Information Wants to Be Free; So Does This Guy
The Justice Department says, “Prior to its dismantling, DrinkOrDie was estimated to have caused the illegal reproduction and distribution of more than $50 million worth of pirated software, movies, games and music.” DrinkOrDie was an international web piracy group, that is to say, a file sharing site where you downloaded your complete Madonna album collection from. And Daily Variety reports today that the US has extradited their first DrinkOrDie pirate.
Hew Raymond Griffiths is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, and once count of criminal copyright infringement. He faces 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. It’s worth noting that they “made no financial profit from their activities.” In a way, this makes Griffiths Robin Hood, and the Justice Department the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Griffiths is 44, which admittedly is a little old for this kind of thing, but DrinkOrDie’s glory days were over a decade ago when they released Windows 95 a couple of weeks before Microsoft did. Further indication that the JD is late to the party:
Griffiths was also “an elder in the highest echelons of the underground Internet piracy community, also known as the warez scene,” statement continued. “He held leadership roles in several other well-known warez groups, including Razor1911 and RiSC. In an interview published in December 1999 by an online news source, he boasted that he ran all of DrinkOrDie’s day-to-day operations and controlled access to more than 20 of the top warez servers worldwide. In fact, Griffiths claimed to reporters that he would never be caught.”
1999! Poor guy had probably gone straight already, devoting his time to selling insurance and trying to get girls.
April 27th, 2007 at 9:41 am
[...] Information Wants to Be Free; So Does This Guy <p>The Justice Department says, Prior to its dismantling, DrinkOrDie was estimated to have caused the illegal reproduction and distribution of more than $50 million worth of pirated software, movies, games and music. DrinkOrDie was an international web piracy group, that is to say, a file sharing site where you downloaded your complete Madonna album collection from. And <a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117959924.html?categoryid=18&cs=1">Daily Variety reports</a> today that the US has extradited their first DrinkOrDie pirate.</p> <p><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a5/DOD_NFO.png/180px-DOD_NFO.png" />Hew Raymond Griffiths is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, and once count of criminal copyright infringement. He faces 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Its worth noting that they <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DrinkOrDie">made no financial profit from their activities.</a> In a way, this makes Griffiths Robin Hood, and the Justice Department the Sheriff of Nottingham.</p> <p>Griffiths is 44, which admittedly is a little old for this kind of thing, but DrinkOrDies glory days were over a decade ago when they released Windows 95 a couple of weeks before Microsoft did. Further indication that the JD is late to the party:</p> <p>Griffiths was also an elder in the highest echelons of the underground Internet piracy community, also known as the warez scene, statement continued. He held leadership roles in several other well-known warez groups, including Razor1911 and RiSC. In an interview published in December 1999 by an online news source, he boasted that he ran all of DrinkOrDies day-to-day operations and controlled access to more than 20 of the top warez servers worldwide. In fact, Griffiths claimed to reporters that he would never be caught.</p> <p>1999! Poor guy had probably gone straight already, devoting his time to selling insurance and trying to get girls. </p> [...]