SPARKS: mehrere FTP-Sites in ganz Europa hochgenommen

Kommentare zu folgendem Beitrag: SPARKS: mehrere FTP-Sites in ganz Europa hochgenommen

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und ich dachte die tage der scenebusts wären längst vorüber╮(╯_╰)╭
gut, ich kann mich in meiner aufregung beherrschen solange es nicht glimmer, ifpd, gmb, sharphd, universum, unreliable, vexhd etc. an den kragen geht.
trotzdem dürfte ein gerichtsverfahren mit all seinen folgen spannend werden. vielleicht rutscht ja die szene noch weiter in den untergrund.

aber cheffe die haben doch nie im leben german filme gehabt SPARKS so weit ich weis haben pso und alle anderen die line drauf gemacht und fertig :wink:

SPARKS hat nur EN Retail gebracht

Stimmt haben nur EN gebracht dürfte aber dennoch erstmal ein Loch hinterlassen.

keine deutschen Releases?

Onward: Keine halben Sachen
Maleficent: Mächte der Finsternis
Everest - Ein Yeti will hoch hinaus

etc.pp. aber gut, auch xrel hat sich schon mal geirrt.

Hier sind die PDF-Dokumente einiger Anklagen.

Keine deutschen Releases!
Siehe https://predb.me/?search=group%3ASPARKS+german

Acting U.S. Attorney Announces Federal Charges And International Operation To Dismantle Online Piracy Group

The Sparks Group is Alleged to Have Caused Tens of Millions of Dollars in Losses to Film Production Studios

Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), and Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Office of the United States Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), announced today the unsealing of indictments charging UMAR AHMAD a/k/a “Artist,” GEORGE BRIDI, and JONATAN CORREA, a/k/a “Raid,” with copyright infringement, and as to BRIDI, wire fraud, for their involvement in the Sparks Group, an international piracy group involved in illegally distributing movies and television shows on the Internet. BRIDI, a citizen of the United Kingdom, was arrested on Sunday in Cyprus on an INTERPOL Red Notice based on the U.S. criminal charges. The United States will seek BRIDI’s extradition to stand trial in the United States. CORREA was arrested yesterday in Olathe, Kansas, where he will be presented in federal court. AHMAD, a citizen of Norway, remains at large. The case is assigned to United States District Judge Richard M. Berman.

In coordination with law enforcement authorities in 18 other countries and supported by Eurojust and Europol, dozens of servers controlled by the Sparks Group were taken offline today around the world, including in North America, Europe, and Asia. The Sparks Group utilized these servers to illegally store and disseminate copyrighted content to members around the globe.

Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, the defendants were members of an international video piracy ring that was sophisticated and widespread. The group allegedly circumvented copyright protections on nearly every movie released by major production studios, as well as television shows, and distributed them by way of a worldwide network of servers. Thanks to the efforts of HSI, the Postal Inspection Service, Eurojust, Europol, and our law enforcement partners in 18 countries on three continents, key members of this group are in custody, and the servers that were the pipeline for wholesale theft of intellectual property are now out of service.”

HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Fitzhugh said: “As alleged, Sparks Group members reproduced and disseminated hundreds of movies and television shows prior to their retail release date, including nearly every movie released by major production studios, causing millions of dollars in losses to the film and television industry. This investigation shows – in high definition – that despite the online platform and international nature of this scheme, we are committed to stop those who use the cyber world for illicit gain. HSI New York’s El Dorado Task Force, in collaboration with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, leveraged their global network of law enforcement partners to shut down this criminal organization’s cyber piracy network and arrest those allegedly responsible.”

USPIS Inspector-in-Charge Philip R. Bartlett said: “Copyright criminals have come a long way from bootlegging movies in local theaters and selling inferior quality videos and DVD’s on the streets of New York City for $5.00. The movies and TV shows allegedly stolen by these defendants not only represent a body of work ripped off from those who spent years developing their craft and working their way to stardom, but deprives the studios and actors of the fruits of their labor.”

Ladislav Hamran, President of Eurojust, said: “This case is an excellent example of what can be achieved if we work together across borders and continents. Thanks to the long-standing partnership between the U.S. and the European authorities, we managed to deal a significant blow to online piracy. My sincere congratulations go out to all countries involved in yesterday’s joint action day.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictments[[1]] unsealed yesterday in Manhattan federal court:

Between 2011 and the present, UMAR AHMAD a/k/a “Artist,” GEORGE BRIDI, JONATAN CORREA, a/k/a “Raid,” and others known and unknown were members of the Sparks Group, a criminal organization that disseminated on the Internet movies and television shows prior to their retail release date, including nearly every movie released by major production studios, after compromising the content’s copyright protections.

