Shane Pitman, leader of the warez group Razor 1911: life after prison

Original author: Shane Pitman
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Recently, a user LeeMiller mentioned how, while studying a warez scene, I came across the story of Shane Pitman , who under the nickname Pitbull was the leader of Razor 1911 before the FBI operation “Buccaneer” in 2001, when he was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison after a year of investigation . At that time he was 31 years old, he was married and had 2 children.

In early 2005, while on probation, Shane started a topic on the Neowin website, in which he talked about his post-jail experience, hoping to find a job. The topic became very popular, and Shane gladly answered many questions that he was asked. One of the users selected the most interesting of them.

Under the cut is a translation of half of these questions, which concern those times when Shane was one of the most famous pirates in the world, how he was caught, and what he thinks about it. Everything else: about what was in prison, what he felt when he went out, etc. I omit, because it does not apply to the topic.

At the end I also bring his (Shane's) words, as if summing up the whole branch of questions.

The American judicial system is completely idiotic. You haven’t done anything SO terrible, and if not for you, someone else would have done it. You cannot control the entire Internet. You had to pay a fine, with confiscation, and no more than that.

Believe me, they confiscated everything. They took away all the computers that I had (10 pieces), was there anything illegal on them or not. They said "those things where there is no illegal material will be returned to you," but it was a lie. I had a G4 server on which I just installed OS X (legally), and nothing more, just a system. All that was left of it was a box and CDs, they did not return it, and they will never return it.

Maybe it will take some time. They returned everything to me (including illegal things, except for chopped blanks) about a year after the sentence (although I did not go to prison), that is, after 2 years they were taken away. True, it was not in the USA.

No, they sent me a letter saying that all my things were gone. They sold them, at auction or something. This is completely unfair, the judicial system is designed to protect citizens and be impartial, regardless of whether they are guilty or not.

Have you paid a fine, or a refund? In what size? Has the sentence been commuted?

No, I didn’t pay anything. The investigating officer determined that I was unable to pay anything. You see, at the time I was arrested, I was a network / system administrator at a company manufacturing fiber components. The investigation lasted a whole year, and the company I worked for was cutting staff. They greatly cut the entire IT department in favor of outsourcing, and of course I was fired too. The company would not leave a person who is likely to go to prison in the near future, it is not known how much. So since November 2002, I have been aground, and only occasionally received small money from contract work, which my friends threw at me. In general, I could not pay anything, either then or now.

Did you leave early? I noticed the difference between the date of the sentence and your release, it is less than 18 months.

Not. The rest of the time I was under house arrest.

How did you find out that you were “caught”, they called you, or did the police come to the house?

I was at work, the phone rang. It was an FBI agent, he said that they were at my house with a warrant and that I should come immediately, or they would knock out the door. I drove home, there were 7-8 FBI cars and customs. As soon as I stopped the car, they surrounded me, and when I opened the door, they grabbed me, threw me on the hood and searched. They were all in combat gear, in bulletproof vests, with FBI inscriptions on their backs. You would have thought that I was Saddam Hussein or something like that.

Then I led them into the house, they immediately put me facing the wall, and went around the house, room by room, with ready-made weapons, checking "is everything clean." With them was an elderly man, a civilian, who said that he was a “forensic expert”. He helped them describe all the things, at that time I was sitting in the hall. They packed them, gave me a receipt and left, saying that "they will be in touch."

Shane, how did you figure it out? Was this a mistake at the release, or did they track your IP? Maybe someone handed you over?

In a nutshell, I relaxed and became lazy. The feds covered the FTP server that I used. I connected to it directly, without a shell or proxy, and they recognized my IP address. I knew that this should not be done, I just went there so many times. So it usually happens. You relax, start walking the short paths, and as a result, you substitute yourself.

I don’t understand why people almost admire you for what you did, however, I wish you good luck in your search for work. Federal prison seems to me too harsh a punishment for violating copyright, but do you think you would stop if the case were limited to a suspended sentence?

Yes, I'm sure it would stop me. A search of the house, confiscation of all equipment, all this hell of an investigation for a whole year, that was enough for me. Believe it or not, I was going to give it up myself. I did everything I can, I reached the top, so to speak, and I began to age. Maybe another year, two by force, and I would gracefully bow and disappear to nowhere. They just expedited my departure.

And what is your team, Razor, do they still exist? It would be interesting to know. Do you still keep in touch with them?

No, that would be too dangerous. I am sure that the Razor 1911 still exists in some form. But honestly I don’t know. When all these raids began, everyone tried to disappear. No one called, no one spoke, no one ever went online. As for me and others who were then taken, we already fell into the sight of the government, but simply did not know this. Since then I have not talked to anyone. I don’t know if the group is acting, and who is in it now. I only know that I will never be there again. It's not worth what I went through. For copying some programs and games? Never.

Did you hack quake and release it before the official release?

Razor 1911 released Quake on July 23, 1996. This is a historical fact, and I can’t say anything else so as not to violate the rules of this site.

I wonder how many people who participated in this trial and the investigation could honestly say that they paid for everything that they have on the computer? I bet there are very few ...

I have to ask, do you think the sentence was unfair? That is, that you were sent to prison, instead of a suspended sentence? I saw that you confessed that you were about to leave the scene soon, this fact was mentioned at the trial, do you think it would have any effect?


