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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

#71

Post by retrac »

andrewzah wrote: post #59
f6v wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

A better analogy would be making yourself an exact duplicate of a Gibson guitar, at home with a 3D printer. I'm not sure that should be illegal, at least if you take the trademark off it.

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

#72

Post by NikolaNovak »

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…

Many people have pirated; includes myself when I was a teenager in developing country. I don't pirate now as its worth neither risk nor time but I can't claim some weird moral high ground - it's a complex issue with nuances and circumstances.

But I still find it intriguing when I see rambling half baked internally self-contradictory attempts at moral justification - do you believe what you said there? Do you even know what you said there? Cause I'm having a hard time following - Food has inflation therefore I'll pirate movies even though they're pointless, and this is just and right?

It takes minimal amount of empathy and observation to notice hard work talented creative people put into "pointless entertainment", so just like I don't buy the notion that every pirate is evil sociopathic villain, so I don't buy notion that watching entertainment for free is inherent right and creators don't deserve any compensation ever. If anything, this type of incoherence and self righteousness feeds exactly the stereotype mpaa / riaa try to portray...

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

#73

Post by NikolaNovak »

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.

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

I feel I'm reading Deepak Chopra - individual words are fine and you'd swear sentence should make sense... But it doesn't, no matter how many times you read it.

Not paying for something makes it unproductive? And you don't feel there are easy trivial immediate counter-examples for your axiom with big-boy words?

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

#74

Post by marcosdumay »

na85 wrote: post #70
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.

>Do you think this was backed by companies? Frankly I'd be shocked if it wasn't.

There are all kinds of crazy people out there. There could easily be somebody with a burning desire to fight IP piracy.

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

#75

Post by tedunangst »

DangitBobby wrote: post #58
azinman2 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It seems like most people are saying that all evidence found and all evidence not found should be interpreted to prove Sony or the MPAA or whoever is responsible. Evidence they didn't is fake and proof they did. Absence of evidence is proof of a coverup.

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

#76

Post by edgyquant »

devenblake wrote: post #55
bitwize wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If 4chan cracked down on racism they did the worst job I could possibly imagine. You can’t even go to the fit or tv boards without running into literal, unapologetic, white supremacist views.

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

#77

Post by edgyquant »

tedunangst wrote: post #75
DangitBobby wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It seems like most people are saying that all evidence found and all evidence not found should be interpreted to prove Sony or the MPAA or whoever is responsible. Evidence they didn't is fake and proof they did. Absence of evidence is proof of a coverup.

Sounds like your typical conspiracy theory.

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

#78

Post by andrewzah »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #73
andrewzah wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"If I don't have to pay for it then their work was objectively unproductive. It's an inherent failure of market economics" I feel I'm reading Deepak Chopra - individual words are fine and you'd swear sentence should make sense... But it doesn't, no matter how many times you read it. Not paying for something makes it unproductive? And you don't feel there are easy trivial immediate counter-examples for your axiom with…

I'm not sure what you've quoted, because that is -not- what I said.

People should be paid for their work. Pirating doesn't pay them for their work. Work includes art and media. I'm not sure how I can state this more simply.

I'm not sure why this is even a complicated topic. With literally everything else, if you want something, you need to pay to acquire it because it took time and resources to make. That doesn't go away just because the end product is digital.

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

#79

Post by devenblake »

edgyquant wrote: post #76
devenblake wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If 4chan cracked down on racism they did the worst job I could possibly imagine. You can’t even go to the fit or tv boards without running into literal, unapologetic, white supremacist views.

8chan if I recall formed because 4chan did away with /pol/ way way back for being too toxic to the rest of the site (it's meant to contain the scum, not breed it). 4chan eventually re-added /pol/, and 8chan, well, you know the rest there.

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

#80

Post by ratsforhorses »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #72
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…

Many people have pirated; includes myself when I was a teenager in developing country. I don't pirate now as its worth neither risk nor time but I can't claim some weird moral high ground - it's a complex issue with nuances and circumstances. But I still find it intriguing when I see rambling half baked internally self-contradictory attempts at moral justification - do you believe what you said there? Do you even kno…

I agree, but would it be agreeable and right if one was to have a free but lower quality version (smaller screen, shortened game, program with fewer options) allowing eyeballs and consumers to best gauge a products quality and thereby validate paying for integral or physical product (licenced/dvd/etc) rather than have a moralistic black and white view (generally held) of pirating bad , paying good (I certainly don't mean you in this case and am just trying to point to a middle way..
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