This Tuesday, June 21, 2022, the Brazilian police forces launched their 4th anti-piracy campaign called “Operation 404”. During this campaign, carried out in collaboration with American and British units, the authorities blocked or removed 226 pirate sites and 461 apps and made several arrests. In addition, four channels that broadcast unauthorized content on the Metaverse have been stopped. A first.
Since Autonomous 2019, the Brazilian authorities have launched an extensive anti-piracy campaign called Operation 404, in reference to the famous HTTP error code. With the help of specialized American and British units, the police force put down more a hundred pirate sites and applications, while several suspects ended up behind bars.
During the following years, several new campaigns took place under the banners “Operation 404.2” and “Operation 404.3”. Each of them resulted in numerous arrests and shutdowns of hundreds of additional pirate sites/apps.
Brazil launches its 4th anti-piracy campaign
And this Tuesday, June 21, 2022, the Brazilian Ministry of Justice announced the launch of the 4th wave of Operation 404. The security forces claim to have blocked or seized the domains of 226 sites, 461 pirate applications and 15 social media accounts. According to the report of the Brazilian authorities, these apps (mainly illegal music streaming services) have generated no less than 10 million downloads.
As in previous editions, the Brazilian police were able to count on the support of the American Department of Justice, the British Intellectual Property Protection Office, and anti-piracy units in London.
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Police forces arrest the first Metaverse hackers
In addition, the Brazilian Ministry of Justice explains that it operated for the first time on the Metaverse. He does not explain how the police proceeded, but the institution assures that four chainswhich were streaming unauthorized content on the Metaverse, have been disabled. 90 videos have also been removed.
“The criminals advertised events on social media and carried out illegal broadcasts. Our fight against piracy is constant. We are increasingly specializing in curbing these practices and identifying new crimes,” adds the coordinator of the Seopi cyber-operations laboratory (note: Integrated Operations Secretariat), Alessandro Barreto.
As a reminder, more and more companies and governments are looking to invest in the Metaverse. This is for example the case of the French State, which is committed to supporting the creation of NFT and the hexagonal Metaverse. Moreover, users are beginning to take hold of this virtual universe, like the first wedding performed on the Metaverse or the first demonstration in front of a Samsung virtual store. In fact, it is not surprising to see pirates also using this still virgin domain to distribute and share illegal content.
Source : Torrent Freak
