Leader of Warez Group Faces 10 Years in Jail

Hew Raymond Griffiths, 44, has been charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and one count of actual criminal copyright infringement. If found guilty he faces 10 years in jail and a $500,000 fine.

Griffiths was an alleged leader of the warez group DrinkorDie which allegedly prereleased Windows 95 two weeks before its official launch.

DrinkorDie consisted mainly of university undergraduates and was heavily supported by employees of software companies, who aided the group by leaking prerelease copies of software to the group.

Considered to have reached their peak before 1997, DrinkorDie remained on the government's radar. In 2000, the US Customs began their investigation into DrinkorDie and other warez groups such as RiSC, RAZOR1911, RiSCISO, Request To Send, ShadowRealm, WomenLoveWarez, and POPZ.