Operation Fastlink Cracks Down on Warez 1052
An anonymous reader writes "Beginning yesterday morning, law enforcement from 10 countries and the United States conducted over 120 searches worldwide to dismantle some of the most well-known and prolific online piracy organizations.
Among the groups targeted by Operation Fastlink are well-known organizations such as Fairlight, Kalisto, Echelon, Class and Project X, all of which specialized in pirating computer games, and music release groups such as APC. The enforcement action announced today is expected to dismantle many of these international warez syndicates and significantly impact the illicit operations of others."
Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:4, Interesting)
The only "impact" will be "we have to start using VPNs, boys!"
I love how Ashcroft and his Copyright Enforcement Militia makes these pirates sound like the Mafia by using terms like "syndicate. Think about it: almost all "nfo" files have pleas for FTP sites for 0-day distribution. If these "sydicates" have to beg for machines and bandwidth in an "nfo" file, how omnipotent can they really be?
The feds are just taking care of their corporate masters, that's all.
No Russia? (Score:2, Interesting)
Bummer (Score:1, Interesting)
Capitalism is the root. (Score:3, Interesting)
or from the developers perspective. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:5, Interesting)
Exactly what's the limit on a FreeS/WAN box acting as an IPSec VPN concentrator? Anything? Other than system resources?
128bit encryption end to end. I'm suprised this isn't being done already. Granted, no HTTP Leeching or anonymous ftp (perhaps pre-shared keys?) until you're on the private network...
Re:The Heroic Ashcroft (Score:3, Interesting)
Any man who views justice as a sex object does not deserve to be head of the DOJ.
Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:5, Interesting)
My OpenBSD boxes scream with a cheap (~$89 IIRC) Soekris cryptographic accelerator. The CPU barely gets used while the HiFn chip on the card does all the bullwork.
Near line speed crypto. Ahhhh..
This is big. (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously "big"
Every single major "elite" warez site in the netherlands is gone.
FairLighT are gone, for those of you who don't know FairLighT ( FLT ) they're one of the two main game releasing warez groups. People within the scene are scared, this is a bad day for warez.
Also, this is the US Governments doing, up untill today the
I'm going to get moderated "Troll" again (Score:5, Interesting)
You have to wonder if the civilian contractors they're using to hunt these people down have community mp3 servers at work. If so, what do they listen to? Wagner?
a useless effort (Score:3, Interesting)
First off all, I have difficulties with their acclaimed 'stealing' of music/software/movie. As far as I know, stealing implies that the one that has been stolen has been derived of something. When you take a copy, you do not take the original away, thus they have not 'lost' anything. They might claim that they loose money when ppl d/l music, but even that is far from certain. Not only is it not shown statistically to have had that effect (they didn't even show a correlation thusfar - see former aussie music-news - let alone a causality). Ofcourse they *claim* they are suffering, and that it's all due to online d/l, but it's far from being a scientific valid causility. And frankly, even if it were true, it is partly their own fault, and partly because their sort of business (as it is today) has simply become obsolete.
Furthermore, in an individual case, they would have to show they actually lost revenue. Which is far from said, because I sure know some guys who d/l music, but would NEVER have bought that music if they were unable to d/l it. So, how did the RIAA/IFPI loose revenue, exactly? And if they didn't lose anything, how can the term 'stealing' apply?
It would still be copyright-infringement, ofcourse, but that's another matter. I think maybe it's time we went beyond our current system of copyrights and walk into the era of cyberspace. With the industrial revolution, patents and copyrights knew a high flight, maybe it's time to let it leave and try something new? Maybe something in the lines of this: fairshare [sourceforge.net].
And don't worry, contrary to what the RIAA claims, musicians will not starve to death, and music-making will not stop. We had music long before we had copyrights, and we will have music long after copyrights have vanished from the scene.
And lastly, it's something that *can not* be stopped. P2P progs and their development act as organisms that follow the darwinian rules of survival. When Napster was 'killed' by the RIAA, immediately others (like kazaa) took over, being more resistent to attacks from the RIAA&co. Whenever kazaa will be shut down, others again will take over. When endusers are targeted, systems that protect the user will become dominant (like FreeNet).
It really is a lost cause. But then again, they are not truelly battling for the survival of musicians (as I said; they will survive, just as they used to do), it's for their OWN survival they are fighting. There is no way in hell they are going to keep the giant profits that they have been gathering for the last decades.
But ultimately, they will have to do what P2P systems are already doing: adapt to the new circumstances (and forget about the former levels of profit), or whither and die.
Wait a sec (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:0, Interesting)
Re:I'm having Flashbacks... (Score:5, Interesting)
The original owner's wife's ex-husband called the FBI and told them Cyber had pirated software and child pornography available for download. So the FBI raided. AFAIK, they didn't damage anything, and left once it was demonstrated that the file libraries were clean.
