The Criminal Investigation Bureau has shut down what was reportedly the nation’s top video piracy Web site, 8maple.ru (楓林網), and arrested its two alleged proprietors in Taoyuan.
Authorities estimated that the site had infringed on NT$1 billion (US$33.2 million) in copyrights owned by the movie and TV industries.
The crackdown was the result of international cooperation with the US’ Motion Picture Association, Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association, and local TV networks initiating probes and providing authorities with evidence of illegal downloads, bureau officials said.
Photo copied by Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
The site allowed users to download movies and TV shows from Taiwan, China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the US and Europe for free, Telecommunications Investigation Corps section head Chen Juei-chin (陳瑞金) told a media briefing.
“The site was in 2014 started in Taiwan by the two suspects, who have the expertise as they are software engineers,” Chen said. “They made about NT$2 million in monthly revenue from business and service company ads on the site.”
At the start, the two men promoted the site as an online commercial advertising service, but soon turned it into a video piracy site, for which they paid a total of NT$300,000 monthly for 25 servers in five countries — the US, Canada, Ukraine, France and Romania — to avoid investigation and prosecution by Taiwanese authorities, Chen added.
A bureau investigation found that monthly downloads from the site reached about 30 million, while the proprietors made about NT$4 million in advertising revenue.
The site was reportedly Taiwan’s top site for downloading movies and TV shows for free, and was also popular with people in China and other countries, becoming a prominent international piracy site.
The two suspects, surnamed Chen (陳), 33, and Chuang (莊), 32, are friends who were in the same software engineering program and graduated at the top of their class, for which they received scholarships for graduate studies at National Taiwan University, bureau officials said.
Investigators found that the two men had purchased two luxury mansions in Taoyuan, allegedly using their illegal profits from running the site to each pay NT$16 million in cash for the properties.
After weeks of surveillance and collecting evidence, the bureau coordinated with Taoyuan prosecutors and local police to conduct the raid at the end of last month, leading to the arrests of the two suspects, as well as the seizure of their properties and NT$60 million in their bank accounts, bureau officials said.
The officials quoted the two as saying that they started the site because they are both fans of TV dramas and foreign movies, so they decided to put their software expertise to good use in the name of entertainment and profit.
A Hualien pomelo farmer refused to sell to China after the country announced it would permit more Taiwanese pomelo imports, prompting widespread support from Taiwanese consumers, who rallied to buy his fruit. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said that China’s General Administration of Customs registered an additional 79 Taiwanese pomelo orchards and packing facilities in Hualien County, allowing more Taiwanese producers to export pomelos to China. “I am a Hualien fruit farmer and I refuse to sell to China,” Liu Tzu-hao (劉子豪) from Ruisui Township (瑞穗) said in an online post. Liu is a well-known farmer in the community and has served
Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) on Wednesday said decommissioned coast guard vessels were given to the Philippines to enhance regional rescue capacity and would not affect Taiwanese fishers’ rights and benefits. Kuan made the remarks after confirmation on Tuesday that a 500-tonne Coast Guard Administration (CGA) patrol and rescue vessel would be given to the Philippine Coast Guard. The donation ceremony was reportedly done in Manila, but whether the vessel — previously numbered “CG123” and named Kinmen (金門) — has been handed over has yet to be confirmed. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) on Wednesday criticized the donation for “taking
UPDATE: The submarine would need to undergo combined systems testing and crew training for navy personnel before it is ready for mission, an expert said Taiwan’s first domestically built submarine, the Hai Kun (Narwhal, 海鯤), could be delivered to the navy as early as next month, military expert and Taiwan Association for Security and Development chairman Chi Tung-yun (紀東昀) said yesterday. The submarine was yesterday morning observed departing for its 21st sea trial and its 15th submerged test. The vessel missed the initial delivery deadline of November last year due to “testing delays,” its primary contractor, shipbuilder CSBC Corp, Taiwan, said in June. The contractor also cited “political pressure from China” in procuring critical equipment. All testing operations are in the final stages, with the
OCT. 31: The antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Eraflu have been distributed to about 4,000 medical facilities nationwide for people in seven groups who develop flu-like symptoms As the domestic influenza epidemic enters its peak season and continues to escalate, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced that publicly funded influenza antiviral drugs for seven eligible groups have been extended to Oct. 31, allowing those who develop flu-like symptoms to receive the medication without undergoing a rapid influenza test. The CDC has extended the expanded use of flu antiviral drugs to seven groups: healthcare and influenza-prevention personnel; residents and staff at nursing homes, long-term care facilities and similar institutions; kindergarten and daycare workers and home-based caregivers; students from kindergarten through high school, vocational high school and the
RSS