In furtherance of its scheme, the Sparks Group fraudulently obtained copyrighted DVDs and Blu-Ray discs from wholesale distributors in advance of their retail release date by, among other things, making various misrepresentations to the wholesale distributors concerning the reasons that they were obtaining the discs prior to the retail release date.

Sparks Group members then used computers with specialized software to compromise the copyright protections on the discs, a process referred to as “cracking” or “ripping,” and to reproduce and encode the content in a format that could be easily copied and disseminated over the Internet. They thereafter uploaded copies of the copyrighted content onto servers controlled by the Sparks Group, where other members further reproduced and disseminated the content on streaming websites, peer-to-peer networks, torrent networks, and other servers accessible to the public. The Sparks Group identified its reproductions by encoding the filenames of reproduced copyrighted content with distinctive tags, and also uploaded photographs of the discs in their original packaging to demonstrate that the reproduced content originated from authentic DVDs and Blu-Ray discs.

AHMAD and BRIDI arranged for discs to be picked up, mailed, or delivered from distributors located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey to other members of the Sparks Group, including CORREA, prior to their official release date. AHMAD, BRIDI, and CORREA then reproduced, and aided and abetted the reproduction of, these discs by using computer software that circumvented copyright protections on the discs and reproducing the copyrighted content for further distribution on the Internet.

The Sparks Group has caused tens of millions of dollars in losses to film production studios.


AHMAD, 39, BRIDI, 50, and CORREA, 36, are each charged with copyright infringement conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. BRIDI is also charged with wire fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding work of HSI and USPIS. She also thanked Europol and Eurojust as well as law enforcement authorities in the following countries for their assistance in the investigation: Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew K. Chan, Mollie Bracewell, and Christy Slavik are in charge of the prosecution. The U.S. Department Justice’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) of the Department’s Criminal Division provided significant and ongoing assistance with facilitating the execution of dozens of mutual legal assistance requests in 18 different countries necessary for taking down servers and gathering evidence. OIA also provided critical support in working with Eurojust and Europol in planning the coordinated operation yesterday.

The charges contained in the Indictments are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

KLICK DVD

Onward.2020.720p.BluRay.x264-SPARKS

Release.Date: 11.05.2020
Video…: X264 2845kbps
Source…: 23441kbps
Frame.Rate…: 23.976
Resolution…: 1280x536
Audio…: AC3 640kbps 6ch
: AAC Commentary 2ch
Language…: English
Length…: 1h 42mn
Source…: Retail BluRay
Size…: 2714MB
Subtitles…: English SDH, English, English Com, French, Spanish

Die haben nie German Tonspuren gehabt. Immer Eng. Aber mich würde interessieren was bei KTR und co los ist. Da kommt seid gestern nix mehr.

KTR weg bedeutet grob über den Daumen gerechnet 50% weniger Porno-Releases.
Was ein schwarzer Tag für die Scene. :rofl:

One of the biggest online piracy groups in the world taken down

On 25 August, an alleged criminal network of copyright infringing hackers, mainly responsible for pirating movies and hosting illegal digital content worldwide was dismantled in a coordinated action between US authorities and their counterparts in 18 countries around the world, with Europol and Eurojust support. Sixty servers were taken down in North America, Europe and Asia and several of the main suspects were arrested.

Streamed prior to release

The Sparks Group obtained DVDs and Blu-ray discs of unreleased content and compromised the copyright protections on the discs to reproduce and upload the content publically to online servers. It is believed that the piracy group, under investigation since September 2016, had successfully reproduced and disseminated hundreds of movies and TV programmes prior to their retail release date, including nearly every movie released by major production studios in the US. The Sparks Group has caused tens of millions of US dollars in losses to film production studios, mainly to the US movie, television, and supporting industries, from the copyright infringement.