Re:or from the developers perspective. (Score:4, Interesting)
My credits include games that have sold 50K and games that have sold 5M+. Piracy didn't cause the 50K flop, lameness did. Piracy didn't prevent the 5M+ blockbuster.
Quick using swappers as a crutch for your own shortcomings.
Annual Busts and Media Spectacular (Score:3, Interesting)
But the plain fact is that they have never and probably will never be that effective. Look at warez (of all kinds) distribution now as compared to '92 --> it's exploded in size & scope. So in reality these serve not to actually protect anybody's intellectual property rights, but to scare the bejeezus out of anyone who might be thinking of taking a leadership role in one of these groups. Also they look really good in the media to scare high school and college students from even downloading warez in the first place... But overall, just an ineffective media sideshow.
Re:Your Rights Online?? (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a friend right now who just bought Hitman 2 and it didn't work with his CD-Drive (kept saying he needed to put the CD in when it was already in), so he had to dl the crack from one of these groups and put it on there to get it to work.
Breaking copyrights may be wrong, but these groups do other things such as providing archival copies and such of programs for legal purposes.
Re:VPN's wont do anything to stop the law (Score:5, Interesting)
john law needs a supercomputer and a lot of time to break even 128-bit encryption. It's not worth his time to do this. He can't just push the button that says "I'm a cop" and start eavesdropping.
these guys storm offices and houses, they pull you from your keyboard before you can lock it out, they have "agents" work the chat networks and so on, becoming "friends" and insiders of these "syndicates".
Sure...but how are they going to get a warrant to walk into your house if all your connections are encrypted? Reasonable suspicion won't get you a warrant these days, you need probable cause. Probable cause that you're not going to get from an encrypted connection.
Again, I speak for those of us in the US. I'm sure it's much different elsewhere.
Why the out of date groups? (Score:1, Interesting)
I've been downloading software, music and apps for the last eight years via FTP, IRC, newsgroups, and now Emule, but I've only heard of Fairlight and Class. Music release groups don't get a lot of publicity since it doesn't take much skill to rip a CD.
Fairlight generally releases ISO's, and Class releases rips (without movies and extra stuff). However, I haven't seen a Class release on www.nforce.nl [nforce.nl] in quite some time. So this bust must have been tracking a few years back.
There seems to be more prestige to release games these days since protections like http://www.star-force.com/ [star-force.com] have been giving release groups more challenge.
The other side... (Score:5, Interesting)
However, if the government keeps sending these groups to federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison, that's going to stop or at least trickle off at some point. We're not exactly talking about the Mafia here. If a continual crackdown occurs to the point where if you put pirated software out for distribution you have a high likelyhood of being passed around a cell block to earn cigarettes for someone much bigger than you are, it's going to seem like a much less attractive activity to most sane people.
Right now that's probably not happening, but if there was a real threat of law enforcement getting involved... shit, most geeks are afraid of girls. You don't think they're going to be even more afraid of lonely, burly men?
Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:wallpaper bubbles... (Score:1, Interesting)
I work on the other side (making games), but i'm not really glad to hear this news. Like most game developers i probably still won't get rich even if they busted every cracker on this earth and it sort of takes the fun out of working in this industry when it tries so hard beeing adult and serious. And i don't think it's too big a secret, that there are enough developers in the industry which once started on the dark side
This is an EXTREMELY GOOD thing! (Score:4, Interesting)
With this major bust, the supply of new pirated software titles should drop precipitously.
Once and for all, we can watch the sales figures and determine whether or not there's any relation between piracy and sales.
Re:Capitalism is the root. (Score:1, Interesting)
I believe in democraties - but no longer in capitalism, that system is simple fucked up.
the stairway to heaven (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't forget the part about placing value judgements on people based upon how much, or little, they made for themselves. It might look wide and free, like the sea, but there is a very fixed path to follow; freedom isn't real if all options but one have negative consequences attached.
Missing one word.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:You're a moron (Score:3, Interesting)
NUMA
Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:3, Interesting)
They're just enforcing the laws that keep capitalism afloat
-----
Capitalism existed a long time before these laws.
People throw the word "capitalism" around like it has so much meaning. Some people hate "capitalist pigs". Other people love "capitalist society".
Get over it people. Capitalism is the natural progression out of barter and trade--a standardization of currency into a system which allows conversion to and from capital holdings like stock and property. Nothing more. Capitalism is not your own personal vaporous collection of ideals to be used to troll for people who agree or disagree with you.
Re:Now, that's comedy (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes, me. Intellectual property is pointless, and it hurts more poeple than it helps. It should be abolished. There are a lot of reasons I feel this way, and I am not alone.
Re:You're a moron (Score:1, Interesting)
Umm, because almost everyone who needs/wants a computer has one or two? And the software (M$) companies are having a heck of a time bloating software to slow down all those 2Ghz machines?
