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Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

arstechnica.com

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Re: Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

#51

Post by andrewzah »

underseacables wrote: post #14
anoncow wrote: post #10

Are people still pirating software? Apart from kids trying out software, people from countries where the product is not officially available or is exhorbitantly priced as compared to their purchasing power, I doubt there is a reason to pirate. Most tools have alternatives available or an easy on the pocket subscription plan (Adobe is an exception, subscription plans should not come with a lock-in, no matter how you j…

Adobe products are really the only software I advocate pirating. There’s a lot of great software out there and we should pay for it, but some companies have just turned to greed and screwing over customers.

There are cheaper alternatives, such as Affinity Designer, Sketch, etc, depending on your use case. As others have mentioned, even if you pirate adobe, by using their products you reinforce the influence adobe has.

Now as far as I know, there aren't any -good- film editing alternatives that are free. I have tried a fair few open source alternatives and they are pitiful compared to adobe premiere. So while I can't recommend pirating, if you're a film student... I can understand it. It's how the industry is, sadly.

Re: Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

#52

Post by slim »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #43

When developers complain about the walled garden, something that they often forget to factor in is how hard piracy is on iOS and other locked down devices. If iOS was open, how much of a revenue drop would developers receive? I don’t know what it is, but it is not like the devs are going to get 25% more money by bypassing Apple’s commission. If you open the iPhone, yay, you don’t pay the Apple tax, but now you’ve got…

Apple is grooming high value consumers. If your product targets those consumers, piracy does not matter, because they are well behaved carefully selected to buy your product at a price point that makes your product profitable even with the apple cut. It's the living proof that you can pay for your product and still be the product and be happy about it.

Re: Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

#53

Post by chayleaf »

afrcnc wrote: post #37

These reports are so misleading. This is junk malware uploaded on VirusTotal, not something seen in the wild.

My friend did catch it (or a similar virus), so it can be seen in the wild indeed

No it's not me, I don't even play games that much

Re: Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

#54

Post by bellyfullofbac »

knz_ wrote: post #30
anoncow wrote: post #10

Are people still pirating software? Apart from kids trying out software, people from countries where the product is not officially available or is exhorbitantly priced as compared to their purchasing power, I doubt there is a reason to pirate. Most tools have alternatives available or an easy on the pocket subscription plan (Adobe is an exception, subscription plans should not come with a lock-in, no matter how you j…

I pirate everything. Honestly, the only things I don't pirate are like 1-2 games a year that me and some friends end up playing together. For software I generally just run whatever FOSS thing I can find, and in the case of movies and music I have never spent a cent on them in my life. I've been pirating since I started using a computer. The same rich people trying to sell predatory subscriptions and vendor lock-in ar…

Funny how you try to justify it. I also pirate, but I know I'm a thieving cheap bastard...

Re: Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

#55

Post by devenblake »

bitwize wrote: post #36
chucka9 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These companies have no shame. Do you think this was backed by companies? It seems reasonable to suspect it, but it’s a issue radioactive now so won’t be easy to find out.

I think it was commissioned by a company and written by a teen or twentysomething jerk. Raising hackles by throwing N-words around is a favorite pastime of young assholes. Don't think that because 4chan cracked down on that sort of thing that it doesn't still go on in certain communities.

4chan might've cracked down on the racism, like, a decade ago, in the moot era. Have you been there lately? /pol/ took over and basically homogenized every board.

Re: Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

#56

Post by enraged_camel »

slim wrote: post #52
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #43

When developers complain about the walled garden, something that they often forget to factor in is how hard piracy is on iOS and other locked down devices. If iOS was open, how much of a revenue drop would developers receive? I don’t know what it is, but it is not like the devs are going to get 25% more money by bypassing Apple’s commission. If you open the iPhone, yay, you don’t pay the Apple tax, but now you’ve got…

Apple is grooming high value consumers. If your product targets those consumers, piracy does not matter, because they are well behaved carefully selected to buy your product at a price point that makes your product profitable even with the apple cut. It's the living proof that you can pay for your product and still be the product and be happy about it.

I think this analysis is fairly shallow. A lot of people pirate things not because they cannot afford the actual thing, but because they can.

Furthermore, over the years the percentage of paid apps on the App Store has decreased. What this means is that the opposite of what you claim is true: iOS users have been trained to prefer free things.

Re: Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

#57

Post by knz_ »

andrewzah wrote: post #49
knz_ wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pirate everything. Honestly, the only things I don't pirate are like 1-2 games a year that me and some friends end up playing together. For software I generally just run whatever FOSS thing I can find, and in the case of movies and music I have never spent a cent on them in my life. I've been pirating since I started using a computer. The same rich people trying to sell predatory subscriptions and vendor lock-in ar…

You realize that actual people work on those things that you pirate, right? That those people also need to get paid so they can have food on the table? It's one thing to not buy any media at all, but it's contradictory to enjoy media produced by people and then not want to pay them. Their work isn't less valuable because it's related to media production instead of engineering or whatever.

> You realize that actual people work on those things that you pirate, right?

I don't care.

> Their work isn't less valuable because it's related to media production instead of engineering or whatever.

If I don't have to pay for it then their work was objectively unproductive. It's an inherent failure of market economics.

Re: Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

#58

Post by DangitBobby »

azinman2 wrote: post #18
rozab wrote: post #9

>Padding it out with racist slurs told me all I needed to know about its creator. Clearly that is the intent. These companies have no shame. Remember Sony's response to their rootkit being discovered? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_roo...

I’m not seeing the connection between Sony and racial slurs. In fact, especially without knowing what racial slur this is, it tells me very little about the creators intent.

They are saying the slurs could be intended to throw you off of the corporate scent and should be discarded as any evidence one way or the other who commissioned the creation.

Re: Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

#59

Post by andrewzah »

f6v wrote: post #24
anoncow wrote: post #10

Are people still pirating software? Apart from kids trying out software, people from countries where the product is not officially available or is exhorbitantly priced as compared to their purchasing power, I doubt there is a reason to pirate. Most tools have alternatives available or an easy on the pocket subscription plan (Adobe is an exception, subscription plans should not come with a lock-in, no matter how you j…

> or is exhorbitantly priced as compared to their purchasing power, I doubt there is a reason to pirate. I don't think it's an overstatement to say that hundreds of millions of people can't afford an 80 EUR/USD game.

Then don't buy it.

Right now, I can't afford to buy a classic '60s gibson guitar. That doesn't give me the license to go out and steal one, -because I want one-.

If modern AAA games are too much at $80, then don't buy them. There are significantly cheaper alternatives on PC, as well as the possibility of waiting for deals or buying used. High prices don't justify pirating.

Re: Newly discovered Vigilante malware outs software pirates and blocks them

#60

Post by slim »

andrewzah wrote: post #47
bserge wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IP is incredibly important and we must all protect it at all cost. My wage and health are nothing compared to the employers' properties and wealth. I would die for them.

Then don't buy media. But don't pirate it either. Media takes money and lots of man-hours of people working in order to produce things. They, too, need to get paid, regardless of whatever principles you hold personally. edit: kindly stop shadow-editing comments. Your comment is completely different now from the one that I replied to.

It seems this person will be happy if the whole entertainement industry disappeared
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