Piracy............Who are the foolish? Them or Us?

48 hrs ago, I received a telephone call with regards to a laptop failing to bootup. Told caller to drop rig round for a checkup. First thing I did was to remove HD, insert in docking station, scandisk then AV it.

After about an hour, scandisk finished stating found & fixed several problems. Ran AV & within 10 minutes it had found numerous trojan downloaders, several rootkits + others.

AV completed, reinserted HD & booted up. No problems so called customer. She picked it up an hour later. 24 hours later, she called stating that on bootup, she logs in but then, that's all the rig does - logon screen clears but nothing shows on screen. Rig brought round at 17:30 yesterday, inserted my diagnostic/tools disk, which I know works extremely well at repairing the majority of problems.

Can't get it to restore via System Restore. Finally managed to get it to boot up correctly & logged in, installed Belarc Advisor to get all details from it including PK as NO pk on rig. O/S is XP Pro. Ran scandisk & AV & no problems. Rebooted & same problem, no action after logging on.

Customer calls at approx 21:00 & I inform her that It would be best to do a complete fresh clean install & could she bring me the relevant disks & PK. Now the fun starts........... Informed that some of the disks are in her car, the rest upstairs somewhere & that the PK sticker is somewhere on the sofa - THEN she tells me that she used the disks on her Dell desktop & they must be around somewhere & at this point I told her to freeze. Told her that I do not want to hear or know about her actions as it is piracy & that it is a criminal offence. Call carried on for another 12 mins or so & then she informed me that she will drop the disks & pk over at 11am this morning. Still waiting!

At 14:30 this afternoon, called her, but her mobile is switched off! Now why doesn't that surprise me? The past 9 days have really miffed me off

That is 17 rigs (11 desktops & 6 laptops) that were illegal (have yet to have it confirmed that the current laptop is illegal, but without proof of legality.....) & have been validated by MS as Reported Lost or Stolen.

Got really miffed off at 12:00 today so collated all details of rigs/owners & faxed it through to MS.

Anyone think that I'm wrong in my action today as I'm beginning to think that I really am a chump!!!

Sidenote: - The really best one I've ever had to date was the desktop & laptop from last weekend - The owner is the vice-Chairman of the new £5 mill Mosque literally round the corner from my home - both PK's were reported as lost or stolen.........saying no more.......nudge,nudge, wink,wink

Edit: - Over the last 3 years, I estimate that I have turned away approx £20,000 worth of business by refusing to work on pirated/stolen machines

I constanty have clients asking me to install software illegally - I just simply say "no" and force them to purchase legitimately. Keep in mind that I only work for businesses (no home clients) and the majority of my clients are professionals (dentists, lawyers, architects, realtors, etc) and would have no problems affording the software, yet most of them, like most people, want everything for free. Part of the problems I come across are simply due to licensing - the client owns a bunch of copies of MS Office so naturally assumes it's their right to install it on every PC that comes through their doors. When you start getting into terminal servers (I've been working with them since 2000) and virtualized servers (going on 5 years now...), the licensing gets even more interesting. Most of them don't give me too much grief when I refuse to install things for them, but there are clients I have simply "fired" due to their preference for illegal software. Believe it or not I'm not a software/hardware reseller so I don't make any money forcing comliance, it's just I'm a firm believer in piracy=theft and I don't generally like to condone illegal actions (especially when they can be traced directly back to me - I hate being the "fall guy"!).

To date I haven't gone to the extreme of sending Microsoft after any offender I've seen, but I've definitely considered it in the past...especially at sites I've seen where that there are 30+ computers and only 1 valid OS and 1 valid Office license (back in the Win9x/2k era...). To be honest, I highly doubt Microsoft will do anything to individuals caught with illegal software - there's not much money there. They tend to go after business clients and illegal distributers, anything else isn't worth the cost of enforcement/prosecution.

In my case, a lot of the time I take over a site and the licensing trail is pretty much non-existent so it's difficult to assertain what's valid and what's not - especially when dealing with system images where people simply changed the SIDs, but left the original product keys in place...sigh... . Combine that with non-reported downgrading (which is legal, but you generally need to contact MS to get the downgrade license - hence the original product key issue described above), and throw in corporate licenses with a loss of documentation for how many licenses were purchased, and you've got a situation where your licensing status is simply "unknown". Therefore my general approach is simply to deal with the PCs as they are, but force compliance for all new systems.

