Aussie court blocks DrinkorDie extradition

Australian magistrates have blocked the extradition of the alleged head of a software piracy syndicate to the US.

Hew Raymond Griffiths, 41, of Berkeley Vale in New South Wales, Australia, was indicted on one count of criminal copyright infringement and one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement by a Virginia grand jury last year. US investigators charge that Griffiths rose trough the ranks to become leader of the infamous DrinkorDie piracy group, which released a pirated copy of Windows 95, days before its official release and has been getting up to similar antics ever since.

But the circumstances of the case failed to persuade Downing Centre Local Court Magistrate Daniel Reiss that Griffiths ought to be extradited.

Griffiths' alleged crimes took place in Australia. Griffiths had never travelled to the US and, what's more, he'd "never been a fugitive fleeing or hiding from the extradition country".