> Don't give me the "games were better in the olden > days" spin,
People don't want to upgrade their video cards/processors or memory every month just so they can play the new game...THAT's why PS2's are doing so well.
Re:The Right Enforcement (Score:5, Interesting)
--
Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:0, Interesting)
That is funy... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Song of the piracy apologist (Score:5, Interesting)
How about
(0) The use of the term "piracy" the the alleged entertainment industry to descibe the free distribution the items they sell is spurious bullshit.
Anything can be made a crime if you pay some group to pass a law to make it one [see also: marijuana laws];
Grow up you punk-ass media whore.
"Stamp out crime; change the Law."
Re:Song of the piracy apologist (Score:5, Interesting)
When they stop infringing my rights, I'll start caring about theirs.
Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:3, Interesting)
Although I probably oh the warez community for getting me through university I personally wish that it weren't so publically accessible and would tone down a little and go back underground.. warez is the primary reason none of my friends will try free software.
"Why should I want to try free-software I already get all my software for free?"
The way I see it if DRM does stop software piracy then that can only strengthen free software.
w/e (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:The other side... (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not saying that warez is a good thing, but it certainly seems like a skewed priority for the DOJ to crack down on, when really, it's not going to be a very effective crack down at all.
pictures of the bust (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:VPN's wont do anything to stop the law (Score:5, Interesting)
-
these guys storm offices and houses, they pull you from your keyboard before you can lock it out, they have "agents" work the chat networks and so on, becoming "friends" and insiders of these "syndicates".
Not to mention they can't do this because if they did the evidence on the hard drive would be tainted. I've dealt with computer forensics and the first and most important rule is you NEVER modify the original hard drive. You so bit-copies to another drive and do your work on it. That way if you screw something up you can start over plus you document your steps as you go, thuse allowing anyone to reproduce your results from another copy of the drive.Sure...but how are they going to get a warrant to walk into your house if all your connections are encrypted? Reasonable suspicion won't get you a warrant these days, you need probable cause. Probable cause that you're not going to get from an encrypted connection.
Sure they can pull you from your keyboard before you lock it out, but they'll never get to admit the evidence if they do anything beyond shutting it down. If the accused pirate has half a brain all this encryption will require master keys to start so forensics will be unable to open any encrypted files or establish encrypted VPN sessions. You can even get encryption software that will automatically encrypt your virtual memory with a random key on startup. It throws that key away on shutdown so even the software can't unencrypt the virtual memory. This pretty much ruins any slack-space finds from virtual memory. Combine that with delete with wiping features and virtual encrypted drives and you can get your computer to a state where forensics won't find anything you don't want found.
Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:3, Interesting)
What I'm getting at is something we all know: corporations are too large to be swayed by small market forces. They're run by overly-conservative, paranoid old codgers who will refuse to deviate from their existing business plans unless they can do so with extremely little to no risk.
So, couple the corporate conservative mindset with a desire for nothing but short-term profitability and the fact that our market is regulated enough to prevent a highly competetive environment, but not regulated enough to prevent companies from collusion and price fixing, and what do you get? They pick one business plan, stick to it, and refuse to deviate unless they have an abysmal failure of a product, like the nGage.
So while company X could sell trinkets for $10 less than they currently do and generate twice the profits, they'll never even try that so long as they can turn even the smallest profit at the current price point.
And organizing enough consumers to make a noticeable dent? Good luck... that'll never happen. Even if you did, poor sales would probably be blamed on something else, and the company would learn nothing.
Been going on for years (Score:5, Interesting)
Even in the years between the first gulf war and the second, many soldiers in the field had enormous communal stashes of MP3s.
Saudi Arabia, for example, was notorious for confiscating anything/everything coming through customs that looked remotely suspicious, or violated islamic law in any way. This included fitness magazines (showing skin between the neck and ankles == BAD), CDs or DVDs with racy covers, any/all pornography, bibles or non-muslim religious tracts... you name it. This customs search even covered US troops rotating into country to participate in Operation Southern Watch (enforcing the Iraqi no-fly zones and defending the KSA's hide).
And yet... the people they had inspecting bags at the customs tables had clearly never seen an external hard drive, and they never searched laptops... so digital music/movies made it in no problem, and were immediately shared among the deployed soldiers and airmen. Yes, it's illegal, but it was great for morale... and somehow I can't see the MPAA/RIAA getting upset. After all, It's not like you can just run out and buy all their music/movies in the middle of a fundamentalist islamic nation (and soldiers might even buy better copies when they returned home, particularly if it was something they liked and/or had never heard before).
