Piracy Avengers
 

I believe that sharing music and other files using gnutella or other clients is something that people have a right to do, and a firm right at that. However, recently on gnutella, i have seen entire <u>Operating Systems</U> downloadable as .zips. This is piracy. I'm tempted to write down those lovely IPs and e-mail Microsoft and the others.
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To those who share entire OS' and entire games (I don't mean Minesweeper, I mean like, the Sims, Force Commander) on Gnutella, you have been forewarned. Are you aware that it's illegal? You may not. But it is.
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You have a very selective moral and legal sense. Trading copyrighted music and movies is also illegal. Perhaps you believe that software engineers and their companies are due their fair share of royalties more than music and movie companies? I say in for a penny, in for a pound. This forum is used to trade anything digital, whether you like it or not.

YOU need to realize that an OS and a music/video file are a LOT different.

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And yes, in a way, i said that software cos. should get more royalties than A/V cos. Now that you bring it up, they do. Cuz all the A/v cos. (Well, most) suck.
http://forums.gnutelliums.com/cool.gif

You need to get a life.

Ehh, I was wandering,
Would it be ok to share nudepics of Bill Gates ?

It may occur to you, that you might not be able to change that, and if you could, would you want it?
When I wrote down all the IPs of people who have illegal stuff on their computers, I wouldn't be able to ever stop writing.
Through Gnutella the people have to learn that by buying software they support a company.
It will be the choice of the user if he wants to pay for software files etc., but the users will also need to be able to send the company money for the program they downloaded.
To solve the moral dilemma a system should be developed with which one can send money tp anyone as simply as you would give him the coin physically. So the users would not just be able to choose not to pay. It would enable them to choose to pay.
An example are the many shareware programs on the web. I would give the creators of these the money which I can spare, but I can't because I don't want to risk using my credit card (and because it is easier to find the serials illegally).
Allow the User to act as mature as he is, don't bicker about those who aren't. They will get the software whatever you do.

What a joke!!! Don't you think that music, software, and movie monopolies are already writing down IPs? Of course they are!! And what good is it doing them? They are just ****ing into the wind. If they can't stop it do you really think you can?

By the way try running a search for "Officexp" as in the Microsoft Office XP Professional the new office program that Bill bragged about so much saying it was uncrackable, then what do you know two days later is was cracked and uploaded to the net and a week after that was on Gnutella.

IP addresses are useless
 

Gnutella isn't exactly anonymous, but it takes the heat off the select few that distribute pirated software, now that 50 people are sharing it, it's hard to know where it started, who started it, and if anyone comes hunting you down, simply say you were searching for something like information on'adobe' and you didn't know you accidentally downloaded Photoshop, which is automatically shared (of course). It's not illegial to use Gnutella, so if you don't admit to intentionally doing it (and remove any files they specifically complain about) you don't have a thing to worry about.

What the dilly yo?
 

Yeah how can you selective criticize copyright violations of software, but not music?

That's why I don't charge for BearShare!

If anything, its the software manufacturers that deserve to take it in the pants!

How can Microsoft charge companies for Windows 2000 Advanced Server, based on the NUMBER OF INCOMING connections it receives (client access licensing)?

That's like Sony charging for its televisions based on the number of people who are going to watch it!

How can Partition Magic charge $249 for Partition Magic which doesn't work on NT Server or 2000 Advanced Server, and make you pay $599 for "Server Magic" which DOES work on those operating systems, even though THE CODE IS THE SAME!!!!

GIVE ME A BREAK!


FYI I heard that backstreet boys generated over $300 million in revenue with album sales, but received less than $7 million for their effort.

copyright infringement is copyright infringment it doesn't matter if it's a $15 song or a $6000 piece of software. I still support the company's and artist that I use and like the most/ can afford to. personally I can't afford to drop $300 on a new version of a piece of software every year. And I don't really want to pay for a game that I'll play acouple times and find out it really sucks. But if it's good and I like it I'll go buy it. it's all a try before you buy. so you don't waste all that money cause this **** isn't cheap.

P.S. Most software companies would rather you pirate their software than buy the competition.

Piracy?
 

