Bandido of Drink or Die Fame Gives TV Interview
ABC |
12 May 2008 (6:40 AM) GMT
| Ipggi |
582 clicks

Hew Griffiths, aka Bandido of Drink or Die fame. The man was caught up in Operation Buccaneer back in 2001. Who spent many years fighting an extradition order to the US, for a crime that would not have warranted jail time in home country of Australia. Was release from a US Federal Prison in Virginia the earlier in the year. Hew has since returned home to Australia and has conducted a television interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Lateline current affairs program.
Under the guise of "Elder of Internet Piracy talks to Lateline", Hew talks about his time in prison, his time as the leader of Drink or Die and why he thought the previous Australian federal government did nothing to help his case.
A transcript of the interview in full can be found at the ABC's Lateline website, as can the video.
Former Fairlight Leader Turned Republican Chairman
The Raw Story |
03 May 2008 (12:16 AM) GMT
| Ipggi |
761 clicks

Last Thursday the leftist, sensationalist, US political blog The Raw Story had outed conservative San Diego Republican Chairman Tony Krvaric as one time scene member Strider. Strider is probably best known as one of two guys who co-founded Fairlight back in 1987 on the Commodore 64. Later in 1992, after being inspired by Ronald Ragan he migrated to the USA and for a short time continued the group's activities on the PC. Mr Krvaric has never shied away from his scene past. In 1993 he incorporated Fairlight Trading in California. He has used the strider alias with e-mail addresses and the Fairlight web domain for politicial campaigns. What did Mr Krvaric have to say about his recent expose? Apparently there's a hit piece floating around on me, 'exposing' my wild high school, teenage years where I was in a computer club where we swapped Commodore 64 games (similar to how kids swap mp3 music files these days). This was in the 80's, on a computer that's long since defunct! This is not the first time the Internet has been used to attack Mr Krvaric. It was only 13 months ago when an online publication known as the Californian Christian News wrote an article accusing Mr Krvaric of being pro-American flag burning. They cited a 1995 public forum message board, quoting a reply apparently written by the Republican Chairman on the hot topic. Now that everyone knows Strider's current political stance and position with the Republican Party. The old Commodore 64 Fairlight tag, 'kill a commie for mummy' certainly takes on another meaning for many old schoolers.
Westbam Passing
03 May 2008 (12:09 AM) GMT
| Ipggi |
177 clicks
After the recent unfortunate news in regards to the death of Dr. Detergent. It was alerted to us that Westbam had also passed away two years ago at the age of 36.
Westbam was most known for his European based activities with TRSI, Razor 1911, INC, and Legend in the early to mid-1990s and later with the original Divine.
Dr. Detergent Passes Away
02 Apr 2008 (7:59 AM) GMT
| Ipggi |
185 clicks
We have the unfortunate task of relaying some sad news today.
I just found out that a friend, Dr. Detergent has passed away. It's been some time but I just managed to find him again since we lost contact for a very long time. Unfortunately I found out he had passed away in his sleep at the age of 33.
Dr. Detergent was a well respected cracker and programmer the 1990s. Known for his cracking ability, his name could often be found on various cracks and trainers for various games from the golden era of PC gaming. A former member of many renowned groups he will be missed by the many people who worked with him during those legendary Razor 1911, The Dream Team, Syndicate, Phoenix, INC and The Humble Guys days.
Untouchables Tutorial by Dr Detergent from 1993
The Dream Team NFO written by Dr Detergent
Untouchables NFO written by Dr Detergent
Defacto2 Scene Site Pack
07 Jan 2008 (2:19 AM) GMT
| Ipggi |
1972 clicks
Today we are proud to release the Defacto2 Scene Site Pack. This new package is replacement for the old and forgotten The Scene Archive BBS Pack, which hadn't been updated since 2001. The replacement pack contains extensive BBS-tros, ANSI, ascii and image adverts for numerous worldwide elite sites from the nineteen nineties. These have been all sorted into directories derived from the site's original and complete name.
There are 375 different Bulletin Board Systems listed containing over a thousand different adverts. While over on the Internet side we have an additional 60 elite FTP sites which hold 62 adverts.
A complete list of all the sites included can be found here, while the pack itself can be downloaded from here.
Former Leader of Mage Sentenced to 12 Months
Linux Electrons |
05 Nov 2007 (12:06 AM) GMT
| Ipggi |
1259 clicks
Justin Emch, 27 of Kenmore, Washington has been sentenced to 12 months prison on one felony count of conspiracy to infringe on copyright. He has also been ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and serve two years of a supervised release.
Emch was one of many scene members netted in the April 2004 worldwide bust known as Operation Fastlink. His group Mage was a minor player in the underground application ISO scene who continued to release for over a year after his arrest.
Incidentally Mage used to include a generic disclaimer in the NFO file of their releases. It would state that the release is copyrighted, and that the warez release was only allowed to be used as a personal backup or archive. This type of disclaimer was quite common in the old BBS pirate scene days during the early 1990s. Obviously disclaimers are nothing more than wasted space.
MaGE LEGAL DISCLAIMER; It is against the law to reproduce copyrighted material for the purpose of selling it to third parties. US Law only allows for you to make one backup copy of any software or media for personal and archival purposes, which is the ONLY intended use for this software. This program is not meant for those who intend on breaking copyright laws. In no way will we be held responsible if you do. Any other use of this software is strictly prohibited.