Besides, gathering evidence would be impossible... Saudi Arabia doesn't even issue tourist visas to non-muslims. How do you possibly track all the little LANs soldiers set up? How do you get the military to let you monitor their base network (hint: NOT going to happen). It would also be absolute political suicide to go after soldiers. Can you imagine the magnitude of the public relations backlash if the RIAA/MPAA prosecuted? Squeezing fines out of a bunch of homesick grunts just trying to survive and have a taste of home makes Ebeneezer Scrooge look like a philanthropist.
That'd be be like prosecuting grandmothers and children (Oh... hmm. Nevermind)
Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost (Score:5, Interesting)
While I'm mostly in agreement with your points, I'd like to try and hone your argument a bit more.
Number 3: Piracy is driven by overpriced CD's
The RIAA lost a judgement because they colluded to artificially inflate the price of CD's. At one point, CD's were extremely cheap. I remember buying CD's for an average price of 10.49 or 9.99 Canadian, about 6 bucks US at the time. That price in Canada has now climbed up to an average of 18.00 (almost DOUBLE).
Guess what: I buy the same number of CD's now in a year as I used to buy in a month Becuase
1. I'm buying DVD's (over 150 now)
2. I'm buying diapers for my baby (not in my 20's anymore)
3. I've replaced all my vinyl and cassettes.
4. The number of artists creating music that I enjoy has decreased significantly.
I am the RIAA's worst nightmare, because I prove that they distort the facts to suit their purpose. I don't download MP3's but my CD buying habits have decreased by 80% annually. They lose probably 1000 a year because of me...
There are thousands more like me. I just think it's a bit ridiculous that the governments of the world have swallowed the content industries argument so wholly. We are going to lose control of our open systems and hardware becausse of what is basically a lie, that mp3 sharing is the downfall of the record industry.
I see I've gotten offtopic here, so I'll get back into it. As I mentioned before, I think you're pretty much bang on in your post. I just think number 3 might be stricken out of it to make it that much more effective.
Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost (Score:5, Interesting)
Okay, that's an amusing list of arguments, many of which are actually made by some of the kids online. I get the feeling that your intention is to suggest that these are the only arguments for widespread distribution (a straw man argument [datanation.com]), but *shrug*, maybe I'm just misinterpreting. However, one of the arguments you're mocking isn't quite as obviously wrong as you suggest.
I've never heard of a parking infringement, but I suppose. I do hear "illegally parked" or "parking violation" (which was what my last parking ticket read). Those are perfectly reasonable terms, after all, one is illegally parked and one has violated parking laws. I'm perfectly fine with copyright violation or illegal copying. Both are accurate descriptions of the crime. Copyright infringment is arguably more accurate (since you're infringing on exclusivity granted to someone else), but violation or illegal is certainly nice and accurate.
Piracy, on the other hand, isn't terribly accurate. Piracy's has multiple definitions [reference.com] and those different definitions are governed by different laws and punishments. Many people (myself included) feel that we need to reconsider our intellectual property laws, that perhaps they've become unbalanced and no longer serve the common good. It's important to have accurate language in such a discussion; colorful terms and phrases like piracy cloud the issue. Those people and businesses interested in maximizing the power of copyright deliberately chose words like piracy and theft because they know they have emotion impact, it's easier to get people to agree with ideas like "theft is wrong" without having them consider the details of what they are agreeing too. If they used words and phrases like illegal copying they know that some people will step back and ask, "why is the illegal? What is the real harm?" This sort of misdirection is unnecessary. I certainly believe that copyright law is a good thing. I would be against abolishing copyright law or eliminating enforcement. However I arrived at those conclusions through reason and the facts, not through emotional arguments and colorful phrases. Shoplifting a CD is a very different action from downloading an illegal copy online, trying to confuse the two is a false analogy [datanation.com]. If copyright really is right why not defend it without descending into logical fallacies [datanation.com]?
Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe where you live but copyright infringement is not a crime in my country (yet), it's a civil matter. Therefore "illegal" is not accurate, it's flat out wrong and it serves the purpose of making people fear sharing with their neighbour because they think they could go to jail. The correct term is "unlawful". For example, slander can be unlawful but it cannot be illegal. You can be sued for slander but you can't go to jail (how obsurd would that be?) Copyright infringement is the same.
Re:Now, that's comedy (Score:3, Interesting)
This guy is [lessig.org]. This guy is [stallman.org]. I am.
Mind you, I'm in favor of copyright, but I do believe that after a certain reasonable period of time (50 years should do it) that I should be able to reproduce other people's works however I want without paying for it. Similarly for Lessig. Stallman is... a bit more nuanced.
You're definately right to attack this argument. Anyone who argues that this means you should copy information is missing the entire point. IWTBF isn't a moral statement, it's a summary (perhaps an overly cute one) of human nature and the growth of technology. IWTBF in much the same way that water wants to flow downhill.
