Hew Raymond Griffiths

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Hew Raymond Griffiths (born 8th November 1962 in the UK) has been accused by the United States of being a ring leader of DrinkOrDie or DOD, an underground software piracy network. Griffiths was living in Bateau Bay in the Central Coast Region of NSW, Australia before he was placed on remand at Silverwater Detention Centre. After fighting extradition for almost 3 years, Hew was finally extradited from Australia to the United States on February 20, 2007 and appeared before Magistrate Judge Barry R. Portez of the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

His case is of interest in that he is an Australian who has been indicted by a court in Virginia for US copyright infringement. Hew Raymond Griffiths has never at any point physically left Australia since arriving in his adopted country at an early age. This is an unusual situation in that the US extradition is not targeting a fugitive nor a dangerous person who financially profited from his activities. The case highlights the serious consequences for Australian internet users who are charged with pirating US copyright-protected material. It is also apparent that the recently concluded Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement is the basis for a new and unprecedented type of bilateral co-operation in relation to enforcing copyright in cyberspace.

It is predicted that Griffith's trial before a jury on 14 May 2007 will attract significant attention in the United States and presumably also in countries which have recently signed, or are currently negotiating, bilateral Free Trade Agreements with the USA.