Three domains hosting pirated Apps seized by American government

The American Department of Justice and FBI working alongside French and Dutch law enforcement agencies have recently seized 3 domain names due to the distribution of pirated android apps.

This is the first ever real move by authorities to crack down on pirated mobile apps and we think they’ve just started chasing their tails. With the Android App market growing rapidly everyday, hundreds of new sites probably pop up on a weekly basis making the seizure of these three domains just a drop in the Ocean.

Assistant Attorney General Breuer said this about the seizure:

“Cracking down on piracy of copyrighted works – including popular apps – is a top priority of the Criminal Division, Software apps have become an increasingly essential part of our nation’s economy and creative culture, and the Criminal Division is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to protect the creators of these apps and other forms of intellectual property from those who seek to steal it.”

snappzmarket.com, appbucket.net and applanet.net are the three domain names in question. These websites offered Apps for free without developer approval and now they’ve been met with the dreaded seizure banner. Several search warrants were also executed across the USA for one of the domains. Whilst one domain was situated in the Netherlands and another in France. It is not yet known if anyone has been arrested in connection with these sites.

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