Honestly, this whole thing dispelled my respect for the federal government and the judiciary. I was imprisoned for copyright infringement, and while I was in prison, I saw an assistant prison guard changing DVD films with his secretary ...

No, the fact that I planned to leave the scene was not mentioned, and I do not think that would help. It's like saying "I was going to rob only one more bank" or "I would kill only one more person."

Do I think the sentence was fair? No I do not think so. I have never been punished in my life, except for speeding once, when I was a teenager. Until the very last week, before I went to jail, I was an assistant to the leader of the scouts in the squad in which I had been a member since I was 10 years old. I was a flag football and baseball coach at a local club. None of this mattered. Nothing good that you did, no merits are taken into account, have no weight.

What do you think of illegal software? I know this is a big question, but at least briefly.

My opinion is this. Yes, I know that sooner or later, pirated software gets on the streets in different countries, where it is sold for nothing. BUT, if there were no warez groups, those who sell pirated software would still do it. They would wait until it goes on sale, buy one copy, and start selling. Neither I, nor a single person with whom I was familiar on stage, never earned a cent on this. In fact, on the contrary, I even spent money. In general, what I did was violate copyright laws. I do not agree with these laws 100%, but they were written by people with big money so that they always have a lot of money, so I doubt that these laws will change for the better in the near future. That is why I am an ardent supporter of the open source community.

And you do not find that episode, with the exchange of DVD, incredibly ironic? I wonder if you are not going to fight this system, after all the injustice shown to you?

I saw a lot of things, the prisoners did photocopies of books for the prison staff, because they did not want to spend money on their purchase, and so much more that was a direct violation of the very laws for the violation of which I was convicted. I hardly mention a small fraction in this thread.

If you had a chance, would you do it again? (your life with razor)

Sacrifice a year of life with my wife, my daughter (who is now 13) and a 7-year-old son, parents, and the rest of the family. Not only did I suffer, they did too. Would I do it again? No way, it's not worth it. My life is ruined, only because of copying some stupid software, for which a year after the release no one will give a broken penny.

One may ask, why did you decide to join razor then?

It's a long story. In short, I got involved in this business since my youth, in the days of BBS-approx. Over time, I began to contact the first warez and demo groups. So, one by one, I soon had my own BBS-k with several friends. Gradually, it all went online. It was like that. I am thinking of writing a more detailed long story, but here I cannot publish it.

Have you ever thought of retraining for another specialty, especially after computer-related events that occurred in prison? After that, I personally would hate computers.

Believe me, there was a time when I wanted to never see a computer again in my life. But alas, that’s all I can do. That is, I have been doing this for so long, and, frankly, technology is still my passion. I don’t think that I could work anywhere outside the technical industry.

What happened to the others who were convicted along with you, do you keep in touch with any of them or not? What was your role in razor, just coordination, or supplier / cracker?

I don’t know what happened to the others, and what they are doing now. I have not spoken to any of them since the moment of my arrest. I read that one of them managed to avoid problems, and I hope that the others will also have such a chance.

Over the years, I have had many roles, from the BBS sysop to the actual leadership of the group.

When you were on stage, were you afraid that you would be caught?

I never really feared that they would catch me. I knew all those with whom I was connected very well, and they were all in business for many, many years, like me. I was careful, like everyone else, however, as it happens, you calm down over time. I didn’t hide the traces as well as needed, I didn’t take the old precautions, and in the end I was caught because of this.

Did anyone know in your family?

The family knew what I was doing, to some extent. They knew that I could get any movie they wanted to watch, or a CD they needed. No one in my family is particularly computer savvy, so programs for them mean nothing, but they knew that whatever they needed, I had it. I don’t think they imagined how serious it was, no.

Do you think the FBI or the provider are monitoring your actions now?

I do not know. However, I am not particularly worried about this. Now I don’t download anything, except for Linux distributions, beta versions of various programs and similar things. If they are watching me now, they must be dying of boredom.



Perhaps this will come as a surprise to some, but the reason for such tough licensing methods and copy protection is very far from the “warez scene”. The main reason they are being introduced is corporate and commercial piracy. These are situations when a company buys one copy of a program and puts it on all its computers, or when a person buys a copy, makes 10,000 copies from it and sells it on the streets. Yes, the warez scene is illegal, it violates the law, but it is only a small part of the global problem of piracy. Do you think companies are downloading releases of warez groups? No, they want to be sure that they are using a real product, not to mention the fact that they need at least some kind of technical support. Software companies admit that not everyone will buy a 400-dollar copy of MS Office 2003 for each computer for the home. However they expect that every company will do so. Knowing that almost every fourth business uses “pirated software” (using one copy for several computers is also piracy), they come up with increasingly sophisticated methods of protection against copying and activation. This is not because of the “warez scene”, no, no, it is because of the corporate world and people who go to buy discs on trays a week before the movie premiere. That is why we are sick of these registrations, validations, and all that.

Do not believe anyone, seek, read, think for yourself. The warez scene is just a convenient scapegoat in the global piracy problem. They will not tell you about the real problems, because they are in almost every corporation in the world. All these roundups and arrests on stage are nothing but PR. Of course, this slows down the exchange in P2P networks for a while, but it is immediately restored. No, the real problem and the culprit of what we have to endure lies within the walls of corporate America and all other countries that do not follow a course of strict audit and control.

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