Actually, I expect my grandmother would be very surprised to discover sometimes it's legal to click on a link and download a program and sometimes it isn't and that sometimes it is. It's not obvious in any way. Copyright law being something that individuals need to even know about is a relatively new idea; when it was first created it was really a set of laws intended to limit publishers. It's still surprising to people to think that there is anything wrong with their individual actions. Giving friends mix-tapes is a popular pasttime that technically infringes on copyright. Good luck convincing the public as a whole that it's wrong and should be illegal. Copyright based industries have a lot of work to do if they want to convince people to follow this much more complicated system ("You can click here and download this and it's good. But if you click here and download that it's bad.").
It's about time! (Score:5, Interesting)
Fairlight has been around since C=64 days.
The earliest Class release I can recall is Quake (it even had it's own installer with chip-tunes built in).
Is UCF dead too? how about RiSCiSO?
The crap thing really is going to be that all good the no-cd cracks/patches will be gone.
I still buy games from the store. And to be honest, I always install the game, then go searching for a patch/cracktool so I can put my originals back in the box, and on the shelf.
I paid for Windows XP Professional, but got a keygen anyway so i'd still have my original box/key packed away safely. Call me wierd.
If you lose your Everquest registration key, is EA going to give you a replacement so you can install? hell no, you've got to go buy a new copy, or download a keygen...
I actively search the $10 and under bins at Best Buy/Brandsmart for games that I wanted to play but just felt they cost to much. Case in Point --> Enter the Matrix.
I bought ETM the day it came out. (The same day Reloaded came out in the Theatres). It cost me $50. 2 weeks later it was down to $39.99. 2 *MONTHS* later and it's a fucking $20 game!
Re:Song of the piracy apologist (Score:2, Interesting)
The software piracy is driven by Price/Perfomance ratio of available titles. Most software today is expensive and bloated. It is so expensive that it looks like it's going to dwarf the hardware prices in a couple of years. This is nuts. Consider how much functionality does an average Joe uses in Word application. Also consider the price of a software package you use every day ( let's not talk about OSS alternatives)
a) OS
b) Productivity suite.
c) Good image and video editing tools ( if you own a digital (video) camera
d) Entertainment applications ( games etc.)
Most good software is unavailable for try-out session. God knows how much money I spent on video games during the last 14 years that were worthless . Now when hardware prices go down worldwide. It is time to start selling cheap software as well where cheap means affordable not only for US/European wages.
On the other hand, media piracy is driven not only by price, but also in availability. Kill Bill vol 2. will take a couple of months!!!!! to reach global audience. When first US DVDs would come out, the movie will, probably, just debut in cinemas across Russia for example. Looks like publishers and distributors are shooting themselfs in the foot this way. The other thing is the STUPID DVD region coding. I wish it would just go away and disappear. But it will not. This also applies to so many different restrictions that publishers place on music and video media. It's they, who feed the piracy fire with oil. The piracy is a direct result of not listening to consumers. If media companies would started selling individual mp3 tracks in 1998 for a few cents a pop instead of FUD and legal threats, most likely, you would never hear of Napster and such.
Sell people what they want for the price that they can pay, and they WILL buy it. And the whole "piracy" thing would just go away...
Re:Call them "Evil Doers" next... (Score:3, Interesting)
Hemp competes (rather effectively) with oil & petrochemicals, wood pulp, durable fabrics, and thousands of other uses. (It truly is nature's miracle plant)
Yes, I said oil. You can run a car on hemp oil. You can grow hemp in your backyard.
Now, ask yourself, who would suffer enormous losses if the general public could start growing their own fuel?
Ergo, hemp is suppressed at all levels of the corporate and political arena. (In the States, anyway. Other nations like UK and Canada seem to be coming around). Marijunana is just a convenient strawman to keep hemp down. (Did they ban barley during prohibition? Of course not)
Oil makes the world go round, and the rich richer. No threats to its dominance will be tolerated while they can keep squeezing profits from it. (And these profits will only rise as oil becomes more scarce)
They're choking the world in the name of profit, while supressing viable natural alternatives. Great species we have here, isn't it?
My prediction (Score:4, Interesting)
You may be surprised that I find the idea of copyright in the digital age outrageous.
My prediction though, is that as soon as copyright is actually enforced, society will shun it and abolish it.
The only reason Copyright is enjoying some public acceptance these days is because people don't believe it applies to them in practice. In fact, most of the copyright-defenders in Slashdot probably copy many of their software/music illegally with all sorts of self-justifying excuses - not seeing that everyone does this, because copyright is simply wrong.
Re:Your Rights Online?? (Score:3, Interesting)
Personally I care not at all about downloading full gamez, but I'm very grateful to the likes of Fairlight for providing cracks and no-cd fixes, so I don't have to juggle CDs to play my store-bought PC games. Unfortunately the public at large does not know the difference between warez and cracks, and looks upon both with a baleful gaze.
