Warez or Wares?
"Warez" is a slang term referring to full versions of copyrighted media or software, made available for public download. It comes from a misspelling of Wares, in the sense of software.
Warez has several implications, and works as a tiered system. The higher up one is, the greater a target one becomes to authorities, therefore more risk. At the top of this hierarchy are “groups”, who generate releases of new software. These are often a stolen prerelease that has been "cracked" or had its protection removed.
Everything below is classified as distribution. This ranges from dedicated Warez Sites to file sharing the files with a select few.
Warez can also be distributed through FTPs. The lowest tier, and most common is simple file sharing.