While the topic of piracy is always a hot one regardless of your stance on the situation, news is out today that three major players in the app piracy scene have had their website seized by the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) during a sting operation in conjunction with a variety of U.S. and foreign governments.
This is the first of its kind when regarding app and mobile game piracy. The three websites in question are Applanet.net, Snappzmarket.com and Appbucket.net with all three displaying the same message, that their domains have been seized by the FBI and warrants have been issued. FBI agents apparently downloaded numerous copies of paid Android apps, as part of the operation, before seizing all three domains. They also executing nine search warrants on August 21st according to Android Police.
As it stand right now, there is no word as to whether criminal charges have been filed against the site operators or if anyone has actually been arrested. Out of the three sites, Applanet was the largest in terms of users by the looks of it with over 88K Facebook likes while advertising a database of 15,000 Android apps and games. However, in terms of the numbers of files, SnappzMarkets looks like the biggest, bragging a database of over 50,000 Android app and games.
This is going to make pirating an app or game for your Android device a little harder to do with a few of the major players down. This will also send a warning to other sites doing the same thing or anyone thinking about starting up a similar site. Of course Reddit users are a bit more skeptical about everything as AndroidPit points out, saying it is an abuse of power by the FBI and DOJ to seize these sites without a fair trial.
So what does everyone here think about what has just happened with these sites? Does it make any difference at all or is it a step in the right direction? Let us know in the comments below. The Department of Justice did release an official statement which you can read below.
Website Referenced: Android Police