The worst case I personally saw was years ago when I took over the support contract for a site with several hundred computers - the previous person simply purchased computers without an OS and rolled out an image with Win95, Office 97, NAV, and several other (some very expensive) applications on every new computer. As far as I could tell this was a concious decision and I couldn't find any legitimate CD keys (or original install discs for that matter). I actually forced them to get somewhat legitimate (they purchased several dozen old Win95 licenses from various sources and purchased a corporate version of OfficeXP with a suitable number of licenses). It took quite a while to get everything back to a legitimate state, but I definitely feel better about working at the site now.

So in short, as far as your actions...it's the same as witnessing any theft. Was it wrong to report it? No. Would I do it? History says "no", but I work in a completely different, and somewhat more conveluted, environment...

It's definitely not wrong to do so.
There are some rules, and people have to be responsible.

In my case, I have install several times on the computer of my family's member, illegal software ... Now, I install free and OpenSource software. I'm quite happy with Avast and co, or OpenOffice, ...

You should tell then to use linux xD

HHHMMMMM, I'm a little conflicted here (yer really surprised , right? lol) cuz i associate with what some would call pirates. Some would even drop me into that category. But I think we should clear up some misconceptions.

Using a legally obtained copy of ANYTHING on more than one computer is not Piracy. It's just thrifty! Honestly, asking people to buy multiple copies of the same thing to run on different computers is just greediness by the software co.'s. For example, you buy your favourite artists new CD, should you be forced to buy a second copy if you wan to play it on more than one CD player? Ofcourse not, you wouldn't stand for it.

"Pirated" (i really hate this term, Cracked is more appropriate and truthful) applications or operating systems are a different story altogether. Cracked/Pirated Apps and OS's are , for the most part, exactly the same as a legally obtained copy except that the registration coding has been nullified or duplicated. If we are talking about Music CD's or DVD's then the term is "Ripped" and all that means is the Copyright protection has been circumvented. Most of the time the cracked/ripped versions are identical in every way to the originals. Sometimes there are bad or malicious copies circulated but these are often spotted quickly by the community and deleted and the original Uploader is outed and shunned. The "Pirate" community self polices better than most Fortune 500 Co.'s The key here is to only download from trusted sources.

Pirates and Piracy happens on street corners when someone actually charges you money for an illegal copy of whatever. That's wrong and I agree that it's wrong. What happens on the net however is file SHARING. I'm a file sharer not a pirate.

All this propaganda about file sharing putting entire companies and industries out of business is nothing more than fear mongering. The Movie, Television and Music industries have had it really good for a really long time. They've made BILLIONS IF NOT TRILLIONS on us and now they are upset that the game has changed. HA! TOO BAD! Adapt or be left behind. They need to find alternate sources of revenue because the old ways simply aren't going to work anymore.

If you haven't watched these two documentaries i posted a while back then this is the time to do it. http://teamcanada.freeforums.org/steal- ... -t485.html

This "problem" is nothing new, going back all the way to the first printing presses and then cassette tapes and then VCR's. Everytime technology changes , the old guard cries foul because their profits are effected! HA! TOUGH!

As for turning people in, well i don't personally agree with it but you will do what your conscience tells you. But keep in mind Pat that the server you run with music and movies on it, available to those you give access to, is in the exact same boat and someone might turn you in you filthy Pirate you!

Something to think about.

PAWLY
THAT IS ABOUT THE BEST POST I'VE READ IN AWHILE. I AGREE WITH YOU THERE. I HAVE EVEN USED A "CORPORATE" VERSION OF XP AND PASSED COPIES ON TO OTHERS. SO I AGREE THAT THAT IS ILLEGAL IN THEIR EYES BUT TO ME IT IS THE SAME AS USING A MUSIC CD. WHEN I BUY A MUSIC CD, I COPY IT AND USE THE COPY BECAUSE I'M HARD ON CD'S. ONCE AN OBJECT IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR, ITS YOURS TO DO WHAT EVER YOU WANT.
I PREFER YOUR DISTINCTION OF "PIRACY".

@ User312, I quite agree. I know MS won't do much about it. However they were in this area throughout March & have caught & prosecuted several businesses for using the same key on numerous rigs. They also prosecuted several individuals for the same reason. By doing what I did, I "CYA" as the yanks are prone to say - No offence to Yanks.

