Pirates With Attitude
 PWA ASCII art logo by R.Noble of MiRAGE | |
| Formation | Early 1990s |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Warez / Cracking |
| Location |
|
Origin | New York |
Founders | Orion BarManager |
| Affiliations | International Network of Crackers |
Pirates With Attitudes (PWA) was a major international warez release group between 1992 and 2000. The group was established by two former International Network of Crackers members known by the pseudonyms Orion and BarManager. PWA was also very well known during the tail end of the BBS-era for their development of modifications and enhancements ("mods") for the PCBoard BBS software.
On May 4, 2000, the United States Department of Justice released a press report stating that conspiracy and copyright infringement charges had been brought against several members of PWA under the NET Act (No Electronic Theft Act). The day after the DOJ's report, PWA released a .nfo file officially announcing their retirement. PWA was one of the first groups ever to be prosecuted under this act of law.
Members
Alleged members of Pirates with Attitudes according to U.S. Department of Justice:
- Robin Rothberg, aka "Marlenus," (9/11/67) 32, of Newburyport, Massachusetts (pleaded guilty)
- Mark Veerboken, aka "Shiffie," of Belgium
- Steven Ahnen, aka "Code3," (4/13/58) 42, of Sarasota, Florida (pleaded guilty)
- Christian Morley, aka "Mercy" (4/13/73) 27, of Salem, Massachusetts (convicted)
- Justin Robbins, aka "Warlock," (2/10/76), 24, of Lake Station, Indiana (pleaded guilty)
- Jason Slater, aka "Technic," (4/28/70) 30, of Sunnyvale, California (pleaded guilty)
- Todd Veillette, aka "Gizmo," (11/21/59) 40, of Oakdale, Connecticut (pleaded guilty)
- Thomas Oliver, aka "RAMBONE," (7/14/65) 34, of Aurora, Illinois (pleaded guilty)
- Mark Stone, aka "Stoned," (3/24/66) 34, of California (pleaded guilty)
- Dionne, aka "akasha", of West Palm Beach, Florida (pleaded guilty)
- Chowdery, real name unknown
- James Tinner, aka inspector gadget, Spokane WA
References
- U.S. INDICTS 17 IN ALLEGED INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE PIRACY CONSPIRACY- Archive of US DoJ website posting
- O'Reagan, Patrick T.; Snyder, Cecily Anne (February 2004). "No Requirement of Jury Instructions of Fair Use for Pirates with Attitudes' Cracking Software and Making It Available on the Internet". Journal of Internet Law. 7 (8): 22–24. ISSN 1094-2904. "Pirates with Attitude (PWA) is a group organized and dedicated to making copyrighted software available over the Internet."
- McCandless, David (1997-04-05). "Warez Wars". Wired. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
- Goldman, Eric (2004-04-09). "Warez Trading and Criminal Copyright Infringement, Part 2".
- "First guilty verdict under US internet piracy law". 2001-05-06.
- "17 indicted in alleged software theft scam". 2000-05-05. Archived from the original on 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
- 348 F.3d 666: United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Jason Slater and Christian Morley, Defendants-appellants
- Newton, Michael (2003). The Encyclopedia of High-tech Crime and Crime-fighting. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 1438129866.