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Why I Pirate - An Open Letter to Content Creators
J-Mac:
db90h, you talk as if software pirates invented the rootkit! Please try to remember exactly WHO first introduced most of the public to the "joys" of rootkits!
(Hint: Not to mention Sony BMG by name... -Oops! - but could it have been an overbearing corporation claiming to protect their copyrighted material?? So much for blaming pirates, db90h!)
Jim
-J-Mac (March 10, 2012, 11:35 AM)
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In all fairness, I don't think it's all that relevant who may or may not have invented the rootkit. Or who first attempted to deploy one. It's still unacceptable no matter who did it, when they did it, or for what purpose. Rootkitting someone is wrong.
So let's not get too bogged down in finger pointing or arguing 'tit for tat' and "You're another!" This is too important an issue to allow ourselves go off on tangents.
:)
-40hz (March 10, 2012, 11:57 AM)
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Sorry 40hz, but with comments like the following dl90h is briefly explaining what rootkits are and then intimating that software pirates are the main cause of it - with all CAPS even! Just thought I would educate back a bit.
Jim
Yes, some of this malware is extremely sneaky. Ever heard of a rootkit? These guys controlling massive botnets have hundreds of thousands of PCs under their control, and the PC owners have no idea they are infected. Rootkits make it near impossible to remove or detect the malware. I am sure there are safe pirated software out there, and I'm not trying to scare people, this is just the truth. Your machine could be infected for years and you never have any idea that it's used in DDoS attacks, or whatever other nefarious purpose the botnet owner desires.
I am not MAKING UP the fact that I have SEEN and ANALYZED with my OWN EYES pirated software that installs fine, seems to work fine, but comes with an extra surprise -- a permanent rootkit infection (or other type of malware). The user never has any idea. Not ALL pirated software is infected, but this is one of the largest vectors of spreading malware. That is fact, not a scare tactic.
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40hz:
J-Mac was merely making the counter-point that even if one were to never pirate anything, one might become a victim of malware through the actions of a 'respectable' corporation.
-Innuendo (March 10, 2012, 12:12 PM)
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Yes they can become victims. By a misguided response on the part of a content producer to a perceived threat from pirating activities...by people who were pirating originally because...
This can only turn into a "chicken or egg" circular argument after several iterations. Once again, it's turtles all the way down.
The only way to get beyond that is to handle it the same way reconstruction gets handled after civil wars. There comes a time when you have to say, we're victims of historic precedent. SO the only way to move forward is to remove the restraints such precedent has put on us and start with a blank slate. Forget about the past and put all the arguments and options on the table fresh.
It's no guarantee an acceptable compromise can be hammered out. But it at least provides hope that one could be.
None of this will ever go anywhere until both parties to the debate about creator's rights and consumer's rights agree to put the past behind them and stop looking to assign ultimate blame to someone. Because all of that really is tangential to what all parties to this debate are hoping to accomplish - finding a way out of the mess we've created for ourselves over this.
Both sides have been guilty of selfishness, excess, and dishonesty.
How about clearing the tables and entering into some constructive dialog for a change?
That's all I'm saying. :)
40hz:
Sorry 40hz, but with comments like the following dl90h is briefly explaining what rootkits are and then intimating that software pirates are the main cause of it - with all CAPS even! Just thought I would educate back a bit.
Jim
-J-Mac (March 10, 2012, 12:32 PM)
--- End quote ---
I hear ya Jim! I'm not trying to lecture. (See my previous comment for a fuller explication of what I was thinking when I wrote that.)
-----------------
@db90h - Personal request from 40hz: Please don't do the ALL CAPS thing? Pretty please? With sugar on it? (Maybe use italics for emphasis instead?) Thanks! :) :Thmbsup:
IainB:
As a possible solution to ALL CAPS accidents...
...
Tip - dispatching the CapsLock gremlin with Microsoft's remapkey.exe http://tips4laptopusers.blogspot.com/2008/08/dispatching-capslock-gremlin-with.html
It refers to the Microsoft remapkey.exe utility.
...
-IainB (August 24, 2008, 03:22 AM)
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Other keyboard mapping fixes are useful, but redundant if you use remapkey.exe, which works fine in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Win7-64 Home Premium.
wraith808:
None of this will ever go anywhere until both parties to the debate about creator's rights and consumer's rights agree to put the past behind them and stop looking to assign ultimate blame to someone. Because all of that really is tangential to what all parties to this debate are hoping to accomplish - finding a way out of the mess we've created for ourselves over this.
Both sides have been guilty of selfishness, excess, and dishonesty.
How about clearing the tables and entering into some constructive dialog for a change?
-40hz (March 10, 2012, 12:44 PM)
--- End quote ---
Well said, and seconded!
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