Awarez group is a tightly organised group of people involved in creating and/or distributingwarez such as movies, music orsoftware ("warez") inThe Scene. There are different types of these groups in the Scene:release groups andcourier groups. Groups often compete, as being the first to bring out a new quality release can bring status and respect – a type of "vanity contest". The warez groups care about the image others have of them.[1]
ANALOG Computing observed in 1984 that software piracy did not make sense economically to those performing thesoftware cracking.[2] The primary motivation of warez groups is not monetary gain, but the excitement of breaking rules and beating competitors,[3][4] although at least two Scene groups have been asking forbitcoin donations, PoWeRUp and spamTV.[5] Individual members of these groups are usually also the authors ofcracks andkeygens.[3]
There are warez groups publishing new content outside of the Scene, often referred to asP2P groups.[6] They are a lot more accessible for people with access to new movies and are not limited to a set ofrules and regulations.[6]
TheFBI have been combating warez groups with Operation: Cyberstrike,Operation Buccaneer,Operation Fastlink,Operation Safehaven andOperation Site Down.[7][8] Similarly, the P2P group IMAGiNE has been disbanded due to law enforcement actions.[9]
Some game and software groups includeRazor 1911,Reloaded,DrinkOrDie,Pirates With Attitude,Class,Myth andFairlight. For a larger list, see thelist of warez groups.
Release groups are responsible for making warez releases. For example, theyrip a movie from DVD (often times, the Region 2/UK DVDs), encode it to a video file and chop it up in smaller pieces before sharing it. They are at the top of the warez world.[10] An announcement of the release shows up inpre databases after making the release available on their affiliatesites. Access to the original software products is necessary to write cracks and keygens so they share original media among each other, usually using private sites and servers.[3] Communication between members happens withIRC.[4]
Warez groups typically addNFO files with their releases. Due to the nature of the scene, not much is known about these groups. Most groups follow one of the differentwarez standards to prevent beingnuked. Most groups are focused on a singlecategory (music, movies, television, ...) or genre (e.g. metal music or graffiti).[11]
The group members have different roles. Most groups have one or more group leaders, aided by people with assignments such as supplier, cracker or ripper.[4]
Courier groups take releases and distribute them. This can be done usingFXP toFTP sites. There are more couriers in the scene than there are crackers, suppliers and sites combined.[1]
Couriers are a specific class oftopsite users who earn their access by uploading new releases and filling requests. When a courier gains access to a topsite, they are often required to pass a trial test such as uploading a certain amount in a short period of time.[12]
Couriers compete (race) against each other for respect,credits, access to other topsites, and fun.[13] Private couriers often operate as independent (iND) couriers. Some couriers band together to formcourier groups which provide support and friendship through camaraderie. Although it may be noted that Couriers/Racers are looked down upon more than ever by affiliates and topsite staff with the increase of scripts that perform the couriers tasks automatically.
I continue to be amazed by the tenacity of the pirates. There are software publishers who market disks which contain 500 unformatted disk sectors. To make an illegal copy of such a disk, you would have to search a sea of unformatted sectors to find a single sector of binary zeroes. Yet I know that there are individuals who will spend untold hours listening to their drives make the most horrifying sounds imaginable while they search for an oasis in a desert of unformatted tracks. Eight hours and 1000 I/O errors later, they've created a back-up of a program which retails for a $29.95! I guess that using leisure time effectively, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
Like the pirates, the couriers do this largely for bragging rights, not money.