The ringleader of a software piracy group known as DrinkOrDie today
was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for his role in a
"warez" operation that caused millions of dollars in damages, federal
prosecutors said.
John Sankus, Jr., 28, of Philadelphia, received a 46-month sentence
from a U.S. District Court judge on one count of conspiracy to commit
criminal copyright infringement.
Sankus, who pleaded guilty to the charge on Feb. 22, is the second of
eight DrinkOrDie associates to be sentenced. Former Symantec engineer
Barry Erickson, 35, of Eugene, Ore., on May 2 was given a 33-month
term after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate copyright law.
Erickson provided the group with Symantec software - before its
official release date - to be stripped of its copyright protections
and sold illegally on the Internet. The sentences imposed on Sankus
and Erickson are the longest ever given to Internet software pirates
that belonged to an organized group, said Paul J. McNulty, U.S.
Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
"John Sankus and his techno-gang operated in the faceless world of
the Internet and thought they would never be caught," McNulty said in
a news release. "They were wrong. These sentences, and those to
follow, should send a message to others entertaining similar beliefs
of invincibility."
Using the screen nickname eriFlleH - HellFire spelled
backwards - Sankus supervised the operation of 65 members from at
least 12 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom,
Australia, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
DrinkOrDie, which investigators say is among the oldest software
piracy groups in existence, was at the center of a federal probe
called "Operation Buccaneer" that led to the execution of 70 search
warrants worldwide.
"Suppliers" like Erickson provided new software and "crackers"
defeated the software's copyright protections to allow unlimited
reproduction and use by anyone who was able to obtain it.
Members used DrinkOrDie's private mail server to send encoded
messages, identified themselves only by their screen nicknames
and conducted group business in closed, invite-only IRC channels.
The group's Internet file transfer and storage sites - which held
tens of thousands of pirated software, games, movies, and
music - were password-protected and secured by additional
authentication mechanisms, McNulty said.
DrinkOrDie is among a large number of warez that illegally distribute
hundreds of thousands of copies of copyrighted works around the world
worth billions of dollars in losses each year, he said.
