Police raid Sydney cyber cafe
Stephen Hutcheon
December 18, 2007 - 12:59PM

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The Australian Federal Police have raided an internet cafe in Sydney's CBD where large volumes of pirated music and movies for re-sale were suspected of being illegally downloaded.

A spokeswoman for the AFP confirmed an operation was taking place this morning at premises in Liverpool Street, at the southern end of the CBD, but would give no further details.

The raid follows an investigation that was carried out in co-operation with officials from the anti-piracy arms of the Australian music and film industries - Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT).

It is understood that heavy duty electronic equipment was discovered at the premises and that employees at the internet cafe were hired to scour the web for suitable material to download.

This included popular music and newly released movies.

These downloads were then made available to customers to upload onto portable hard drives.

A person familiar with the investigation said it was a case of copyright infringement on a fairly large scale.

A recent independent report indicated that movie piracy costs the film industry in Australia in excess of $200 million in potential revenue in 2005.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/1...34678.html