Ashcroft Prepares Mass Arrests for Cyber-Crime

WASHINGTON
— Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursday that law-enforcement
agents had arrested 125 suspects in a crackdown on Internet crimes ranging
from hacking and software piracy to credit card fraud and selling stolen
goods over the Internet.

The investigation, begun Oct. 1 and dubbed Operation Cyber Sweep, involved
police from Ghana to Southern California and uncovered 125,000 victims
who had lost more than $100 million, he told a news conference. Seventy
indictments to date have led to arrests or convictions of 125 people,
with more expected as the probe continues.

"The information superhighway should be a conduit for communication,
information and commerce, not an expressway for crime," Ashcroft
said.

The Dowbrigade may be off the web for a while, as we need to rush home
and depurify our trusty iLamp by deleting questionable versions of Word,
Office, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, FileMaker Pro, Flash, MasterChef, Tony
Hawk and
Aliens vs. Predator. Meanwhile, Mr. Ashcroft, would you like to see my
official registration email from SerialBox?

from Wired News