The largest French website for direct download of content protected by copyright, was closed Monday by the police. He reappeared on Tuesday. Five people are in custody.
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Read also : The website Download Area closed by the national gendarmerie
Download Area, what is it ?
This site, which allows you to download movies, series, music, games, video and other content protected by copyright, is considered the most important of its kind in France. It lists the links to download directly the content. The website accounts for on average 3.7 million connections per month, and 11,000 downloads per day, according to the police of andorra. This is the 11e most visited site in France, according to the ranking Alexa. The Sacem (Society of composers, authors and music publishers of canada) estimates that it provides over 2 million direct download links.
How has the site been closed ?
The Sacem has filed a complaint against the site in 2014, joined in stride by the ALPA (Association for the fight against piracy of audiovisual). The survey was conducted by the centre for the fight against crime-digital (C3N) of the national gendarmerie and the research section of Toulouse. Servers were seized in Germany and in Iceland, according to the Sacem.
Five people in total were in custody Tuesday night, announced the public prosecutor of Toulouse, to Agence France-Presse. Four of them were arrested in France and were under the regime of custody in Toulouse, while the last was arrested in Andorra in the framework of a procedure of international arrest warrant, said the prosecutor. While the investigation continues, 431, 000 euros assets – current accounts, life insurance, two Jaguar, the liquid – were seized.
Why is the site suddenly reappeared on Tuesday ?
It’s like the eternal game of cat and mouse between the authorities and the sites providing access to pirated content, which will reappear regularly. The Sacem has announced that two servers had been seized, but the site address has not been assigned. Other administrators, for example, have been able to use it to relaunch the site from a copy. However, if the site works on the front-this is not the case for links that it offers. Tuesday in the early afternoon, it was not possible to download videos or music from Download Area.
What is the profile of the arrested persons ?
Two people in custody would be, according to the Sacem, the administrators of the site. ” The two administrators of the site had left France to settle in Andorra, “ specifies David El Sayegh, secretary general of the Sacem, the World. He stresses that ” large seizures of criminal assets have been carried out : luxury cars, real estate, and savings accounts “. The police of andorra, for its part, said Tuesday that one of the detained was responsible for the technical management of the site.
Download Area earn there money ?
Yes. The site displays a lot of publicity, ” often of a pornographic nature “, says the secretary general of the Sacem. Mr. El Sayegh says that Download Area generates € 1.5 million in turnover each year and has offshore accounts opened in Malta, Cyprus and Belize. in addition, 250 000 euros deposited in different bank accounts in Andorra have been frozen, said the police of the principality. The prejudice to copyright owners is estimated, according to the national gendarmerie and the Sacem, to € 75 million.
That is likely the administrators of the site ?
These individuals may be up to three years in prison and 300 000 euros fine for counterfeit products. If the charges of counterfeiting and organised are successful, they could be sentenced to seven years imprisonment and a 750,000 euro fine.
people who have done downloads, will they be prosecuted ?
It is not impossible that the IP addresses of people who visited this site may be stored on servers seized, which could allow it to be traced back to them. However, if the secretary-general of the Sacem suggests that he has no plans to sue internet users, it is a reminder that ” hold infringing files, it is fencing stolen goods “. the ” But the primary objective is to attack the evil at its source, and the administrators of the hacker sites, which are trade works. “
” How I watch my movies now ? “
many internet users have expressed their disappointment on social networks on Monday evening, after the announcement of the closure of the site. The nature has horror of the vacuum, it is likely that a new site would take its place if it disappears again – Download Area is, of course, not the only site of its kind, even if it is the most important. That said, in recent years, a number of services now provide a legal supply of quality, such as the iconic Netflix, to which many people look at the price of a monthly subscription, or pay for each video viewed.
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