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One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

sijmen.ruwhof.net

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Re: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

#111

Post by zandjager »

jerf wrote: post #57
dTal wrote: post #8

Wow, the title doesn't do this justice. "Google makes millions from Russian organized crime" might be better.

"Organized" usually implies a, well, organization . This seems like it may be just one guy. I don't see anything about this site that would particularly require an "organization".

"Seems like it may be just one guy." One cannot make this statement weaker. We don't know and we cannot know now whether it is just one guy.

Re: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

#112

Post by zandjager »

myro wrote: post #90

But wait, earning this money and storing on AdSense account is tricky and there's no such thing like buy bitcoin with adsense balance, right? To be able to withdraw that amount the owner is expected to provide tax information and so on..

This is the real question. He could do it legitimately, as google doesn't really care where your income comes from. Hence the implication of google in this story as a party.

Re: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

#113

Post by pjc50 »

zandjager wrote: post #108
dahart wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I get the impression ATM that copyright infringement is legal as long as nobody complains. Copyright infringement is never legal. Yes, it's often not enforced until someone complains, but there is a difference between enforcement and legality. > TL;DR it's not a crime if nobody complains. It is a crime even if nobody complains, you're just not getting caught or reprimanded. It is possible to hurt someone without ge…

Doesn't the owner first have to claim copy rights on the content for it to be illegal?

For it to be enforced someone has to step forward and claim infringement, but there's no formal requirement for copyright registration any more.

Re: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

#114

Post by zandjager »

pjc50 wrote: post #20
sheeshkebab wrote: post #18

Is this some kind of political prep piece for passing legislation in Europe against google, internet archive, and other search engines indexing public content?

No, it's a takedown of an ad farm site posing as a document hosting service.

So what are two essential differences from google?

Re: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

#115

Post by zandjager »

pjc50 wrote: post #113
zandjager wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't the owner first have to claim copy rights on the content for it to be illegal?

For it to be enforced someone has to step forward and claim infringement, but there's no formal requirement for copyright registration any more.

Then several infringement cases have to be opened, in each country according to its specific copyright laws. This may drown the author in costs and time spent to fight these claims that he/she may be discouraged and shut the business down. However this orchestrated "attack" would require coordination from the accusing parties. Further the complexity of such cases requires highly educated lawyers educated in law in cyberspace which means that they are expensive. That is why copyright laws cannot be solved easily in a decentralized way, if they are deemed to be a problem of course. I would claim even that there is no economic feasibility in such infringement claims i.e. there's no money to be made in them directly (acquired from the infringing party) and since the documents are public already, they hold implicitly no monetary value, thus even indirectly there is no money to be made there.

Re: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

#116

Post by dahart »

zandjager wrote: post #108
dahart wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I get the impression ATM that copyright infringement is legal as long as nobody complains. Copyright infringement is never legal. Yes, it's often not enforced until someone complains, but there is a difference between enforcement and legality. > TL;DR it's not a crime if nobody complains. It is a crime even if nobody complains, you're just not getting caught or reprimanded. It is possible to hurt someone without ge…

Doesn't the owner first have to claim copy rights on the content for it to be illegal?

Nope, copyrights are automatic in the US and EU and for any countries that adopt the Berne convention. It’s illegal to copy and redistribute something you don’t have explicit license for.

Example: https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#register

Re: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

#117

Post by mtnGoat »

NKosmatos wrote: post #65

Thanks for letting us know about this great "sharing" site :-) Lot's of garbage in it, but it also has some interesting docs. I'm more interested on the technical details of it. How it works internally for scrapping, text extraction, indexing, random users creation and uploading of stuff and so on. I understand the privacy and copyright infringement concerns, but it's not like they've hacked into those other sites an…

This is quite easy to replicate. Just need about 5 jobs that run 24/7 harvesting data.

Re: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

#118

Post by frogpelt »

antisthenes wrote: post #89
topoftheforts wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's unacceptable, especially for someone who claims to be "ethical" in his bio: > About Sijmen Ruwhof Independent IT Security Researcher / Ethical Hacker

Whenever I see someone point out they are "ethical", it's always according to their own code of ethics that they are unwilling to ever discuss. I used to be absolutist like that as well as a teenager. It's a shame when some adults don't grow out of it.

Your post reads (to me) like you no longer believe in absolute ethics.

If that's the case, how can you argue with someone else's definition of ethics?

Re: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

#119

Post by samstave »

shakna wrote: post #6

> According to another source, a public address book at locatefamily.com, someone under the name Vladimir S. Nesterenko is living at [REDACTED] in Moscow. Vladimir lives according to Google Streetview it’s an apartment complex far away from the Moscow city center... Really? Someone investigating with journalists, and may be considered a journalists themselves (?), actually publishes the address of someone that they a…

I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I personally do think that people should be exposed.

Sex offenders need to be registered. Heck, I think Panama papers and paradise papers people should be exposed...

Re: One of the world’s most visited websites that nobody is aware of (2017)

#120

Post by crystalPalace »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #35
prepend wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, I wouldn’t be so sure. It’s a useful practice to use real people’s info for precisely situations like this. Step 1) register foo.com Step 2) make email address John.doe@foo.com Step 3) register bar.com using John.doe@foo.com as contact info. Include contact info for John Doe with a real address and random phone number This meets Whois requirements and makes it a bit harder for any real lookups. It’s easier tha…

> Whois requirements Are there any? My street name is literally "private" and my phone number "000..." or something like that.

"Because registration data connects individuals or organizations with domain names, domain name registrants are required to provide accurate and reliable contact details. If the domain name registrant knowingly provides inaccurate information, fails to update information within seven days of any change, or does not respond within 15 days to an inquiry about accuracy, the domain name may be suspended or cancelled." - ICANN (https://whois.icann.org/en/primer#field-section-3)
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