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A curated list of warez and piracy links

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Re: A curated list of warez and piracy links

#121

Post by nielsole »

Chris2048 wrote: post #100

Can anyone on HN help me with this: I'm sure there was a chat widget called something like "arrr!" or maybe "yarrr!" designed to be embedded in a webpage. Can't recall how many "r"'s but I think maybe the exclamation point was there as part of the name. I think it was maybe associated with Mozilla somehow. Or maybe CCC. Or even the Pirate Party? If anyone has any leads, I'd be happy to know.

tawk.to might resemble the pronunciation you are looking for and has a parrot as icon which I associate with pirates.

Re: A curated list of warez and piracy links

#122

Post by latexr »

sputr wrote: post #49
ogogmad wrote: post #3

How are films supposed to get funded if people get them for free? The current status quo is that we have two methods of obtaining a film: - Via file sharing. You have to wait for the whole film to finish downloading before you can watch it. This is inconvenient. - Via streaming services. You can watch a film before it's finished downloading. The latter costs money, but is more convenient. While certainly some of that…

> The conclusion is that obtaining films legally via streaming services remains the most convenient option Try living outside the US :). > What is your model for how films should get funded? I don't see the movie industry suffering all that much. So maybe ... they can figure it out themselves since it's obviously working well enough, and it's not a life&death situation, but one of optimization. https://www.statista.c…

> Try living outside the US

I’m not finding it now, but I remember a joke attributed to Tim Berners-Lee (unconfirmed). Paraphrased:

> In the past, if you wanted to see new episodes of a TV show as they came out you’d have to fly to the US every week. Today, thanks to the internet, you can find much cheaper flights.

Re: A curated list of warez and piracy links

#123

Post by danielrpa »

underlines wrote: post #46

I grew up in the late 90ies with internet in Switzerland, and as a broke pre-teen and teenager I was used to getting EVERYTHING pirated and this habit sticked with me, even though when in later years I was working as a software developer. Torrenting, sharing with friends and family is still completely legal in Switzerland. Only after pay services like spotify became a thing and were more convenient than managing and…

Legal considerations aside, pirating can be a fun hobby. In the early days of computers, pirating was one of the best ways to meet other computer geeks!

Additionally, thanks to pirates and data hoarders (and the Internet Archive), we have a LOT of intellectual property preserved that would otherwise not exist due to fuzzy ownership and copyright complexities.

Re: A curated list of warez and piracy links

#124

Post by red_trumpet »

pchangr wrote: post #116
latexr wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Torrenting by default distributes content to random strangers Torrenting distributes to whoever has the torrent file, which you can share privately. The most common usage may be to share with strangers, but calling it the default makes it seem like it’s inherit to the protocol. > Pure downloading from random sources (…) is perfectly legal. Does that mean uploading to share with strangers is illegal, but downloading…

That’s exactly how it works in Germany.. but you can just route your traffic through more favorable jurisdictions

I think streaming of illegal content became illegal in Germany in 2017. See here: https://www.simplegermany.com/streaming-in-germany/#Is_strea...

Re: A curated list of warez and piracy links

#125

Post by onychomys »

francis-io wrote: post #44
m_a_g wrote: post #27

I can't decide between mullvad and private internet access. Any suggestions?

I know it's not on the list, but look into IVPN. I liked the multi tunnel option. For sensitive things, you might want to chain VPNs, or use Tor through a VPN. Side note: All these ads for VPN services you see now really makes it seem like you should use a VPN. Do most people need a VPN? You trade off an ISP snooping to a VPN provider snooping. Here in the UK, ISPs can't sell my browsing data, and are more regulated…

> You trade off an ISP snooping to a VPN provider snooping.

Well, you trade off the possibility of a VPN provider snooping even though they claim not to for the 100% definite snooping that you know for a fact is happening with an ISP. And even if you get a VPN that snoops, wouldn't you rather have some random small company doing that snooping than, say, Comcast?

Re: A curated list of warez and piracy links

#126

Post by vastinfest »

ogogmad wrote: post #3

How are films supposed to get funded if people get them for free? The current status quo is that we have two methods of obtaining a film: - Via file sharing. You have to wait for the whole film to finish downloading before you can watch it. This is inconvenient. - Via streaming services. You can watch a film before it's finished downloading. The latter costs money, but is more convenient. While certainly some of that…

There's lots of of places around the world where paying for some streaming is not viable (even less so for multiple services). Same goes for stuff like video games.