@Pawly, debatable grey area which I tend to both agree & disagree with. What I consider piracy is this: - I have a customer in this area purchasing a new machine, & is quite happy with the cost & specs. Unfortunately, & not for the first time, customers such as these, have provided more custom - those wanting repairs/upgrading/servicing.

As stated elsewhere on the forum, some of these have illegal copies of MS O/S & informed them of such & with several showed them Linux. Installed that but again, they don't like it & come back for MS, but won't pay for it, even though I can beat the net on price (asides from auction sites like E-Bay). Several weeks/months later, those very same machines come back for servicing/upgrading & I find that they have the PK of that new system I built & sold to a stranger to them, months earlier - That to me is piracy!!!

As for my home server: 1: it would take too long for people to attempt downloading a full film from it. 2: If they attempted 1, they would find that their session timed out & now that I have even better software installed, they would find that they would not be able to log back in for a considerable time. Tom, the IT specialist, programmed & installed a lovely piece of code.

I agree technically of course, as I use office pro, & unless I'm mistaken & MS has changed the rules compared to the past, I have the same copy of MS Office installed on 2 rigs (albeit both desktops rather than laptop & desktop & I do believe that the latest version is applicable to 3 pc's - looking into getting that confirmed).

On the disagreeable side is that what most of these people are doing is known as "Disk loading" & I cannot afford to have that hanging on my neck, as there are many benefits in being a MS Registered Partner.

Also, as User312 has pointed out, many people are unaware of just how easy it is to get traced & I certainly don't want any "Disk loading" traced back to me as I do not do it.

I forgot to mention on the original post that AVG deleted 2 files as virius's & when I checked their filenames, I laughed & said thank you AVG!!! Filenames: - WPA_kill.exe & WPA_Crack.exe

Hahahaha ! Good Job AVG !

Seriously though, I think both Pawly & Zappdog have a good point. As most homes now have 2 or more computers & manufacturers aiming for HTPC's, I think it would be more beneficial for MS to allow a "Home Licence" for 1 copy of O/S to be used for all rigs in the home, & to cap it like their server software, i.e, 5 or 10 CAL's.

If they don't & Linux finally gets a front end shell like Windows (without having to go anywhere near the CLI), they'll soon be out of business. Most home users that I come across just want to surf the net, watch films & word process - not many use excel or access & only students use powerpoint, (It's amazing what one finds on their HD's )

As for file sharing, I'm both for & against it.

Against, because if it's unchecked, eventually there would be no funds left to produce more.

For, because Hollywood is being too greedy! There must be miilions like myself who have a large collection of films & stuck with an obsolete format like VHS & can't transfer to digital. I have numerous films that still haven't been released on DVD - I know what some may say, buy a DVD Recorder & record from TV. That no longer works like it did in the old days, as now they chop the film up with too many breaks AND my pet hate - put the channel logo & next program ads on the screen.

As for my server, I was only testing - "That's my alibi"

http://www.honestech.com/main/VHStoDVD30Deluxe.asp
Recommended by the "Pirates"
Not sure if the USB Capture Device is essential but in the process of finding out. If not, I can get you a link to a cracked version!

Thanks for the link, Pawly, however it states for home videos only. Did originally get a similar program a couple of years ago, thinking that it will do the job. Unfortunately, NO commercial program will touch commercial videos as Macrovision gets in the way. I've been searching for months to get a program similar to DVDShrink, but for Video that cracks Macrovision, but so far, no joy.

Yeah, I know, should I succeed, I'm legally a pirate, but I'll be dammed if I pay Hollywood again for something I already own. It's not like I'm setting up a file sharer & profiting from it. AND that statement brings us right back to the main topic - Piracy.

At the end of the day, even though I don't & can't condone it, the fatcats of all the media companies have only got themselves to blame because of their greed.
For example, I was looking forward to collecting the remaining 3 seasons of "The Fugitve" but find that season 2 is being held up due to music copyright (at the last time of searching). Greed at work again

PIRATES TO THE RESCUE!!



He included links to cracked copies, just let me know and i will forward them to you.

Wow, thanks Pawly. I must be a complete Internet idiot While backing up my dvd's onto server, I spent another couple of weeks searching for programs like that & did not come across any. Must be slipping

Going to order one.