A decade ago, it seemed that the software industry had learned their lesson about copy protection, that it aggravated paying customers and failed to stop piracy. What happened? Why do software publishers believe that copyright laws will not protect their works, and thus resort to putting artifical barriers in their products?Re:Now, that's comedy (Score:1, Interesting)
I put my work where my mouth is. All of my intellectual property is available for free to anyone who wants it. All my webpages, unless made for a specific client, are public domain.
My code, including a version of a php authenticating agent module, a lengthy logic-and-syntax checker for mod files for a strategy, and all other pieces of code I've written over the last 10 years are public domain.
My other written works, including my essays on anything and everything under the sun, one fantasy novel, various short stories and fanfic, are available on the web for free, and are all public domain.
And yes, I make a living selling intellectual services. I work as a consultant in the IT security field. I charge for my time, not for my knowledge. The distinction might be semantic for you, but is important to me.
Should I ever invent something worth patenting, I will do so promptly, using my own money, and then give it away into public domain.
Blah. I don't have to be a cheap asshole with intellectual property on my ass to live well, have a lot of money, and help others.
Re:Damn, I'm so out of touch. (Score:1, Interesting)
Fairlight has been big for nearly twenty years now (wow, I'm getting old). They started out in Sweden in the mid eighties.
Their US leader (The Not So Humble Babe, yes female) was busted in the mid nineties for organized carding and was sentenced to 101 years of prison.
Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost (Score:4, Interesting)
really?
Let's look at the current most download bittorrents shall we? (Source search.suprnova.org)
Games:
Hitman Contracts - Xbox USA Full DVD...
Knights of the Temple DEViANCE
HITMAN CONTRACS USA DVD(www.bCGp.net...
BREED-DEViANCE
Battlefield Vietnam 3CDs NeW TrAcKeR
UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004 DVD-DEViANCE
Splinter Cell pandora tomorrow (4CDs...
BREED-DEViANCE_[bt-gm]_[EFnet]
Splinte
Fallout Tactics
GTA - Vice City
Oooh, yeah, look at all those ancient games there... all out of copyright there.
What about movies then?
Kill Bill Vol 2 DivX [New TrackeR]
Kill Bill Volume 2 SVCD TS-TCR CD1
Kill Bill Volume 2 SVCD TS-TCR CD2
Partyalarm-Finger.weg.von.meiner.Toc...
Kil
KiLL BiLL VoLuMe 2 TS TCR JB87
The Punisher(telesync)SWS
Kill Bill Vol 2 PROPER SVCD TELESYNC...
Kill.Bill.Volume.1.UNCUT.2003.DVDRip
Big.Fish.DVDR-DzN
Das.Urteil-Jeder.ist.käufl
Big.Fish.2003.DVDRip.XviD-DCN (AC3 a...
Scary.Movie.3.2003.DVDrip.XViD-ALLiA...
Tw
The Punisher VCD-Cam
The Passion Of The Christ [NeW TrAcK...
Oooh, man, That Kill Bill Vol 2 must be out of copyright surely?
Come on, you can't be serious in doubting that the majority of copied works are BRAND NEW. That's why people copy them, they want to see the LATEST things without paying for them.
I'm all for the old, 'lost games' and such being able to be downloaded... I mean, really, the companies have got their money from them by now surely... but that's such a small portion of what is downloaded, I don't think that it bothers the companies much.(A bit yes, as they wouldn't shut down ROM sites if it didn't)
Re:Song of the piracy apologist (Score:3, Interesting)
Indeed we should, because that's what it is - an infringment. Or do you refer to parking infringments as "parking theft" ?
I don't believe in the record companies emotively abusing the word "theft," but I do believe in emotively abusing words like "information," "sharing," and "Copyright Enforcement Militia."
"Copyright Enforcement Cartel" would probably be a better term.
I believe that piracy is driven by "overpriced CDs" even though CDs have dropped in price over the years.
How much they've dropped is irrelevant. CDs are clearly overpriced, even if you ignore the price-fixing.
I believe that piracy is driven by overly long copyright duration, even though most pirated works are recent releases.
Grossly over-extended copyright terms are really a separate issue, but even in themselves provide sufficient justification for copyright infringment, in the interests of preserving culturally significant materials (and regardless of the quality of Britney's material, it *is* culturally significant).
I believe that illegitimately downloading music is giving the author "free advertising". I don't buy any of the music I download, of course--but lots of other people probably do.
Except there's pretty strong evidence that all these people "pirating" *do* buy CDs.
I believe that selling CDs is not a business model, but giving away things for free on the internet is.
Selling CDs *is* a business model, it's just that selling CDs at obscene profit margins is a business model with a fairly short future.
I believe in capitalism but only support music business models which involve giving away the fruits of ones labor for free.
Who doesn't support the business model of on-line selling ? Who doesn't support the business model of live concerts ?
I believe that copying someone elses music, and redistributing it to my 1,000,000 "best friends" on the internet is sharing. Music is made for sharing. It's my right.
