily just disabled those users' account.

So much for the focus on homeland security, eh? I'm sure the FBI has much, much better things to follow up on than a couple of high school students ripping off their local isp.

Nothing More than

[SomeOtherGuy]

User A broke the law -- he was caught -- computers seized. The article says that no arrests were made (to bad). I am sure they will have there day in court. A crime is a crime. Just because it involves computers and this is a techy site (thus spurring some "sympathy" posts) doesn't make it any less of a crime. Commit the crime..do the time. What kills me is that people who pirate software or in this case steal bandwidth -- or in years past with people like Mitnick cell phone service -- still know that it is wrong to steal a car or break into someones house...Yet seem ignorant to think that just because they are "experts" in tech -- that they can commit computer or tech related crimes and have them not be crimes. That is like someone on Wallstreet thinking that it is OK for them to steal money because they are "experts" in the field.