Kortelio from Fairlight and Kalisto Fined US$7500
Technology News Daily |
19 Sep 2007 (11:19 AM) GMT
| Technology News Daily |
1003 clicks
ALBERT BRYNDZA, also known as "Kortelio," age 35, of Parlin, New Jersey, was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to three years of probation, the first six months of which BRYNDZA must serve confined to his home. Judge Chatigny also ordered BRYNDZA to pay a fine in the amount of $7500 and to perform 120 hours of community service. On March 8, 2005, BRYNDZA waived indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. This matter stems from a multinational software piracy investigation known as "Operation Higher Education."
According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, between June 1999 and April 2004, BRYNDZA was a participant in the "warez scene," an underground online community consisting of individuals and organized groups who engage in the large scale reproduction, modification and distribution of copyrighted software over the internet. BRYNDZA was a member of Fairlight and Kalisto, online piracy release groups that specialized in the illegal distribution of computer games, including PC and console games. BRYNDZA has admitted that he built and operated two large servers for use by members of the Fairlight and Kalisto groups (among others) to store and distribute thousands of titles of pirated software and other digital media. From June 2000 to April 2004, Kalisto was responsible for releasing to the warez scene pirated copies of more than 500 well-known, copyrighted computer games, often before the date of their legitimate commercial release.
Former Kalisto Ripper Fined and Sentanced To Three Years Probation
United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut |
12 Aug 2007 (10:12 AM) GMT
| Tom Carson |
1158 clicks
Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JEFFREY LERMAN, also known as "asdgadg," "kall," "ht," and "reg," age 23, of College Park, Maryland, was sentenced today by Chief United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to three years of probation, the first six months of which LERMAN must serve confined to his home. Judge Chatigny also ordered LERMAN to pay a fine in the amount of $7500. On March 8, 2005, LERMAN waived indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. This matter stems from a multinational software piracy investigation known as "Operation Higher Education." In pleading guilty, LERMAN admitted that, between January 2002 and April 2004, he was a participant in the "warez scene," an underground online community consisting of individuals and organized groups who engage in the large scale reproduction, modification and distribution of copyrighted software over the internet. Specifically, LERMAN was a prominent member of the warez group known as "Kalisto," where he served as a "ripper" for pirated copies of computer games so that each game would fit onto a single CD-ROM. LERMAN eliminated or circumvented the games' copy protection controls in order to facilitate the further unauthorized distribution of the games over the internet. From June 2000 to April 2004, Kalisto was responsible for releasing to the warez scene pirated copies of more than 500 well-known, copyrighted computer games, often before the date of their legitimate commercial release.
Bandido, Former Drink Or Die Leader is Sentenced to 51 months Jail
Slyck News |
25 Jun 2007 (7:51 AM) GMT
| Thomas Mennecke |
1705 clicks
Caught up in the whirlwind following the raids were Australian native Hew Raymond Griffiths. Hew was the administrator, or "ring leader", of DrinkOrDie. For the last three years, Hew has been fighting an extradition to the United States, where the US DOJ wanted him to face trial - or plead guilty - on American soil. The US DOJ got their wish in February, when the Australian government released him into American custody. On April 20th, 2007, Hew plead guilty to criminal copyright infringement charges.
The US DOJ, as do many sources, point out that this is a unique case in the fact that Hew has never laid foot on American soil, nor has he ever committed a crime on US soil, yet was still successfully extradited for his crimes. The US DOJ annunciated this fact in their statement on Friday, reveling in 51 month sentencing of Hew Griffiths.
So it appears that Hew was not safe on Australian soil, where according to his lawyer the penalties would have been less severe.
"Effectively my client was sent to face charges in a foreign country where he has no knowledge of the legal system and no friends or family," his lawyer told The Sunday Age. "He has been surrendered to a country where the penalties for such offenses are much harsher."
The only mitigating circumstance for Hew Griffiths is the US Judge took into consideration his time already served in Australia. Although he was sentenced 51 months, he was granted 3 years already served. According to The Age, he should be out of prison in 15 months. With good behavior, it's likely he'll be out sooner than that.
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1991 Razor 1911 is forced to merge into International Network of Crackers for a brief time because two key members betrayed the group and jumped ship to a competing group The Dream Team. 1992 Did you know that some warez groups also dabbled in the HPAV scene? It was around this time that both Fairlight and then The Dream Team start their own hacking and phreaking divisions. 1995 #Fatefiles is mention for the first time in RCN. As the first IRC 0-day warez trading channel it is first look at as a curiosity by the scene, before quickly being frowned upon for being too open and popular. It is eventually disowned by it's original creators 'Fast Action Trading Elite' when the channel becomes a haven for lamer leechers. 1995 The first issue of Reality Check Network was published. At it's peak RCN was the most popular and well known non-hacking underground publication.
What do you class as the underground oldskool scene?
The Scene Portal is a collection of 257 categorised web links from around the Internet.
Below are our most recent additions added on the 19th of March.
Groups were the bread and butter of the scene and this is our section dedicated to them. This section is a repository for your favourite groups. Where you can find tidbits of information, random pieces of artwork, key NFO files, as well as interviews, documents and web pages.
Crack-intros are an important part of the scene giving programmers the opportunity to show off their talents to competing groups.
Bulletin Board Systems were the focal point for communication on the scene. Groups would upload their releases to these BBSes and download their competitors'.
Text has given people the voices to spread what they need to say to hundreds or even thousands of people, easily and quickly. The text files listed below obviously have something in relation to the pirate scene.
Emags as they are affectionately known first appeared on the PC scene in the very early nineties and where usually put out by groups on a very limited basis.
Text based magazines have been around for decades, and have been used to report pirate activities for nearly just as long. Now while text magazines don't have the glitz and glamour of their coded counter parts. Ease of publication, portability and compatibility made this a popular magazine format.
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