Not sure it's really piracy if you already own the software ...sure you shouldn't download it if you don't own it but you have the right to make up back-ups of the software ...as long as you have a licsence to use the software you are good to go. It's really usefull if you original software media has been destroyed somehow (like the kids played frisbee with your CD's or something) The licsence # / agreement is still good though ... that's why each software copy comes with a licsence # / code .... If you read the software license agreement you will note that u dont actualy own the software just a licsence to use it !!!!!!

chime in
 

i too believe in tryware if you like it buy it as for music and movies well id rather have the originals if i like the movie or song but alas all good things must come to an end as i myself was contacted by my isp for downloading movies and copywrited materials it seems that if i want to share i must go to a more anoymous share network i am going to try elf i hope that i dont lose my puter or my isp or my freedom just for downloading mummy returns or a music video i guess they are out there and they are watching................

this is a copy of the letter i got
 

Mr. _______, per our conversation, RR has received a complaint from the
Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. on behalf of their clients
(motion picture production and distribution companies) regarding the
unauthorized distribution of a number of copyrighted motion pictures. RR has
identified the source of said violation by tracing the IP address back to you.

Such copyright violations are also considered abuse of RR's Acceptable Use
Policy (AUP). If you will reply to this message that you have read and
understand RR's AUP (posted online) and that you agree to comply with it in
the future, I''ll close my file on this matter.

If you have questions for the MPAA, you may call their anti-piracy operation
at (818)726-8127 or email them at MPAA23@pacbell.net

Thank you for your prompt attention to this, Mr. ________

sharing (c)
 

If I download a program that I would not buy and woudn't use if it were'nt for free, the copyright owners are not losing money.

That's for morale. I feel good. But now for legal stuff...where did I heard that a thief sewed someone 'cause he fell on a knife (left on a counter) while he was burglaring his house? I think it was the movie Liar Liar...still, it reflets how the justice system can be twisted to deviate from "morale" to $ of course...

Get a life!

Re: sharing (c)
 

--
That's very true, but if you told that to the software companies, they'd spit in your face. I don't download software from Gnutella for a few reasons:
-They're big and I only have dial-up, but that's beside the point.
-If people are sharing kiddy porn on Gnutella, it makes me uneasy to think what kind of things people could be putting in those zips and exes.
-"They" whoever they are, could track software easier. (Well, I don't <u>know</u> that, but it would only make sense, right??)
-They're probably all buggy.
Anyway, Mr. '______'s letter is a good chance to bring up some thing. Privacy. Who said RIAA and MPAA could track IPs all over the net? Even if they have permission, it's still not right.

P.S= I'm actually the Yoshi who wrote the original like, 3 months ago, but I've kind of changed my views a bit.

Kirby

______
http://home.swbell.net/mattwtx/kiby.gif

Those damned letters
 

are only a token effort by the Entertainment Industry... They aren't intended to stop the flow of data, they are intended to show that "They Tried"... (in legalese, "made a good faith effort")...
The reason that is necessary is to protect their image (public and legal) when they file suit against the "John Does" corresponding to all the IP addresses they have logged.

I couldn't help but notice the poor fellow who believes that "IP addresses are useless"... possibly because many ISPs give you a new one every time you sign on. However, they are required to keep logs of to whom each Address was assigned...

Please see the "Future of Gnutella" section of my (horribly debris-ridden, still under construction) site
http://members.aol.com/vbhydrophonic/index.html

Re: Re: sharing (c)
 

get a grip!
 

Look lets just get to the point shall we as a child you obviously didn't have the best toy in your class and other kids teased you. Such feelings of tourment have obviously stayed with you. If your twisted sense of moral obligation means that you want to write to microsoft then let me make a sugestion don,t use the F@ckin system moron. For F@ck sake how can you judge one form of a file share against another. the whole point is te guntella community shares stuff so no one pays out and no one makes a profit unlike conventonal froms of priacy i.e. video where a retailer sells his or her unlicenced goodsin orderto make a profit. Now I accept that software houses may want to get every penney out of the public for there software and give nothing away but try to look at it this way we all go and buy some software at some points and stuff we download is likly to be stuff we would not have parted our cash for anyway so buy downloading games etc (like I do) it givesus a try before you buy option so if I like something I may go and by another product of that type in the future as everybody likes to have some genuine stuff.
So in closing all I can say is if you don't like it please don't use the system I'm sure I speak for most users when I say your participation would not be missed besides sounds to me like your the type of person who freeloads anyway.

I had a virus in a mp3.........only happened once, but still......
So what is safe to dl?
Well almost anything you find on the gnutella network, becouse most of the files are clean.
Just scan everything with a good virusscanner* AND a good trojan scanner
*(I found mine on the network) ;)

Go for it, I am sure that is just what the network needs. :D

Are we not all little Robin Hoods.......(the ones that SHARE that is)

I always thought that we were. :cool:

Really??
 

I would be very interested in knowing how such a virus would get the system to execute it's code so that it could "do its thing". To my miind, such "virus code" would only be Played through Winamp and, therefore, never have a chance to infect the system. What I'm saying (trying to be nice) is that only files containing executable code can carry a virus. (Yes "macros", "VBscript" files, and even Java classes are executable. But, mp3s and jpgs are not!)


