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File sharing sites - outrage! bunch of criminals

by affhelper
21 replies
I used to never think anything of file sharing until it effected me in
a big way recently.

Someone cracked a software application we are selling in a gaming niche
and shared it on all these sites. $1000s in loses!

File sharing is just a cover up for a huge criminal activity!

Here is what kills me, when you are the copyright owner you have to go
through all the trouble and proving that you are indeed the owner. File
DMCA complaints etc.

But the criminal doesn't need to do anything, but click upload and presto
your file is being shared on multiple sites all over the web.

Then you need to go through each one of those sites and prove that
it's copyright violation. What a joke

Government needs to shut down all file sharing sites, or at least put some
laws in place where the uploader needs to go through all the trouble to
prove it's not copyrighted work.

Why do we (product developers) need to go through all that trouble? WTF

We all know that most of the files on these sites are violation of copyrights
so I really hope that one day they just shut them down completely and
sue for damages.

They should also develop a system that if there was a DMCA complaint
filed against you for uploading copyrighted work, the file sharing site should
report it to authorities and the police should be dispatched to arrest the
criminal.
#bunch #criminals #file #outrage #sharing #sites
  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    The file sharing sites usually aren't run in or controlled by the US. Which police do you intend to send?

    The file sharing sites are just a scratch on the surface. If your files are there then they are also being shared in larger 'underground' areas as well and you really have zero chance of stopping them.

    Edit: I will just add that it is naive to enter the gaming market if you thought your product wasn't going to be cracked and syndicated within days of release. The crackers turn millions of dollars worth of anti piracy methods into dust in hours.
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    • Profile picture of the author affhelper
      Originally Posted by Fraggler View Post

      The file sharing sites usually aren't run in or controlled by the US. Which police do you intend to send?
      Whatever country they are in. I don't care

      But those who share copyrighted work and even worse those
      who go way out of their way to crack a software for the purpose
      of sharing should be locked up in jail.

      It's stealing plain and simple
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    • Profile picture of the author affhelper
      Originally Posted by Fraggler View Post

      The file sharing sites are just a scratch on the surface. If your files are there then they are also being shared in larger 'underground' areas as well and you really have zero chance of stopping them.
      Well most of damage is being done by the popular torrent sites and file
      sharing sites. They get most of the traffic from Google itself. If they
      stopped those it would minimize the loses by a lot.

      Even if Google just removed them from the index would be a great help
      so people can't find them so easily. Right now all they have to do is
      type "Whatever....download free torrent" and start downloading.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    When they get caught they do get sent to gaol. The thing is, most are never found. They aren't your usual script kiddy. If you are going to play in the software market you really should do some research into how bad piracy is. There is a reason a lot of programs require the internet these days - more control over the software.
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  • Profile picture of the author christopherNV
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    • Profile picture of the author affhelper
      Originally Posted by christopherNV View Post

      Not really, there are a lot of countries that have zero regulation and really don't care, think offshore bank accounts for tax cheats.
      Of course you will never stop it completely but they can sure minimize the
      damage by a lot if they keep cracking down on them and making arrests.

      It might even get to the point where the ISPs will not allow you to visit
      those sites. I am not sure if I want that to happen because that would
      mean losing part of our freedom but if this continues it might just happen.
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  • Profile picture of the author christopherNV
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    • Profile picture of the author GuerrillaIM
      Originally Posted by christopherNV View Post

      It is interesting what the SE choose to blacklist or not.

      Create a couple hundred 1 page MFA sites and google has no problem banning those but running a site that allows downloads of copywrite (copywritten, copywrited ??) material and they don't really give a rats ***

      I agree that if SE's did take a harder stand on these sites it would eliminate some of the problem, but where do you draw the line.
      The majority of internet users are looking for either porn or free stuff (like music, games, software etc..). If google decided to block either of these then they would loose a massive share of the market as everyone would start to use the other 2 to find this stuff.

      In other words, while millions of people are searching for something, it isn't going to get blocked any time soon.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mukul Verma
    Sorry to that happens to you, but this is part of the business.

    In 2005 I went through something similar, where we were looking to develop software to unlock phones. Well someone I knew just spent a few hundred thousand dollars building one and within a week of release it was duplicated over and over and over again. Now there were more then 5 people could do this.

    So I made the choice to compete on the retail size since it is harder to hack or duplicate without great effort.

    It is a business, just like the music business or I, run it like a business and make it that if this happens, you dont feel a pinch and it is day to day.

    Cheers,
    Mukul
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  • Profile picture of the author RichardDean
    Sorry that has happen...Been there and there now...

    Have you seen the crack?

    Hope it still has some of your info in it, if it does make a new updated VER or change the graphics and just put new and improved on it. Make people think this one is better.

    This helps out in two ways

    The one who has downloaded it could swing by your site see this one is not the same/new and want it or think the one that have is outdated and does not work well.

    If you have a new ver and people search for it on the hack site they only find a old one
    and might not want to try it because it is outdated.

    You might even want to change your website to say the old ver does not work correct.

    Also this will help
    You can add your own light ver of the software to the crack sites that has a upgrade link in it.

    Few things you can try hope that helps

    Richard Dean
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  • Profile picture of the author Groovystar
    Google is better than pirate bay at finding torrents now. MUCH better.

