Alleged Aussie pirate sails from authorities in the US

lanky used our news submit to tell us that Hew Griffiths can stay down under and escape the clutches of the US legal system. We reported on this story a little over a week ago. He was alleged to be a ringleader of the Drink or Die gang that dealt in pirated software. Some of the other less fortunate are already serving time in prison. Still more await sentencing. But they were living in the US, Hew was in Austrailia, but there was an effort to have him extradited to the US for possible prosecution there.

Downing Centre Local Court Magistrate Daniel Reiss said he was not persuaded that the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, acting on behalf of US authorities, had made out a case for extradition. He highlighted the unusual nature of the matter, including that the offences were alleged to have occurred in Australia, and that Mr Griffiths - who had never travelled to the US - had "never been a fugitive fleeing or hiding from the extradition country".

Mr Griffiths was accused of being one who controlled access to a drop site for pirated software at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer network. Supposedly, the drop station sometimes had software weeks ahead of a public release. 

Source: News.com.au