U.S. officials have shut down websites that

U.S. officials have shut down nine websites accused of offering free access to films, including Toy Story 3. The crackdown, which included seizing assets from 15 bank accounts, involved police, customs and the movie industry. The closure of the sites, which had 6.7m visitors combined each month, was described as the"largest takedown of illegal movie and TV websites in a single action" by the government. Some films were available hours after their release in U.S. cinemas. Previous crackdowns on film piracy have focused on illegally copied DVDs. The latest action is the first of its scale to target websites which profit—by selling advertising or taking donations—from offering pirated films for free.