Well, music that isn't shared is fairly meaningless (it may as well not exist, really).
I believe that record companies cracking down on piracy is "greed", but a mob demanding free entertainment is not.
"Reasonably priced" != "free".
I believe that it's not really "piracy" unless you charge money for it, because, receiving money is wrong, but taking a free ride is fine.
Profiting from someone else's work is morally and ethically wrong. Listening to music without paying for it is, at worst, morally and ethically neutral.
I believe that disallowing copying and redistributing music over Napster is the same as humming my favourite song in public. Because when I hum my favourite song in public, everyone likes it so much that they run home, get out their tape recorders and once they've got a recording of it, they aren't interested in hearing the original any more.
I challenge you to explain how having the aural equivalent of a photographic memory is any different to listening to "pirated" music.
I believe that when illegal behaviour destroys a business, it's "free enterprise at work".
The law is not always right.
What I find amusing is that the pirates seem unable or unwilling to distinguish between creative activity and brainless copying.
What brings you to that conclusion ?
Since a lot of the people here are GPL/OSS advocates: the "OSS way" applied to this domain is to learn how to play an instrument. Or how to sing or whatever. Then get together with a bunch of other people who can also play music, and make some noise.
No, it isn't. Consumers of GPL and/or OS software do not have an obligation to produce more or make an
Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm over 40, so I'm completely lost anyway.
One thing I cannot fathom is the branding phenomenon. My son, 13, had a couple of hundred dollars to spend recently and he decided to spend it on a pair of sneakers that cost $150!
Which is the worst part:
A) They probably won't fit him in 6 months
B) He can't wear them outdoors, because they are "indoor" shoes
C) Kids are now scammed into buying expensive crap due to peer pressure or perceived "coolness"
Coolhunters [pbs.org] are evil.
Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost (Score:4, Interesting)
4. The number of artists creating music that I enjoy has decreased significantly.
These two may be causally linked.
I think when a person is in school or other situations where they're surrounded by similar people there's more pressure to be tapped into cool music, or any kind of music, but once you're in real life around a huge diversity of people all with different tastes in pretty much everything, the pressure just dissolves.
There's plenty of great new music out there [kexp.org], but I think I myself will never buy a music album (I tried out a couple music clubs years back, but came out of it with way too much crap). Music recordings are nice, but not really worth money to me. Other than the twenty minute commute I don't really have places and time to consume it. I'm not going to sit around in my spare time listening to music, it just doesn't engage enough senses. I'd rather be watching a movie or playing video games or reading or working on creative projects of my own and not be distracted by music (if it's good, it's distracting, if it's bad, why the hell listen to it, and why do anything for fun that needs distracting from). That's just me though...
Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually its mostly braindead rubbish.
(1) I don't personally believe in copying CDs illegally-- but I think we should avoid using unkind words like "piracy" to describe those that do -- instead, we should describe it as an "infringement", much like a parking infringement.
Its not that its "unkind", its that its semantically wrong, and only someone with a bad education (or immoral intent) would use it to twist the meaning, possibly with the intent to deceive. Piracy is robbery on the high seas, and that is not some 17th century nonsense with Johnny Depp, this is a fact - happening TODAY [iccwbo.org] not only can things be really stolen, but sailors can loose their lives (and have). These widows probably don't take kindly to the term piracy being used for something as irrelevant as downloading of music from the internet. Especially since a study from Harward business school [newsfactor.com] proves that it doesn't really harm sales.
Downloading music from the internet is (if you don't have a license) copyright INFRINGEMENT, it is not stealing. Stealing requires (by law) that someone is deprived of something physical. If someone downloads a track with Madonna, some of her dollars doesn't suddenly go missing - nor do they return if said mp3 is deleted. That is why it is infringement, not theft. If you take someones car they have lost the car and can't use it. Nothing needs be lost by the download of a song (still currently illegal though)
(2) I don't believe in the record companies emotively abusing the word "theft,"...
Well I do. They clearly do that to try and manipulate the politicians and people who are not burdened with intelligence.
(3) I believe that piracy is driven by "overpriced CDs" even though CDs have dropped in price over the years.
Piracy is robbery on the seas, downloading music is called copyright infringement.
They are vastly overpriced, presumably to finance a basically corrupt and immoral business model, and that may motivate some. Though the was majority of people use download like they use the radio, they listen to something which is good enough to pass the time but which really isn't good enough to buy (though as the study shows if something of quality comes along people do go out and buy it)
(4) I believe that piracy is driven by overly long copyright duration, even though most pirated works are recent releases.
Piracy is robbery on the seas, downloading music is called copyright infringement. The copyright duration is of course vastly too long , not only should it only last for a few years, but it shouldn't be transferable and certainly not last beyond someones lifetime, however it is very doubtful this has any influence on the copyright infringement as whole, though some few may do it for political reasons, which is silly since it has no demonstrable effect.
