Archive notice: This article was originally published on December 28, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
While “Lightforce” gave up only a few days after the operation, “LEX”, another important release group, is now saying farewell. In a so-called “NFO file”, the authors complain about behaviour within the scene and name this as the reason for their departure. They ask other release-group members whether they now trade commercially in illegally created copies of film and entertainment software. The senders of the file themselves describe the scene as a “shithole” that they want to abandon. It remains unclear whether the people behind LEX intend to cease their activities completely or merely go further underground.
LEX was one of the top groups within the scene in recent months. Specializing in films, this formation emerged successively from two other groups. The first of these had ceased its activities following a nationwide search operation in 2005 supported by findings from the GVU. Under the current name “LEX”, the group of people is responsible for a total of 59 first releases of illegal film copies on hidden networks, including almost exclusively current cinema films. Their German soundtracks mostly come from illegal recordings at the Cinemaxx cinema on Raschplatz in Hanover. The cinema responded by filing complaints. In addition, in consultation with the GVU and cinema headquarters, the police now regularly check viewers during screenings, thereby increasing the pressure of prosecution on LEX. The first successes were already evident in November: Several films shown in Hanover’s sneak preview did not subsequently appear on so-called file-sharing networks.
With their pirated copies, release groups stand at the top of the illegal distribution pyramid. Their files form the source of almost 90 percent of all available copyright-infringing copies of films, TV series and entertainment software. There are fundamentally two tendencies within the release-group scene. Some understand their activity primarily as a competition. Their aim is to be the first to place the highest-quality illegal copy on hidden networks. They deny commercial interests. Others, however, use these illegal files to earn money by brokering them to pay servers or to enable mass worldwide distribution by placing the pirated copies on file-sharing networks or so-called “one-click hosters”.
