Jail for net pirates DrinkorDie who saw themselves as Robin Hoods

[Jorge]

A City professional was jailed for two and a half years yesterday for his role in a global gang of internet pirates behind the UK's biggest software theft.
The Old Bailey heard that Alex Bell, 29, a Morgan Stanley IT worker, belonged to an international underground hackers' organisation - DrinkorDie - which prided itself on cracking even the most complex security codes and putting illegally copied software, games, music and videos on the web before their official release.
The group, 70 members of which have been arrested worldwide, was not driven by financial gain, but by the technological thrill and a dislike of corporate giants such as Microsoft. But its actions cost the computer industry millions of pounds.
Bell, of Chafford Hundreds, Essex, and co-defendant Steven Dowd, 39, from Merseyside, both denied conspiracy to defraud, but were convicted by the jury. Two other men, 31-year-old Mark Vent, from Grays, Essex, and Andrew Eardley, 35, of Deal, Kent, admitted the charge. Dowd was jailed for two years, Vent for 18 months, and Eardley got an 18-month suspended sentence.
Bell was a "staff member" of DrinkorDie, with some kudos in the hierarchy, and fraudulently used other people's credit cards to buy software for the group to crack. Dowd was also a member and police found a "treasure trove" of pirated software in his home.
Judge Paul Focke said that while the defendants were not the ringleaders of DrinkorDie, all four were involved in activities which "struck at the very heart of software trading".
"The cost to software owners through piracy is staggering," he added. "Not only does it have an effect on them but it also has an effect on related businesses and the lives of their employees can be rendered catastrophic."
Bruce Houlder, prosecuting, described the gang as computer obsessives who lived in a virtual world where they were internet heroes.
"Computers are their universe. They seem to live and breathe the world of computers. They see themselves as stars and come out at night. They are the night-time tappers of keyboards whose lives are bound by random access memory. Their lives revolve around cyberspace.
"Often they don't do what they do for money but for a kind of street cred among their fellow internet devotees. But they see themselves as internet heroes.
"They may think of themselves as latter-day Robin Hoods, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor ... but this Robin Hood mentality is just something that serves their purpose. In reality it is a cover for fraud."
Judge Focke commended three police officers from the National Hi-Tech Crime Squad for their "outstanding efforts" in bringing the prosecution. British cyber-detectives worked with the FBI on a five-year investigation.
Detective Superintendent Mick Deats, National Hi-Tech Crime Squad deputy head, said that DrinkorDie was one of the most sophisticated groups making up the "Warez Community" - a network of gangs which started in the 1990s, "ripping" software by removing protective copyright and then posting it on the internet for illegal downloading.
He added: "Internet piracy is a growing problem, with organised crime moving into this space and defrauding the individual, business and governments of millions of pounds."

[RACKnRAIL]

Interesting. I'm sure where one career ends, another is just beginning. As long as I can keep testing (education purposes only (-:) free software, I'm not complaining.

[mountain_rage]

"Internet piracy is a growing problem, with organised crime moving into this space and defrauding the individual, business and governments of millions of pounds."

Ha propaganda bullshit. Organised crime is moving in, organised crime is there because of money. No one taking part in a biker gang or such is going to go to there group hey guys we should start a free software distribution network where we share files for free. What a load of crock. They are always trying to make filesharing to be teh same as drugdealing, or stealing cars or what not. I wished both sides were better respresented and ignorance abolished.

[DigitalJunkie]

They did save me lots of money, so Thanks!

[vixenk]

"Computers are their universe. They seem to live and breathe the world of computers. They see themselves as stars and come out at night. They are the night-time tappers of keyboards whose lives are bound by random access memory. Their lives revolve around cyberspace."

Think one can get any more melodramatic?

[Abyss00]

Internet piracy is a growing problem, with organised crime moving into this space and defrauding the individual, business and governments of millions of pounds.

Groups like DrinkorDie are what is keeping organised crime out of the file sharing world. Organised crime follows money and as long as there is groups like DrinkorDie that crack and give it away freely then there is no money to be make in file sharing for organised crime.

Thank you DrinkorDie for your time and effort.

[MrCoggy]

And once again the real criminals remain at large. If only the rapists, murderers, people trafickers and organised crimelords had cost a media corporation money, think how pleasant the world we lived in could be. They'd be inside like a shot.

Thanks to the National Hi-Tech Crime Squad I can sleep more peacefully at night. I'm so reassured that my tax is going to catch the true villains.

[Miniver]

Us Customs Fact Sheet

Tuesday, December 11, 2001

The "DrinkOrDie" Group:
What is it? Who are they? What is the DrinkOrDie Group?

What is the DrinkOrDie Group?
DrinkOrDie is one of the oldest and most sophisticated software pirate groups within the "Warez" community, which is a loose, global network of Internet pirate gangs. According to DrinkOrDie's public website, the group was founded in Moscow in 1993 by a Russian individual known as "Deviator." Membership quickly expanded from a group of Russian nationals to worldwide membership by 1995. In one of its earliest pirating feats, DrinkOrDie claims credit for having released MS Windows 95 over the Internet two weeks before Microsoft released it to the American public. Today, DrinkOrDie has become one of the most accomplished and sophisticated Internet piracy groups in the world.

What is the Warez community?
Beginning in the early 1990s, groups of computer hackers began organizing into competitive gangs that stole software, "cracked" or removed its protections, then posted it on the Internet for distribution by others. These Internet pirate gangs collectively became known as the Warez community. There are between 8 and 10 major groups and several, smaller groups in the Warez community. DrinkOrDie is one of the major groups.

Who are the members of DrinkOrDie?
DrinkOrDie members are technical experts in programming, Internet communications and Internet security. They come from all walks of life. Many are successful white-collar business people by day, and DrinkOrDie members by night. The U.S. Customs has identified members who are corporate executives, computer network administrators at major U.S. universities, employees of large hi-tech companies, students, and even government workers. Some members of DrinkOrDie and other Warez groups are software company employees who steal their firm's software prior to its public release and provide it to other Warez members.

What is the motivation of these groups? Do they do it for money?
DrinkOrDie and other Warez groups steal software for the mere challenge and fun of it. Reputation is everything to them. Earning an online reputation as the fastest to steal, "crack," and release high-quality, pirated software over the Internet is most important to them. Groups compete against each other in these efforts. Some even have web sites celebrating their greatest pirating feats. They also view themselves as Robin Hood figures -- pirating new software so it can be distributed freely over the Internet. They seek an Internet devoid of rules or law. Profit does not appear to be a prime motive, although members operate websites that allow users and other members to download pirated software for a monthly subscription fee.

[dock0184]

The Police should be going after the killers, etc. Those are the people who cause physical harm to others.

[Kryojenix]

"fraudulently used other people's credit cards to buy software for the group to crack"

WHAT THE HELL?!?! YOU CAN'T MAKE ALLOWANCES FOR THIS SORT OF THING!!! MY MUM HAD HER CREDIT CARD STOLEN AND IT RACKED UP $10,000 IN THE NEXT TWO DAYS - THIS IS MATERIAL PIRACY AND THAT DOESN'T DO!!!