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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

#81

Post by prvc »

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...

>told me all I needed to know about its creator

On the contrary, it makes one curious. Is it an attempt to ensnare the victim into heightened surveillance and suspicion (and hence higher likelihood of coming to harm) from governments, based on the assumption that their own malware uses these keywords to scan for targets? Or perhaps it creates some other kind of liability for the victim.

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

#82

Post by NikolaNovak »

andrewzah wrote: post #78
NikolaNovak wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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…

I quoted knz_. It may not show up for you because his is a dead comment now so it'll depend on your settings. Not sure why it looks I responded to you, feels we are on similar page.

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

#83

Post by AlexandrB »

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.

The problem with this argument is that most large studios treat their workforce like trash. Any surplus profit they make is going to the executives and shareholders. The developers will be used up and discarded regardless.

It's also funny that you're upset about the guy pirating software (lifetime economic impact in 10s of thousands of dollars) but not the games publishers themselves who regularly dodge taxes - in some cases paying effectively negative tax rates[1] (lifetime impacts in the 10ss of millions of dollars if not more).

[1] https://www.fanbyte.com/news/americans-paid-activision-blizz...

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

#84

Post by PufPufPuf »

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.

It the people truly can't afford the games (and wouldn't buy them at all if they didn't have the option to pirate), is there really any harm from their piracy?

Steam has it mostly figured out, though. Look at SteamDB at international prices and you'll discover that prices in Brazil or Russia are often a fraction of the US/EU price. Turns out selling the game for dirt cheap makes more money than not selling it.

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

#85

Post by na85 »

marcosdumay wrote: post #74
na85 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Indeed. The MPAA and RIAA spring to mind.

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

#86

Post by zamadatix »

hyperman1 wrote: post #33
underseacables wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Pirating Adobe tools = training people in their usage. Their job will then pay for Adobe, as they already know it. If you want to hurt Adobe, advocate not pirating them and point users to alternatives

Most people aren't interested in enacting karmic justice when they pirate Adobe software for personal reasons they just want to have access to the best in class software while avoiding the relatively high cost for something that isn't generating their paycheck at the time.

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

#87

Post by squiggleblaz »

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.

That isn't the claim. The claim is the inclusion of a racial slur doesn't tell us anything. Instinctively, when I read it, I thought, "Oh, this is written by a independent vigilante, not by stakeholder".

But other commenters are right. It is compatible with being written by an independent vigilante, and it is compatible with being written by or on behalf of stakeholders.

I will withhold conclusion until further evidence is tendered.

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

#88

Post by zamadatix »

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.

If you steal a '60s gibson guitar because you can't afford it the world is out 1 gibson's guitar worth of value. If you pirate a piece of software you couldn't afford the world is out nothing and you're up whatever value it can create for you.

Pirating software you can afford is a different equation (still not as bad as the theft of a physical item) but not what is being discussed.

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

#89

Post by squiggleblaz »

xupybd wrote: post #31
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...

Perhaps an attempt at connecting anti piracy with racism? It seems very strange.

Isn't that reaching for four dimensional chess? Does anyone actually play four dimensional chess?

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

#90

Post by surround »

Windows by default prevents programs from editing the hosts file, but...

> Many people who routinely download stuff like add-ons or mods to games this get advice to turn off their antivirus or endpoint protection, gamers are susceptible to this kind of deception. When the malware ran, it looks like it just crashed with an error dialog.

https://twitter.com/threatresearch/status/140557255709341286...

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