According to BREIN, which works mainly on behalf of the Hollywood studios but has branched out to work for other rights holders in recent times, during the first half of 2010 it shut down a staggering 422 "illegal websites".

We were told that they aren't releasing the URLs of the sites since they only detail those that they take to court and naming them would only give them increased traction and popularity.

We didn't notice, but strangely neither did anyone else.

According to comments by users, the copies available were recorded by people sitting in the theater who videotaped the movie off the screen using handheld cameras.

"This sort of theft is intensely disrespectful and damaging to those who pour their creativity and capital into movies and television," said a spokesman for Viacom, parent company of Paramount Pictures. "It is time responsible governments put an end to it."

Law enforcement authorities have traced the video-cam recording and bootlegging of movies to organized crime.

Researchers have devised a way to monitor BitTorrent users over long stretches of time, a feat that allows them to map the internet addresses of individuals and track the content they are sending and receiving.

The researchers said the information leak is built in to the very core of most BitTorrent systems, including those used by ThePirateBay and IsoHunt.

The insecurities baked into BitTorrent allowed the researchers to discover IP addresses even when they were hidden behind the Tor anonymity service.

Ubisoft's latest game to carry this DRM, Assasin's Creed 2, has also now been cracked, with hackers sending a personal message to Ubisoft in the pirated copy's .nfo thanking them for the challenge.

This latest title lasted all of a month before being fully cracked (there was an earlier crack that worked, but only for certain localized versions), and while the crackers may not be the best spellers, they apparently understand that Ubisoft leeches value from their products by layering them with obnoxious DRM solutions.

The GAO said most of the published information, anecdotal evidence, and records show that piracy is a drag on the U.S. economy, tax revenue, and in some cases potentially threatens national security and public health.

The accountability office even noted the existence of data that shows piracy may benefit consumers in some cases.

Some media outlets have reported that counterfeit goods can be traced to organized crime and groups that support terrorism.