p2pnet.net News:- The software and entertainment cartels have ended their costly, years-long legal war against one segment of a small group of avid software collectors who called themselves DrinkorDie.

Alex Bell, 32, Steven Dowd, 42, who`d denied charges of conspiracy to defraud, and Mark Vent, 31, charged as a co-conspirator, were sentenced at England`s famous Old Bailey court.

Bell will spend two-and-a-half in jail and Dowd, two years. Vent was sentenced to 18 months. Another “co-conspirator,” Andrew Eardley, 35, also received 18-months, but his sentence was suspended.

When he gave evidence at his own trial Steven Dowd certainly did not appear to be a master criminal. Crippled by a debilitating spinal condition called ankylosing spondylitis and stricken with severe psoriasis, the unemployed father-of-two from Merseyside appeared to be a harmless computer buff.

So said a BBC story when the DoD members appeared in court in March.

“We would never rejoice in anyone going to prison, the BBC quotes Beth Scott, European manager for the Business Software Alliance, as saying unconvincingly, going on, their actions clearly contributed to a major piracy problem that impacts jobs, the economy and the businesses and consumers who benefit from innovation.

Wow. That a handful of geeks should have such a calamitous effect on the multi-billion-dollar software industry, which is nonetheless reporting booming business.

In the meanwhile, on appeal, the US was recently given permission to extradite former DoD member Hew Griffiths to the US on charges of copyright infringement and conspiracy.

As Shocking News says, 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.

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See:-
ankylosing spondylitis – UK DoD members convicted, p2pnet,, March 17, 2005
BBC – Internet piracy trio sent to jail, May 6, 2005
10 years in prison – DrinkorDie extradition: II, p2pnet, March 14, 2005

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