I myself grew up in the post-soviet baltics and around the time when when I got more into gaming - my monthly income was around 400 and new games were around 60. When Steam (and it's sales), Humble Bundle, GOG became more of a thing and my income increased - I just sort of stopped pirating games. It was definitely more convenient to get something on e.g. Steam than pirate it and jump through hoops to get the cracks working.

When Netflix first became available - I started using that. It seemed worth paying even for limited library. But there were lots of things that was impossible to get any other way than pirating. As I stopped watching movies/tv shows - I stopped paying for Netflix. I don't thing I'd be willing to pay for multiple streaming services.

My current (largely overpriced) media of choice is audiobooks.

Re: A curated list of warez and piracy links

#127

Post by pseudo0 »

willis936 wrote: post #79
underlines wrote: post #46

I grew up in the late 90ies with internet in Switzerland, and as a broke pre-teen and teenager I was used to getting EVERYTHING pirated and this habit sticked with me, even though when in later years I was working as a software developer. Torrenting, sharing with friends and family is still completely legal in Switzerland. Only after pay services like spotify became a thing and were more convenient than managing and…

I'm very wary of any pirated software these days. A lot of crackers and keygens I obtained long ago turned out to contain viruses. I wouldn't say the majority of the demoscene is like that and maybe even the viruses came from people remaking torrents with modified files then seed-boosted them to the top of the search. A few bad apples spoil the bunch.

It is of course smart to use caution when downloading anything from an unauthenticated source, but this has become a pretty minimal problem the last few years. AV heuristics and OS security features today are miles better than 5-10 years ago, and services like VirusTotal significantly reduce the amount of time a novel repacking of an old exploit can fly under the radar. Also in the case of a pdf vulnerability, the attacker would have to guess the right version combination of OS and pdf reader (or browser), reducing the percentage of downloads that would result in successful exploitation. This combination of factors seems to have made this tactic increasingly ineffective, so people have largely stopped trying it.

Re: A curated list of warez and piracy links

#128

Post by DrBazza »

latexr wrote: post #113
DrBazza wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How are films supposed to get funded if people get them for free? > What is your model for how films should get funded? The same way free-to-air TV pays for itself - adverts. Either a couple of ad breaks in the film, or rotating watermarks on screen throughout the film. And make getting it easier than me finding the equivalent torrent. Release schedule - cinema, streaming, 'free'. When films aren't available on any…

> The same way free-to-air TV pays for itself - adverts. Either a couple of ad breaks in the film, or rotating watermarks on screen throughout the film. Please no. Watching La vita è Bella[1] or a Clockwork Orange[2] and being interrupted by an ad for toothpaste or a theme park would muddy the experience. That model would make most good films unpalatable. Were that the only legal way to consume movies, piracy would c…

> Please no.

Agreed, but how else would you release a "free" version of a movie that funds itself as per the parent comment? Watermarks are probably the optimal solution, but people are used to advert funded TV/movies.

Re: A curated list of warez and piracy links

#129

Post by imdsm »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #91
underlines wrote: post #46

I grew up in the late 90ies with internet in Switzerland, and as a broke pre-teen and teenager I was used to getting EVERYTHING pirated and this habit sticked with me, even though when in later years I was working as a software developer. Torrenting, sharing with friends and family is still completely legal in Switzerland. Only after pay services like spotify became a thing and were more convenient than managing and…

> Torrenting, sharing with friends and family is still completely legal in Switzerland. This is incorrect in regards to torrenting. Torrenting by default distributes content to random strangers, which is crossing the line. Pure downloading from random sources and sharing with friends and family however is perfectly legal. Also, IIRC this applies to movies and music, but not software.

Just to clarify, because this has always been an issue with misunderstanding, but torrenting and BitTorrent isn't illegal or unlawful, much like how ships aren't. It's how you use it and what you transport over it. I could very easily use HN to send you (and other random strangers) something illegal. BitTorrent in and of itself is simply a protocol.

Re: A curated list of warez and piracy links

#130

Post by [deleted] »

danielrpa wrote: post #123
underlines wrote: post #46

I grew up in the late 90ies with internet in Switzerland, and as a broke pre-teen and teenager I was used to getting EVERYTHING pirated and this habit sticked with me, even though when in later years I was working as a software developer. Torrenting, sharing with friends and family is still completely legal in Switzerland. Only after pay services like spotify became a thing and were more convenient than managing and…

Legal considerations aside, pirating can be a fun hobby. In the early days of computers, pirating was one of the best ways to meet other computer geeks! Additionally, thanks to pirates and data hoarders (and the Internet Archive), we have a LOT of intellectual property preserved that would otherwise not exist due to fuzzy ownership and copyright complexities.

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