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An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://torrentfreak.com/how-hollywood-caught-the-uks-most-prolific-movie-pirates-151227/

Following a three year investigation by Hollywood-backed anti-piracy group the Federation Against Copyright Theft, last week five of the UK's most prolific movie pirates were sentenced in the West Midlands.

[...] "Over a number of years the groups illegally released online more than 2,500 films including Argo, the Avengers and Skyfall," FACT said in a statement.

Speaking at Wolverhampton Crown Court, FACT prosecutor David Groome said that the men had gone to great lengths to avoid being detected. But was that really the case and just how easy was it to track them down?

[... One pirate,] Baker92 had been a member of another release group DTRG, FACT again turned to Equifax. Presuming the '92' in his nickname related to his birth year, FACT searched for any person named Baker born in 1992 with an association to [a girl he gave a shoutout to] called Ria. This led FACT – and the police – to Reece Baker's front door.

[... Another pirate,] Cooperman666 was also an encoder for release group ANALOG and in their NFO files a Live.com email address was listed for contact. However, that same email address was also used for a Facebook account held in the name of Ben Cooper. That page revealed he lived in Wolverhampton and was born in 1981.

Same techniques that were used to find Dread Pirate Roberts of Silk Road. Do we really need global surveillance, or are these guys just low hanging fruit?

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