False claims for free films

To get ahead, members of the Sparks Group made several material misrepresentations and omissions to wholesale distributors. On many occasions, they claimed to be DVD and Blu-ray discs retailers and promised not to sell the content prior to the retail release date. Once they received the products, the members of the group used special software to crack the copyright protections to then reproduce and encode the content in high-definition. The content was then disseminated and reproduced on streaming platforms, peer-to-peer and torrent networks from their platforms.

The servers were located around the world in Canada, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. These were taken down in yesterday’s action and in the days preceding it, with the help of national authorities from these countries. Other measures were also taken in Italy, Romania and Canada. One of the members of the alleged criminal network was arrested over the weekend in Cyprus and another suspect was arrested yesterday in the US.

International cooperation

This successful operation was possible thanks to the extensive international cooperation facilitated by Europol and Eurojust between law enforcement and judicial authorities from the countries involved. Europol enhanced the exchange of information through the participating countries and coordinated the action day with Eurojust which hosted yesterday’s a coordination centre, ensuring real-time coordination in the joint action of the national authorities in all the countries. An operational meeting at Europol and a coordination meeting at Eurojust were organised prior to the joint action day, facilitating the exchange of information between law enforcement and judicial authorities and setting a joint strategy between all the parties involved. Europol provided analytical support during the investigation and supported the information exchange between the involved police authorities via the SIENA secure communication system.

klick mich

Ich zitiere mal Baldrian:
Hoodlum hats erwischt, weil die zu SPARKS gehören. KTR ebenso.

New major crackdown on one of the biggest online piracy groups in the world: international coordination led by Eurojust

Die Pressemitteilung von Eurojust ist wirklich krass, die schaue ich mir morgen früh in Ruhe an.

Bin mir ziemlich sicher das dort in absehbarer Zeit noch ein Nachbeben kommt wenn die erstmal die ganzen Serverlogs ausgewertet haben und dank den AT-Scripts die IPs/Adressen von sehr vielen anderen FTP-Sites haben die noch on oder nicht andersweitig schon umgezogen sind.

zur Abwechslung einfach mal kaufen was man möchte und nicht klauen.
niemand fände es glaube ich toll, wenn jemand seine Arbeit klaut und sich daran bereichert.
heute kann man alles für kleines Geld streamen oder ein Abo abschließen.
was zu meiner „E-Mule“ Zeit nicht möglich war.
mir persönlich ist es zwar Latte wenn jemand meint, alles im Web ist für Umme.
aber man soll sich nachher nur nicht beschweren, wenn man sich erwischen lässt.
die Jungs dürfen sich auf jeden Fall warm anziehen.

Kleines Geld bei zig Anbietern ja sicher. Hab alleine 5 Serien wo jede woanders läuft.
5x 7,99-9,99€ im Monat ja ist wirklich kleines Geld. Der Rest noch nicht eingerechnet wie Dokus oder Animes…

Zahl ich doch gerne jeden Monat 100€ locker aus der Portokasse. Nicht!
Sry wenn ich die Kommentare kaufen statt klauen lese ist das ein sehr schwaches Argument.

warte ich bin da und übergebe mich gleich mit :joy:

Frag mich gerade ob da auch die Erkenntnisse die im Laufe der Zeit aus der Trockenlegung von S.O. letztes Jahr gewonnen wurden eine Rolle gespielt haben?

Was man sonst so liest bei Torrentfreak:

„they had some issue with chinese client , they handover their details to us govt“

„The flow-on is big. Most groups have stopped releasing. Hoping for a return to normal service in about a week“

Würde mal sagen die die nicht gebusted wurden haben erstmal selbst die Köpfe eingezogen und beschäftigen sich gerade sicher nicht mit Filme rippen und uploaden… Das heißt wie dezimiert Sparks und die Partnergruppen sind wird sich wohl erst nach ner Weile zeigen.

Aha… Damit ich mir bei Netflix dann herrlich 4k mit 25 Mbits oder bedeutend weniger rein ziehen kann? Nein danke. Leider gehört meine Gerätekette nicht zu den „auserwählten“ und ist durchgängig HDCP 2.2 fähig. Daher hab ich leider keine andere Wahl, als mich für die Raubmordkopie zu entscheiden. Wenn die Standards für 4k BDs weniger proprietär wäre, könnte ich vielleicht mal drüber nachdenken einen Film auch zu erwerben.

Man sollte sich immer die Frage stellen, ob jemand, der eine Raubmordkopie runterläd, wirklich ein Kunde des Produkts gewesen wäre.