    ...Although I wouldn't really worry as much as you are. Those cracked files are almost always either loaded with trojans, don't work at all, or both. As for shutting the sites down, they get shut down all the time. New ones just appear daily and hourly; they are generally very short lived as the pirates know it makes the most sense to just shut it down as soon as there is legal trouble, and just slap up a new one. With the popularity and linking in that they get, the new sites will appear high on google within days or less.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bicycle Cat
      Originally Posted by Groovystar View Post

      Google is better than pirate bay at finding torrents now. MUCH better.
      Comes with free virus/trojan/botnet of your choice!

      Well, OP, look on the bright side, some pirates might see your product and could be interested in paying for any future products.
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  • Profile picture of the author tylerdrun
    government cannot. they've tried... p2p networks enable faster sharing on important files... That's why all of us use it. But I agree it's been abused. Skype's another p2p.

    For each government, their juridistiction ends at a certain place. In the case of sites like thepiratebay, there's no control. The swiss laws say they are doing nothing illegal.

    And the files are shared from one user computer to another. It spreads wild and extremely fast.

    It may be on a US computer today, tomorrow 1000s of computers and it would be impossible to track down. Here's my say: Learn to live with it.

    This world is indeed gray. We are all gray. We are not completely good or completely bad... It's in the middle.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
    Unfortunately, the odds of international cooperation in targeting cyber-crime such as this is about as likely as world peace. Until the vast majority of Society changes it's attitudes towards file-sharing and copyright, this will continue.

    Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author Colin Theriot
    I like how business in general hates when the government regulates their specific industry, and yet when something like this happens, PLEASE, GOVERNMENT, SAVE US!

    Not that the OP is like this specifically, but asking the government to solve your business problems is a terrible idea.

    As someone else said, if this is your first encounter with the problem of piracy, you haven't been in software very long.

    Re-work your business to a model where you are a smaller, less worthwhile target - and they can harm you less financially by leaking what you share.

    That way, no matter if they are ever stopped or not, your business keeps moving forward. Don't let your plan be thwarted by encountering an enemy. Incorporate the enemy into the plan.
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  • Profile picture of the author zachary0611
    there are quite a few uderground sites that require you to get an invitation to join its going to be hard to stop them
    there is a blackhat forum that copies every single wso ever put out
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  • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
    Banned
    Originally Posted by affhelper View Post


    Here is what kills me, when you are the copyright owner you have to go
    through all the trouble and proving that you are indeed the owner. File
    DMCA complaints etc.
    The hell you say! You mean they won't just let you claim ownership of any old product you want? They actually require you to prove that you actually own the product in question? Those *******s.

    Government needs to shut down all file sharing sites, or at least put some
    laws in place where the uploader needs to go through all the trouble to
    prove it's not copyrighted work.
    Yes, that's what we need.....even MORE government hoops to jump through. And maybe whenever you go to buy groceries, or clothes, or a big screen tv, you should have to prove the money you're using isn't stolen. And by the way, since you share software(albeit for a fee) you would have to comply with the same rules, right? So much for avoiding that paperwork you despise.

    We all know that most of the files on these sites are violation of copyrights
    so I really hope that one day they just shut them down completely and
    sue for damages.
    Why wait? If they're sharing your stuff, what are you waiting for? Sue them yourself.

    They should also develop a system that if there was a DMCA complaint
    filed against you for uploading copyrighted work, the file sharing site should
    report it to authorities and the police should be dispatched to arrest the
    criminal.
    Yeah, that's what we need to happen. What could possibly go wrong, lol?
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    • Profile picture of the author affhelper
      Originally Posted by Black Hat Cat View Post

      The hell you say! You mean they won't just let you claim ownership of any old product you want? They actually require you to prove that you actually own the product in question? Those *******s.



      Yes, that's what we need.....even MORE government hoops to jump through. And maybe whenever you go to buy groceries, or clothes, or a big screen tv, you should have to prove the money you're using isn't stolen. And by the way, since you share software(albeit for a fee) you would have to comply with the same rules, right? So much for avoiding that paperwork you despise.



      Why wait? If they're sharing your stuff, what are you waiting for? Sue them yourself.



      Yeah, that's what we need to happen. What could possibly go wrong, lol?
      LOL I maybe overreacted but it just makes me mad that these people
      will go out of their way to crack a software so they can share it illegally.

      I don't mind if someone shares something here and there, but purposely
      to hurt the vendor? Kinda sucks
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      • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
        Originally Posted by affhelper View Post

        LOL I maybe overreacted but it just makes me mad that these people
        will go out of their way to crack a software so they can share it illegally.
        Unfortunately, these people crack the programs for ego stroking reasons, the more tricky the protection, the more likely they are to try and hack something, just to see if they can. It sucks but all you can really do is try to make it as difficult as possibly by programming the software to call back home and verify the computer hardware ID, however I am not sure that even this method is fool proof.

        Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author lumpy burgertushie
    they don't do it to purposefully hurt anyone.
    they do it because they can, to show off to their buddies etc.

    also, you don't lose many sales because most people that would go looking for the illegal copies would not buy it in the first place.
    most people that look for warez etc. do so because they want something they can not afford to buy.

    like Collin says, work around the problem, don't spend your time and money worrying about it.


    robert
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