(5) I believe that illegitimately downloading music is giving the author "free advertising".
Well, that's what intelligent people believe, especially after the study from Business Hardward School proved [newsfactor.com] has no effect.
I don't buy any of the music I download, of course --but lots of other people probably do.
I don't download music. However studies show that others do, infact they are making millions from it.
And now I've already spent and hour writing this, time I'll never get back, and i doubt you'll wish to enlighten yourself, especially considering the nonsense in most of the rest of the post, i shall end it here then.
I was a teenage warez distribution center (Score:1, Interesting)
Anyhow, their NFO's mention IRC channels, I go on some and get into a conversation with one guy. This must have been circa 1996-1997. Anyhow I tell him I have a spare Windows box with an FTP server on it, and he can use it for whatever. So what he does is upload some warez every day, and a handful of people download it (three to four). Every day I would check the box and the latest games and applications just cracked would be on the box. A maximum of five people ever logged in, so the chances of getting caught were limited. And if I was caught, I could always claim I didn't know anyone was using it, as using open, insecure ftp servers was common for distributing warez once upon a time. Anyhow, after a while, the box crashed and that was the end of that. I got a lot of good warez out of that deal, without any work, every day the latest warez and applications appeared magically on my LAN.
Re:out of work programmers (Score:1, Interesting)
Most of the folks on slashdot are not programmers...
My opinion on the matter, you have no right to warez. If you can't afford or acquire legally the latest greatest MS operating system or Adobe/Macromedia graphics app use free software. We the hell do you think RMS has been ranting all these years? He believes that software is a human right, and we have come pretty far in making OSS available to just about anybody with a computer who wants it.
Oh, wait I forgot, I'm on slashdot. If we used free software we wouldn't be able to play the 1337 windows games.
Oh, and to the parent, screw you buddy. You obviously have no clue. There are lots of people making their dough from OSS. Both in the traditional, "Hi I'm Bleh and I work for HP" as well as guys in my local lug who have started small buisnesses with OSS at the core.
Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost (Score:3, Interesting)
He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
Taken from The Letters of Thomas Jefferson: 1743-1826 NO PATENTS ON IDEAS [let.rug.nl]
Re:Song of the piracy apologist Repost (Score:3, Interesting)
Every one of your refutations is fundamentally asinine. Demonstration follows.
Irrelevant. This is a rather brilliant quip of sarcasm which you seem unwilling to comprehend. You see, it is quite common for people to construct meaningless arguments about semantics (which, you yourself are guilty of in your post), in order to further an opinion that they cannot enforce with actual logical argument (I'm not discussing whether such a position is defensible, just that the person utilizing the tactic lacks the ability for cogent debate). What term you use to describe the subject is irrelevant in the discussion of the relative morality of the subject matter, so long as what is meant by the term is understood. Quibbling over the term is merely rhetoric, meant to manipulate the audience to feel sympathy for the author.
The figures of this have been discussed elsewhere. I will not repeat them, as the truth of this statement is irrelevant. The cost of discretionary goods does not justify their unlawful appropriation. You cannot make a moral argument that consists merely of:
1. CDs cost more than I am willing to pay for them
2. ???
------------
Conclusion: I am morally justified in ignoring the law and making copies of music that I do not have the legal rights to copy.
A moral argument must, at a minimum, contain: a factual premise, a moral premise, and a conclusion that falls naturally and logically from the premises. There is no moral premise in the argument that CDs cost too much, therefore I am entitled to use whatever means that I please to obtain the music. Now, the only moral premise I can see that would fit this is: I am morally obliged to use whatever means I wish to obtain things that I do not require for survival (or something along that line). I find it hard to believe that anyone would find this moral premise acceptable, therefore they disguise their moral justifications with a baseless, question begging
Prioritization of Crimes..... (Score:2, Interesting)
Freenet (Score:2, Interesting)
Anonymity costs bandwidth. So you have to be patient. Not *that* big problem, especially with growing broadband availability.
Poisoning attacks should have a technical solution.
Regarding lawsuit, I want to see the EFF/Amnesty Intl./other organizations all in arms after the goons bust somebody who runs a Freenet node aimed solely for injecting "banned" information for Chinese dissidents.
Re:Freenet (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't see how. The only poisoning-prevention techniques I've heard of will also remove anonyminity.
runs a Freenet node aimed solely for injecting "banned" information for Chinese dissidents.
The effectiveness of Freenet depends upon intermediate nodes voluntarily redistributing other people's data without any knowledge of what's inside (or even the ability to know). So no Freenet user can convincingly claim that his node serves only one purpose- because by design, he can't see all the traffic.
Furthermore, dissident propaganda is only illegal inside China, so he'd have no real need to run such a node inside FBI jurisdiction.