VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKV #2460/01 3521450
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171450Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY KYIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6934
INFO RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0420
RUEHSF/AMEMBASSY SOFIA 0043

UNCLAS KYIV 002460 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/UMB AND EB/TPP/IPE - JURBAN 
STATE FOR INL - JVIGIL 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR FOR PBURKHEAD/JGROVES 
USDOC FOR 4231/ITA/OEENIS/NISD - CLUCYCK 
COMMERCE PLEASE PASS TO USPTO AND CLDP 
SOFIA FOR DOJ - MLAMBERTI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD KIPR ECON UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: USG-FUNDED IPR ENFORCEMENT TRAINING 
FOCUSES ON INTERNET PIRACY 
 
REFS: A) KYIV 1411 and previous 
      B) KYIV 404 
      C) 2007 STATE 154669 
      D) 2007 KYIV 1417 
      E) 2007 STATE 55928 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; NOT FOR INTERNET PUBLICATION. 
 
¶1. Summary: Post on December 5 held a workshop on combating 
internet piracy primarily for Ukrainian police, the fourth 
in a series of events that are part of a STATE/INL-funded, 
IPR training initiative.  Some thirty police officials, 
from the Kyiv central office and the regions, and one 
prosecutor attended the event.  USG and industry experts 
provided a practical introduction to internet piracy, as 
well as strategies and best practices to improve 
enforcement in this area in Ukraine.  End Summary. 
 
Continuation of IPR Training Program 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. This December 5 internet piracy workshop was the latest 
event of our intellectual property rights (IPR) training 
initiative "Creating a Sustainable Ukrainian IPR Training 
Capability" (ref D).  This initiative is part of the State 
Department's 2007 IPR Enforcement Training Funds Program 
(ref E), administered by the Bureau for International 
Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), which has 
allocated USD 125,000 for Ukraine (ref C). 
 
¶3. About 30 Ministry of Interior officials from all over 
Ukraine and one prosecutor attended the workshop.  Post 
made a deliberate effort to include officers from the 
regions, not just Kyiv, because officials at the Kyiv 
office of the Ministry of Interior often farm out 
investigations to regional offices due to lack of manpower. 
A participant from the eastern Ukrainian city of 
Zaporizhya, for example, boasted that earlier in the year 
he had been the first to bring a criminal case involving a 
private website to trial.  In addition, Post requested that 
Ministry officials select police officers with experience 
in computer/internet cases from cities that have generated 
such cases in order to target the officers most likely to 
handle an internet piracy case in the near future. 
 
¶4. Prior workshops targeted judges and Customs officials 
(ref A).  Post took the lead in organizing this seminar and 
used the INL fund cite provided in ref C.  Post will 
provide copies of all funding documents to INL/RM. 
 
Internet Piracy: A New Problem for Ukraine 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. Post's 2008 Special 301 submission (ref B) noted that 
internet piracy is a nascent and growing problem in 
Ukraine.  Many Ukraine-based websites offer pirated 
material for download with the full knowledge of their 
Internet Service Providers (ISPs).  Industry groups 
estimate that out of the roughly 400 ISPs in Ukraine, 150 
of them support websites offering pirated material. 
Microsoft has also complained that Local Area Networks 
(LAN), some of which cover entire Ukrainian cities, permit 
widespread software piracy.  Another common type of 
internet piracy is online ordering sites, where pirates 
sell illegal CDs and DVDs for mail or personal delivery to 
customers. 
 
¶6. Ministry of Interior officials have pointed to some 
successes in stopping online-ordering-site piracy, but 
admit that little, if anything, has been done to combat 
sites offering illegal filesharing/downloading, including 
so-called Peer-to-Peer and BitTorrent sites.  GOU 
representatives have argued that Ukrainian law does not 
give law enforcement officials clear authority to shut down 
such websites, although sometimes ISPs can be persuaded to 
do so.  However, the main obstacle to investigating and 
prosecuting these sites seems to be a lack of training and 
resources. 
 
Improving Police Capabilities 
----------------------------- 
 
¶7. Matthew Lamberti, Department of Justice Intellectual 
Property Law Enforcement Coordinator for Eastern Europe and 
a prosecutor experienced in handling internet piracy cases, 
and Special Agent Kiffa Shirley, from the FBI's Cybercrime 
Fraud Unit, discussed basic strategies for investigating 
internet piracy. 
 
¶8. Lamberti gave a presentation on investigating and 
prosecuting pirate websites, focusing on Ukraine and other 
countries in the region.  Among other things, he showed 
numerous examples from pirate sites based in Ukraine and/or 
used in Ukraine.  Lamberti noted that earlier this year one 
of the world's biggest pirate websites had moved to 
Ukraine, and that the founder of the site had stated that 
he was looking for a "suitable" home after being pressured 
to leave several other countries, including the 
Netherlands, Canada, and Malaysia.  Lamberti cautioned that 
Ukraine might become a haven for pirate sites if it did not 
step up enforcement efforts. 
 
¶9. Shirley gave a detailed briefing on the different kinds 
of websites that engage in internet piracy and the 
technology they employ.  He also described the 
investigative steps he and other FBI agents took to 
investigate elitetorrents.org, a pirate website based in 
the United States that was known for its extremely fast 
illegal downloads.  So far, that case has resulted in eight 
convictions. 
 
¶10. Serhiy Lebid, head of the Economic Crimes Department at 
the Ministry of Interior, emphasized the importance of 
combating internet piracy during his opening remarks. 
Mumith Ali, from IFPI's London office, and Ihor Mykhaylov, 
from the Ukrainian Anti-Piracy Association (which is funded 
by the Motion Picture Association MPA), provided insight 
from the private sector. 
 
¶11. Ali provided participants with strategies and best 
practices based on his experiences investigating some of 
the biggest pirate websites in Europe, including a UK-based 
private pirate website with 180,000 members notorious for 
offering illegal downloads of pre-release music albums. 
Prosecution of the owner of the site is currently pending 
in English Crown Court.  Moreover, Ali gave a live 
demonstration of how people download illegal works from 
pirate websites.  Ukrainian participants were particularly 
interested in Ali's description of a free computer program 
called "Wireshark" used by IFPI to investigate pirate 
sites; we are following up with the Ministry of Interior to 
provide more information on this program.  Mykhaylov 
discussed the efforts the movie industry has made to combat 
internet piracy, and ways that police officers could obtain 
assistance from his group and others.  He also discussed a 
number of particular sites currently based in and/or used 
in Ukraine offering pirate works. 
 
¶12. In addition, to make the training workshop as hands-on 
and practical as possible, organizers divided participants 
into breakout groups to discuss one of two internet piracy 
case studies.  Organizers based these case studies on 
actual internet piracy sites in Ukraine, as well as on 
specific issues and requirements presented by Ukrainian law 
in this area.  At the conclusion of the workshop, several 
police officers made helpful presentations to participants 
on how they would investigate the case studies. 
 
Comment: Baby Steps 
------------------- 
 
¶13. The Ukrainian participants were engaged in the 
discussion, and many officers asked pertinent questions 
during or after presentations.  Yet unfortunately resource 
issues will continue to hamper enforcement efforts.  For 
example, several police officers from the regions 
complained privately that they did not have access to the 
internet in their workplace.  We are also concerned that 
the Prosecutor General's Office does not yet seem to have 
made internet piracy a priority.  The workshop was a 
success in terms of focusing Ukrainian police on the 
problem of internet piracy and offering them some basic 
tools to do so.  The police have a long way to go to 
develop a robust enforcement system, however.  End comment. 
 
 
TAYLOR