Raids on dark web and piracy site operators are a dime a dozen and very few make a huge difference in the overall crime picture. But now, it appears at least one operation has made a temporary difference.

A joint global law enforcement operation targeting members of the Sparks group in late August has caused a dramatic decline in pirated content online, Torrentfreak reported Friday. Using data provided by Predb.org, a site that tracks pirate releases, the report noted that on Aug. 19 there were 1,944 new releases and a week later, a day after the first raids, the number had dropped to 168 new releases.

Usually piracy releases bounce back, but at least through to the end of August the numbers kept falling. Across the board in various release categories, numbers continued to drop, though there was a small recovery in pirated movies at the end of the month. In categories such as games and ebooks, the number of daily releases toward the end of August dropped to zero.

Although the raid on Sparks clearly took some players out of the piracy scene directly, it could have been a fear of being caught, with pirates laying low. Sparks, part of a broader community known as “The Scene,” prompted concerns in the community that the arrests of Sparks group members could be just the beginning.

The number of sites affected in the initial raids may have been larger than initially thought as well. A notice issued by The Scene group Sept. 1 claimed that 29 sites had been taken down in the raids across 14 counties, mostly in Europe.

“As from the looks now it is certain to say that the bust took a big bite out of the ISO scene,” the notice read. “Without a doubt, this will not be the last of it since there will be more information available for the feds to chunk through now.” That last point is pertinent: Members of the community believe that the raids are just the beginning of further law enforcement action.

How long the fallout from the Spark raids will last is uncertain, given that the piracy scene always bounces back, often stronger than before. The demand for pirated content in the era of COVID-19 remains: A study in April found that demand for pirate content was surging amid coronavirus lockdowns.

Indeed, with people stuck at home, demand for all content is surging. Legal providers also seeing a surge in demand, such as with Netflix Inc., which has been adding 3 million new subscribers per month since March.

Photo: Pikist