Steven Dowd, 39, of Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, and Alex Bell, 29, of Chafford Hundred, Essex, are both accused of being members of DrinkorDie, a group of software pirates that cracked many hundreds of commercial programs.
Both men deny the charges.
The Old Bailey heard on Tuesday that the two accused believed they were leading a "Robin Hood" existence, by making expensive software freely available over the Internet.
"They may see themselves as latter-day Robin Hoods, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, but in reality it is a cover for fraud," said Bruce Houlder QC, prosecutor, according to reports.
Houlder added that the pair "live and breathe a world of computer software".
DrinkorDie was an international alliance of software pirates, known as a warez network.
The group shot to prominence in the mid-1990s, when it released a cracked copy of Windows 95 onto the Internet two weeks before Microsoft had officially launched the product. It was said to be effectively shut down after a series of raids by law enforcement agencies worldwide in 2001.
Police say DrinkorDie had members in the US, Russia, the UK, Australia, Finland and Norway. An attempt to extradite an alleged member of the group from Australia to the US failed in March 2004, but American prosecutors are still fighting this ruling.
It's thought that the group had contacts within software companies, who could supply it with new software that hasn't yet been released.
The British Software Alliance, an industry body that fights software piracy, cites DrinkorDie as an example of the disregard that it claims many people have for copyright. In August it published research which found that 44 per cent of 18 to 29 year-olds in the UK possessed pirate or counterfeit goods.
The case continues.
Talkback
THE trial of a Newton man accused of playing a part in an
international software piracy ring continued this week. London's
Old Bailey heard from another former gang member-turned-informer on
Tuesday who gave evidence against Steve Dowd, 39, of Sandpiper
Close, Newton, and a second man, Alex Bell, 29,of Plymouth Road,
Essex, for their alleged part in a computer hackers group, known as
'Drink or Die'. Latest fbi informer, James Cudney,aka (bcr8tive)
gave evidence via a video link from Washington to explain the inner
workings of 'Drink or Die'. The court heard how members adopted
code names and Mr Cudney said he recruited 'Maverick' who in turn
introduced 'Tim', whom the prosecution claims to be Dowd. Dowd's
barrister Timothy King QC asked Mr Cudney: "Was it part of your
scheme to bring people in order to present an attractive package to
the authorities?"Mr Cudney denied the claim.
James Cudney,aka (bcr8tive) of the 'Drink or Die' group, was
accused by the defence of 'masquerading' as other crackers before
being recruited by the American authorities.he was a member of
zeraw grp from 1995-1997,
which in case helped him crack in to the high end of the scene for
the fbi.But Cudney, giving evidence for the prosecution on Tuesday,
denied the defence claims.London's Old Bailey heard how Steven Dowd,
39, of Sandpiper Close, Newton, and Alex Bell, 29, of Chafford
Hundred, Essex, claimed that they had been set up by senior members
of the 'Drink or Die' hackers group on Internet chatrooms.It is
claimed that Dowd, known as Tim, and Bell, known as Mr 2940, both
talked about their activities in the gang during online meetings.
But Cudney,aka (bcr8tive) giving evidence for the prosecution on Tuesday, denied
the defence claims.
l The trial continues.
Great! You've caught a cracking group. Now take down the 1000s more that are around. It's just one and there are many more. This won't have much of an effect.