p2pnet.net News:- US Department of Justice lawyers are salivating uncontrollably over their Antipodean triumph.

They’ve been able to punch Australia into extraditing DrinkorDie’s Hew Griffiths.

Here’s Shocking News’ take.

Read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

AU Citizen to be Extradited for Warez
By Shocking News

For Australian file sharers and other citizens, the sky might as well be falling – what was once a relatively harmless, at the very least civil matter has now resulted in the extradition of an Australian citizen to the American empire. P2P users beware.

The United States has, on appeal, won the right to extradite Hew Raymond Griffiths to the US on charges of copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit software piracy. The case originally stems from raids on the pirate group Drink or Die in December 2001. Known as DOD for short, Drink or Die was a “utils” group (read: a software piracy group dedicated to cracking and distributing software applications online) that was, at the time, already in decline, according to published media reports quoting individuals in the know. Griffiths was, according to the Americans, the group’s leader, although no evidence to this end has yet been seen.

Griffiths, if convicted in America, faces up to 10 years in prison. It’s worth pointing out that in order to bolster its chances for extradition, the United States Department of Justice essentially charged Griffiths twice for the same crime under two different laws – past charges against members of the so-called “warez scene” heralded maximum possible sentences of five years.

However, the U.S. had to paint the picture of a serious career criminal in order to make an example of an unemployed 40-something Australian who did not profit from his crimes, and who publicly spoke out against anyone illegally profiting from the work of another.

What they’d rather not have the public think of is the mockery of global law and sovereignty this case makes. After US senators have taken millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the software and media industries, the DOJ needs to make a statement – the industries in question want results for their money. It’s a scared-straight program that works in conjunction with the industry-wide attempt to quash user rights by criminalizing formerly legal actions – i.e. the right to back up something you’ve legally bought.

No one questions the legality of warez – not since it was made illegal under 1997’s No Electronic Theft Act – but there are plenty of questions as to the morality of the “crime”, and the reasons behind America’s actions. For example, those convicted of selling pirated software have generally received less jail time than those who give it away for free – yet in almost any other crime, profit-based motivation is cause for a harsher sentence. This seems to be direct evidence of the software industry’s fingerprints on the DOJ.

Add to this statements by several people involved in the case that the original informant in the group, James Cudney, who posed as a DOD member but worked for US Customs in breaking up Drink or Die, was actively involved in fraud and other illegal activities while working for the Customs Agency – with the agency’s knowledge.

There is no indication as to when Griffiths will actually set foot on American soil, but one has to think that it will be soon, as the DOJ will attempt to cash in on the momentum of this decision and railroad him in a quick sham trial. After all, what chance does a foreign citizen have against the American government in a case so politically motivated as this one?

Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net

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See:-
salivating – DrinkorDie Griffiths Oz appeal, p2pnet, March 11, 2005

This entry was posted on Monday, March 14th, 2005 at 12:19 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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