Money spent on H1 B visas and all the supporting bureaucracy is better spent on Intellectual Property protection.
CRACK99: The Takedown of a $100 Million Chinese Software Pirate
The utterly gripping story of the most outrageous case of cyber piracy prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
A former U.S. Navy intelligence officer, David Locke Hall was a federal prosecutor when a bizarre-sounding website, CRACK99, came to his attention. It looked like Craigslist on acid, but what it sold was anything but amateurish: thousands of high-tech software products used largely by the military, and for mere pennies on the dollar. Want to purchase satellite tracking software? No problem. Aerospace and aviation simulations? No problem. Communications systems designs? No problem. Software for Marine One, the presidential helicopter? No problem. With delivery times and customer service to rival the world’s most successful e-tailers, anybody, anywhere―including rogue regimes, terrorists, and countries forbidden from doing business with the United States―had access to these goods for any purpose whatsoever.
But who was behind CRACK99, and where were they? The Justice Department discouraged potentially costly, risky cases like this, preferring the low-hanging fruit that scored points from politicians and the public. But Hall and his colleagues were determined to find the culprit. They bought CRACK99's products for delivery in the United States, buying more and more to appeal to the budding entrepreneur in the man they identified as Xiang Li. After winning his confidence, they lured him to Saipan―a U.S. commonwealth territory where Hall’s own father had stormed the beaches with the marines during World War II. There they set up an audacious sting that culminated in Xiang Li's capture and imprisonment. The value of the goods offered by CRACK99? A cool $100 million.
An eye-opening look at cybercrime and its chilling consequences for national security, CRACK99 reads like a caper that resonates with every amazing detail.
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/chinese-national-sentenced-12-years-prison-cyber-theft-piracy-over-100-million
June 10, 2013
Chinese national sentenced to 12 years in prison for cyber theft, piracy of over $100 million in sensitive software and proprietary data
One of the longest criminal copyright infringement sentences ever imposed in the US
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Chinese national was sentenced to 144 months in federal prison June 11 for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and criminal copyright infringement. The individual operated a website used to distribute more than $100 million worth of pirated software around the world, making it one of the most significant cases of copyright infringement ever uncovered – and dismantled – by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The theft and piracy perpetuated by Xiang Li, 36, of Chengdu, China, included industrial-grade software and confidential data stolen from the internal server of a cleared defense contractor. Li will be deported to China after he completes his federal sentence.
"Xiang Li mistakenly thought he was safe from the long arm of HSI, hiding halfway around the world in cyberspace anonymity," said John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge of HSI Philadelphia. "Fast forward to today, where he has been sentenced for illegally stealing, distributing and ultimately exploiting American ingenuity and creativity. Counterfeiting and intellectual property theft is one of the most serious threats this century to U.S. businesses and innovation. In this one case alone, Li was responsible for more than $100 million in lost revenue to American companies. While we've dealt a significant blow to an organization who was distributing pirated and cracked software, our agency is committed to identifying, infiltrating and disrupting these criminal enterprises wherever they exist."