Amsterdam, 9 mei 2005 - De Business Software Alliance heeft verheugd gereageerd op de uitkomsten van het onderzoek van de Britse National Hi-Tech Crime Unit naar leden van het wereldwijde 'DrinkorDie'-netwerk. Als gevolg hiervan werden vier leden van dit softwarepiraterijnetwerk in Engeland veroordeeld tot gevangenisstraffen variërend van 18 maanden tot tweeëneenhalf jaar.
De groep, die actief was in Europa, de Verenigde Staten en Australië, haalde de copyrightbescherming uit softwareprogramma's en stelde de software vervolgens gratis beschikbaar op het internet. Eén van de veroordeelden werkte als IT-manager bij een internationale bank.
Onderstaand vindt u het volledige Engelstalige persbericht van de Business Software Alliance. Meer informatie over het onderzoek is op te vragen bij Lammers van Toorenburg Benelux PR, Cas Heuvelmans / Marjan Kok, tel: 030 -65 65 070 of e-mail: bsa@lvtpr.nl
Voor meer informatie
Lammers van Toorenburg Benelux PR
Cas Heuvelmans / Marjan Kok
Telefoon: 030 - 65 65 070
E-mail: bsa@lvtpr.nl
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GLOBAL INTERNET PIRACY RING MEMBERS SENTENCED IN UK
Prison for DrinkorDie group including IT Manager for Multinational Bank
- Follows NHTCU 'Operation Blossom' investigation assisted by BSA -
London, 6th May 2005: the Business Software Alliance (BSA) applauded the work of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) for its investigation into UK members of the global DrinkorDie network which today resulted in prison sentences for four of the software piracy group.
A. Bell, S. Dowd, A. Eardley and M. Vent of the DrinkorDie Internet piracy ring were sentenced for up to two and a half years imprisonment at London's Central Criminal Court, by Judge Focke.
- A. Bell, 29, a former IT manager for a multinational bank, was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years for conspiracy to defraud
- S. Dowd, 39, was convicted and sentenced to two years for conspiracy to defraud
- M. Vent, 30, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to 18 months
- A. Eardley, 35, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced 18 months (suspended for two years)
The sentencing concludes one of the largest global investigations into Internet piracy, which began in October 2000 and led to over seventy search warrants being executed in the Australia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the US and UK. The investigation has to date resulted in custodial sentences of up to 46 months in Australia, Norway, the US and now the UK.
Detective Superintendent Mick Deats, Deputy Head of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, part of the National Crime Squad, said: "Although members of DrinkorDie were motivated by the prestige of rapidly cracking new software rather than financial gain and considered their activity to be a hobby, they clearly had a significant impact on the software industry. Not only did DrinkorDie make software available for illegal download, their 'warez'(1) became the raw materials that others, such as organised crime gangs, used and continue to use for criminal profit."
Beth Scott, Vice President, EMEA, Business Software Alliance reacted to the sentencing: "DrinkorDie members helped create a software black market worth millions of pounds. These individuals were not naïve teenage hackers but adults with seemingly responsible jobs. We would never rejoice in anyone going to prison but we do not accept their defence that this was a victimless crime - their actions clearly contributed to a major piracy problem that impacts jobs, the economy and the businesses and consumers who benefit from innovation."
Copyright law violation has become a major issue for all creative industries. Recent research by IDC found that 29 per cent of software in the UK is pirated. Furthermore, IDC estimated that a 10 point reduction in the piracy rate would generate an additional £10bn toward UK GDP, a further £2.5bn in tax revenues and 40,000 jobs in the IT sector within three years.
NHTCU identified four levels of operators within the DrinkorDie network: suppliers, crackers, testers and packagers:
- Suppliers, such as Dowd, would obtain the software and pass it on to crackers
- Crackers would then reverse engineer the software
- Once cracked, testers, often IT managers with access to sophisticated computer systems, then made sure the reconfigured software worked before passing it to on to the packagers.
- Packagers uploaded the software onto secure
The group also operated with several layers of 'management' including Ordinary Members, Staff Members, Council Members and Leader.
Detective Superintendent Mick Deats noted: "This case illustrates the many faces behind Internet piracy. Some of these members were successful white-collar business workers by day and DrinkOrDie members by night. Globally, the investigation identified members who were corporate executives, computer network administrators, students, and even government workers."
The case also highlights the need for businesses to implement effective software and network management policies in order to ensure that employees are not using corporate networks for illegal activities as was happening in the DrinkorDie case.
Beth Scott concluded: "This is another case which proves the scale of damage that fairly sophisticated piracy gangs can inflict on Europe's creative industries. Enforcement deterrents, in the form of criminal sentencing, play a vital role alongside educational efforts in fighting piracy."
1) Warez refers to software that has been stripped of its copy-protection and made available on the Internet for downloading
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About NHTCU:
The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), part of the National Crime Squad, was launched in April 2001. It is a multi-agency Unit with staff from the Police, the National Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS), the Military and HM Customs & Excise. It is the UK's first national law enforcement organisation tasked to combat computer-based serious and organised crime. The Unit works in partnership with other law enforcement agencies, Government, business and industry. www.nhtcu.org
About BSA:
The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members represent one of the fastest growing industries in the world. BSA programs foster technology innovation through education and policy initiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e-commerce. BSA members include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Borland, CNC Software/Mastercam, Internet Security Systems, Macromedia, McAfee, Microsoft, PTC, SolidWorks, Sybase, Symantec, UGS and VERITAS Software.