Japanese law enforcement is cracking down hard on digital pirates in the New Year, with a recent three day sting netting nearly 50 individual arrests.

According to ANN, the Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS) announced this week that the Japanese National Police Agency has arrested 44 individuals for unauthorized uploading and sharing of copyrighted material. Through the coordination of 29 prefectural police agencies, the individuals were arrested between February 16 - 18 for violation of the Japanese Copyright Act. 

The individuals were charged with unauthorized uploading and sharing of copyrighted material though file-sharing software, for items including  movies, music, anime, manga, and business and productivity software.

Among the manga titles uploaded to the Share website were:

  • 17th volume of Attack on Titan manga
  • 35th volume of Bleach color version manga
  • 39th volume of Kingdom manga
  • 31st volume of Yamikin Ushijima-kun manga

Last November, authorities arrested scanlation pirates that were uploading scanned and translated copies of manga magazines before they were released in Japan (see “Arrest in Distribution Chain Thwarts Digital Pirates”).