The Mandragora Worm was our reminder to check all executable code. ("Wear protection for all encounters involving penetration!"...)

mp3 virus
 

I always thought that mp3's where safe, let me explain what happened.
I was dl-ing a mp3 by "Morphine" it was a track I never heard of and it had absolutely .Mp3 as extention
(I thought I had everything of morphine)
The dl is almost finished, then norton av pops up, warning! referring to the unfinished mp3, (at that stage a Phex mp3.dl file)
So I aborted the dl, and scanned the file, wich according to norton contained a virus and could not be repaired.
I deleted it a while ago so I am not quite shure wat virus it was, and I can't find it in the log anymore but when I wanted to report it, I got the message, it was well known and not necessary to report.

edit:
I haven't got a clue how this "mp3 virus" would get the chance to indeed do it's thing, but who would rename a virus to mp3 if it did not do anything?

I did a search and found a MP3 virus called BLOAT but it looks to have been a hoax...

http://www.mp3.com/news/111.html

Mp3 files do not have execution code, and even if they had some high level execution code (like Java), it would not be given full access to your system because that would be way to excessive for a music file.

What might have happened with that file your downloading was that, norton just looks for patterns, if you recall you said the file extension was "dl" not "mp3" (similar to DLL but that is not the issue), viruses have certain kinds of patterns and some like to hide themselves in data files, that kind of virus has to be executed to run in your system (some other program has to know where the virus is to execute it and mp3s again dont have executable code). So what likely happened is that coincedently a pattern in the mp3 file looked like a viruses pattern to norton.

Just in case though, I will do a little more research on MP3 viruses to see if there was any other hoaxs or any other issues...

Another possibility I have heard is an executable virus that has been renamed to look like an mp3 file... but it would be up to the media playing software to look at a file and figure out if its an mp3 file and if its not if its an executable and try to execute it... not many programs do this, I tried for example renaming an executable to mp3 and winamp didnt do it, tried renaming it to avi and windows media player said it was not an avi. So it seems in most cases an mp3 is safe...

I will try to find that Morphine virus again,and let you know if i'll find it .
btw, If you like jazzy music do some Morphine searching yourself :D

Morphine
 

"I've got a head with wings...."

mp3 virus
 

I do not think it is possible to insert a virus in a mp3, although I did find some weird mp3 wich were playable, but, to burn them as an audio track you had to convert them to a wav file (nero=unrecognised format, adaptec=copyright something...) And another kind of weird mp3 was playable fully but if I tried to edit it with nero wav editor I could only edit the first minute or so...

I doubt that any program that cannot load a file would try to rename it into a .com or .exe and run them.. it would just be looking for trouble...

speaking of viruses in the gnutella net,
 

make a very weird search like :

super nuclear program tha doesn't exist

Get only one search result:

super nuclear program tha doesn't exist.exe 784 Kb or something

Guess you shouldn't try downloading that.

Weird MP3s
 

The ID3 tag of an MP3 is what carries the song's name/artist data (if it's present). That tag also has several bits which can be valued either True or False. They include "CRCs", "Copyright", and "Original". (There's also an "Emphasis" field for EQ adjustment but anyway...)

I can't believe your Adaptec software actually checks the Copyrighted bit!!

BTW, there is a format that is carried in an MP3 file called a "module", mod file, or ProTracker module. These play in Winamp thanx to an Input Plug-In which supports them. But they are not real MP3s. The biggest noticeable difference is the inability to rewind/ff/seek to a time of such a file!
Winamp will happily convert it to a WAV if you need :)

I always thought it would be nice if mod files support MP3 compression (and maybe Vorbis in the future), but I never heard of an MP3 files carrying a mod file? That's weird... I guess it wont play in just any MP3 player then... I really like mod files myself, they are smaller because they are mostly playing patterns, Unreal Tournament uses Mod files in their game, there is even a tool that will convert their umx to it or xm (pretty nifty)...

mod files
 

are you guys talking about mod files from the amiga computers (.mod .s3m etc...) yep, these are really cool and small, but they don't have much in common with mp3s... They are more like an instrument (sample) database with the "music sheet" for 4 or more channel.

You could actually write good music in that format without being much of a musician

Maybe I've misidenttified the culprit...
 

I had an Amiga 500!! It rocked!

The more I read about mod files, the more they sound like enhanced MIDI...

So in observing the phenomenon that some files from Napster days called Right_Kind_Of_Wrong_mod.mp3 that would only play from start to end with no seek or time display.... are not comparable to MOD files as we know them.

(I'd still use Winamp to WAV 'em tho!)