Razor 1911

Infobox computer underground
group_name = Razor 1911


caption = Razor 1911 ANSI NFO header by JED of ACiD.
origin =
country = Norway
status = active
years_active = October 1985 – present
category = warez / demo
founders = Doctor No
Insane TTM
Sector9
products =
affiliates =
website = http://www.razor1911.com

Razor 1911 (RZR) is a warez and demo group, with a history similar to that of Fairlight. According to the computer crime division of the United States Department of Justice, Razor 1911 is the "oldest game software piracy ring on the internet". [http://www.cybercrime.gov/pitmanSent.htm]

History

The group was originally founded as "Razor 2992" by Doctor No, Insane TTM and Sector9 in Norway, October 1985 as a Commodore 64 software cracking group. Shortly after, they changed from 2992 to 1911 as a jab at other crackers who tended to overuse the number 666 - the suffix "1911" translates to 777 in
hexadecimal.

Between 1987 and 1988 the group began to move away from the Commodore 64 and migrated to a new hardware platform, coding demos and cracking games for the Amiga. In the very early 1990s Razor 1911 made another transition, this time to the IBM PC, foremost as a cracking group, but still continuing to release highly regarded cracktro loaders, demos and music.

Razor was a dominant supply group on diskette from 1992 until diskettes were abandoned for CD-ROMs. Throughout the 1990s Razor faced competition from many different groups, moving from groups such as TRSi, The Dream Team (TDT) and Fairlight (FLT) in 1994 to Prestige, Hybrid (HBD), and others in 1995. Arguably weakened by this time Razor was revitalised by new members gained from another group, Nexus, who brought with them some UK suppliers and the leaders The Speed Racer (TSR), Hot Tuna and The Gecko. Razor had a handful of other leaders throughout the 1990s, such as Zodact, The Renegade Chemist (TRC), The WiTcH KiNG, Butcher, Marauder, and Randall Flagg.

In 1995 diskette releases were rapidly being supplanted by CD-ROMs, so Razor 1911 moved into the CD-ripping scene. Though not the first to begin CD-ripping, Razor had a lot of success and became one of the most successful release groups throughout all of 1996. The crew that led Razor into this new chapter included members such as: TSR, Pharaoh, Fatal Error, Third Son, Hot Tuna, Beowulf, Pitbull, Bunter, Manhunter, Vitas, and The Punisher. Razor dominated the ripping scene until Prestige was formed. Prestige later merged into Class (CLS), who were strong competition for Razor.

Razor once again took on a new challenge when the ISO scene was formed. Razor 1911 began to release ISOs when they became the standard of the day, led most significantly by The Punisher. He was instrumental in Razor's recovery and its solid performance in the ISO scene. Following The Punisher's retirement, Razor was led by various different people and underwent some internal problems in the form of leadership challenges. This was solved when Pitbull, an old Razor member from the 1990s, took over the leadership role. He was still the leader of Razor at the time "Operation Buccaneer", an international anti-piracy operation which led to raids at the homes of over 60 piracy suspects worldwide, was carried out.

Members raided

Shane E. Pitman age 31, of Conover, North Carolina a leader of Razor 1911 who went by the pseudonym "Pitbull", was sentenced to 18 months in jail "for conspiring to violate copyright laws" as part of Operation Buccaneer.

Sean Michael Breen age 38, of Richmond, California, a leader of Razor 1911 since the early 1990s pleaded guilty in July 2003 to two counts of copyright infringement in violation of Title 17, United States Code, Section 506(a) and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2319, and to three counts of mail fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341. He was sentenced February 10, 2004 to 50 months in prison and three years of supervised release, for violating the criminal copyright laws, and for defrauding Cisco Systems of hundreds of thousands of dollars of hardware. Mr. Breen was also ordered to pay restitution of $690,236.91 to Cisco Systems. Mr. Breen's 50-month sentence is the longest imposed to date of the more than 40 individuals worldwide targeted by Operation Buccaneer. In a separate investigation by agents from the United States Secret Service, Mr. Breen also admitted that he had illegally used an online customer account of Cisco Systems to order hundreds of thousands of dollars of hardware by falsely posing as one of Cisco's existing customers. Mr. Breen arranged to have the hardware delivered in separate shipments via Federal Express to "Comptel Logistics," a shell company that had been created for the sole purpose of receiving the fraudulently obtained hardware. Mr. Breen and his business partner rented a storefront in Oakland to act as a business location for Comptel Logistics and to receive the hardware. After receiving the hardware, Mr. Breen sold it on the "grey market" at a heavily discounted price.

2006 return

Almost exactly on the date that Sean Michael Breen was released, Razor 1911 started releasing games again. They have been releasing games fairly consistently ever since, and now seem to be one of the biggest competitors with RELOADED at cracking the newest titles.

According to the Demo Divisions IRC channel on EFnet, the rls-division has returned.

Shane Pitman is no longer involved with the group and has a prominent role on popular forums Neowin.net, most notably as part of their moderating and news posting team.

On the 14th of October 2006, Razor 1911 showed their former strength by releasing Battlefield 2142 to The Scene 5 days before its in-store launch.

2007 achievements

Razor 1911 was the first group to successfully crack a Windows Vista only game, ShadowRun, to run on Windows XP. This proved to be a significant event because it backed the widely-held opinion that Microsoft was trying to release most new games for Vista only in order to boost sales of their operating system. They also cracked and released a similar patch for the PC version of Halo 2.

On the 11 November 2007, Razor 1911 cracked and released the European version of Crysis And Call Of Duty 4 for PC five days before its official store launch date.

Razor 1911 cracked and released the European version of Gears Of War, two days before its official release, which was on 9 November 2007.

The active core of the Demo Division today includes: Acet1, BlackPanther, Dubmood, Desynx, Dino, GB, Nightbeat, Parasight, Sprocket and Replay.

ee also

* List of warez groups

External links

* [http://www.cybercrime.gov/pitmanSent.htm Shane E. Pitman leader of Razor 1911 arrested, Federal Department of Justice cybercrime website]
* [http://www.laric.com/razor/ Razor 1911 European website]
* [http://www.razor1911.com/ Razor 1911 International website]
* [http://www.pouet.net/groups.php?which=158 Razor 1911 releases] on Pouet. (Includes cracktros, music discs, and demos)
* [http://www.defacto2.net/groups.cfm?mode=detail&org=razor1911 Razor 1911 file and information repository on Defacto2]