There are many types of groups such as release groups and courier groups. Groups often compete about being the first out with a new quality release. Being the first to release a new quality release brings status and respect.
Such groups typically tag their releases with NFO

.nfo

.nfo is a commonly used three-letter filename extension of ASCII or extended ASCII text files that accompany other files and contain information about them. Such NFO files can be viewed with text editors or dedicated NFO viewers...

 files. Due to the nature of the scene, not much is known about these groups.
Most groups follow the warez standard

Standard (warez)

Standards in the warez scene are defined by groups of people who have been involved in its activities for several years and have established connections to large groups. These people form a committee, which creates drafts for approval of the large groups. The first ruleset for the DivX/Xvid scene...

.

The FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 have been combating warez groups with Operation Buccaneer

Operation Buccaneer

On December 11, 2001, in an international operation known as Operation Buccaneer, law enforcement agents in six countries targeted 62 people suspected of software piracy, with leads in twenty other countries.U.S...

, Operation Fastlink

Operation Fastlink

Operation FastLink is a coordination of four separate, simultaneous undercover investigations by the FBI, the FBI Cyber Division, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division and Interpol. The four different investigations have not...

, Operation Safehaven

Operation Safehaven

Operation Safehaven was a fifteen-month investigation conducted by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement in conjunction with the U.S...

, Operation Site Down

Operation Site Down

Operation Site Down is the umbrella name for a law enforcement initiative conducted by the FBI and law enforcement agents from ten other countries which resulted in a raid on targets on June 29, 2005. Three separate undercover investigations were involved, based in Chicago , Charlotte and San Jose...

.

The most notable group is the legendary Razor 1911

Razor 1911

Razor 1911 is a warez and demo group.-History:The group was originally founded as Razor 2992 by Doctor No, Insane TTM and Sector9 in Norway in October 1985 as a Commodore 64 software cracking group...

. Other famous groups include DrinkOrDie

DrinkOrDie

DrinkOrDie was an underground software piracy group and warez trading network during the 1990s. On December 11, 2001, a major law enforcement raid - known as Operation Buccaneer - forced it to close under criminal charges of infringement. DoD, as a rule, received no financial profit for their...

, Pirates With Attitude

Pirates With Attitude

Pirates With Attitude was a major international warez release group between 1992 and 2000. The group was established by two former International Network of Crackers members known by the pseudonyms Orion and BarManager...

, Class

Class (warez)

CLASS was a notorious and prolific warez group that existed between January 1, 1997 and January 9, 2004. The group was the repeated target of federal raids such as Operation Fastlink. They specialized in cracked games, and sometimes had elaborate art in the cracktro or release...

, and Fairlight

Fairlight (group)

Fairlight is a warez and demo group initially involved in the Commodore demoscene, and in cracking to illegally release games for free, since 1987. In addition to the C64, Fairlight has also migrated towards the Amiga, Super Nintendo and later the PC...

.

Courier groups

Courier groups take releases and distribute them. This can be done using FXP

File eXchange Protocol

File eXchange Protocol and is a method of data transfer which uses FTP to transfer data from one remote server to another without routing this data through the client's connection. Conventional FTP involves a single server and a single client; all data transmission is done between these two...

 to FTP

File Transfer Protocol

File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...

 sites.

Couriers are a specific class of topsite

Topsite (warez)

Topsite is a term used by the warez scene to refer to high-speed FTP servers used by release groups and couriers for distribution, storage and archiving of warez releases....

 users who earn their access by uploading new releases and filling requests. When a courier gains access to a topsite, they are often required to pass a trial test such as uploading a certain amount in a short period of time.

Couriers compete (race) against each other for respect, credits, access to other topsites, and fun. Private couriers often operate as independent (iND) couriers. Some couriers band together to form courier groups which provide support and friendship through camaraderie. Although it may be noted that Couriers/Racers are looked down upon more than ever by affiliates and topsite staff with the increase of scripts that perform the couriers tasks automatically. Some (couriers themselves) call it efficient, others call it lazy.

See also

• List of warez groups
• Warez scene
• Standard (warez)
  Standard (warez)
  Standards in the warez scene are defined by groups of people who have been involved in its activities for several years and have established connections to large groups. These people form a committee, which creates drafts for approval of the large groups. The first ruleset for the DivX/Xvid scene...
  
  
• Topsite (warez)
  Topsite (warez)
  Topsite is a term used by the warez scene to refer to high-speed FTP servers used by release groups and couriers for distribution, storage and archiving of warez releases....