Mod-chip merchants get ICE'd

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced today that it has executed its largest crackdown yet on game piracy, illegal mod chips, and game-disc copyright circumvention devices. As part of the investigation, ICE officials served 32 federal search warrants in 16 states against suspects involved in "the direct importation, installation, sale, and distribution of the devices that are of foreign manufacture and smuggled into the United States."

According to the Entertainment Software Association, worldwide software piracy costs the US entertainment software industry billions of dollars every year. The ESA has hailed similar busts in recent months, including the arrest of a San Diego man in possession of more than 1,000 pirated discs as well as numerous mod chips last June.

Hoping to curtail the escalating drain on the entertainment industry, ICE noted that it had arrested more than 700 individuals and secured 425 convictions stemming from counterfeit merchandise distribution worldwide since 2002. ICE also mentioned that, along with help from the US Customs and Border Protection agency, more than $750 million in counterfeit goods have been seized since 1998.

"Illicit devices like the ones targeted today are created with one purpose in mind, subverting copyright protections," said Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "These crimes cost legitimate businesses billions of dollars annually and facilitate multiple other layers of criminality, such as smuggling, software piracy and money laundering."

Though names of the suspects were not revealed, ICE stated that the warrants were served at locations in California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.