BSA equates software pirates to Somali pirates

The Business Software Alliance launched its latest campaign with a poorly thought out email sent to CNet

BSA said:

We've all been following the events of the past week of the pirates off the Horn of Africa. Piracy takes many forms, some more violent than others. I wanted to let you know that the Business Software Alliance is launching a new campaign today "Faces of Internet Piracy" that shows the real-life impact of software piracy--from hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines to jail time. Click on the picture below to learn more about the campaign...let me know if you're interested in writing about this.

So, the next time you upload a copy of Word for your cousin, you can expect a visit from these gentlemen.

Yeah,

Totally legit comparison.

Some nerd downloading stuff on his PC

vs

Torturing, kidnapping and killing individuals

I cant take these guys seriously,..

There are plenty of stories of violent crime and even murder and illegal copies of copyrighted material.

When I was out in Thailand a number of years back the main story of the day was a police shoot out caught between two rival gangs trying to steal one of the gangs cache of pirated software and drugs. On the streets of Thailand you can get more for the right software than drugs.

When Windows 7 comes out watch to see who is the first crew to distribute a cracked version will make allot of money.

So what about the 'free' downloads on torrents, well there is allot of reasons but the one that scares me the most is about infaltration. A torrent can be just a trojan for a piece of software that turns your machine into a bot. This bot can practically do anything to your machine. Bot machines can be bought and sold for various criminal activities that make perfectly untraceable crimes such as using your machine to perform credit card fraud.

So don't be naive and don't think your uptodate anti-virus will always protect you. The best protection is not to download stuff in the first place but like thats going to happen.

But what about just downloading keys? Hmmm, they just can't give you a key, it always comes in a 'key-gen' program ... again another trojan.

Sabot said:

There are plenty of stories of violent crime and even murder and illegal copies of copyrighted material.

When I was out in Thailand a number of years back the main story of the day was a police shoot out caught between two rival gangs trying to steal one of the gangs cache of pirated software and drugs. On the streets of Thailand you can get more for the right software than drugs.

When Windows 7 comes out watch to see who is the first crew to distribute a cracked version will make allot of money.

So what about the 'free' downloads on torrents, well there is allot of reasons but the one that scares me the most is about infaltration. A torrent can be just a trojan for a piece of software that turns your machine into a bot. This bot can practically do anything to your machine. Bot machines can be bought and sold for various criminal activities that make perfectly untraceable crimes such as using your machine to perform credit card fraud.

So don't be naive and don't think your uptodate anti-virus will always protect you. The best protection is not to download stuff in the first place but like thats going to happen.

But what about just downloading keys? Hmmm, they just can't give you a key, it always comes in a 'key-gen' program ... again another trojan.

Sabot: it doesn't quite work like that.

The warez release groups take pride in their work and if it was revealed they were putting trojans into their releases they'd lose their credibility in the scene. The problem you're describing only affects people who lack the knowhow to get original release material.

And hey... if a torrent had a trojan, why would it have so many seeders and be so popular?

//As a side note, I've been around SE Asia for a while, I'm familiar with how organised crime is involved in the distribution of sneakernet warez, but they really aren't involved in original releases, they just leech of other's work (no honour amongst thieves indeed).... but the FACT's accusations that militant "terrorists" are involved in Car Boot-sale DVDs are laughable. Anyone remember those giant stand-up displays they spammed around movie theatres around 2005?

Sabot said:

There are plenty of stories of violent crime and even murder and illegal copies of copyrighted material.

When I was out in Thailand a number of years back the main story of the day was a police shoot out caught between two rival gangs trying to steal one of the gangs cache of pirated software and drugs. On the streets of Thailand you can get more for the right software than drugs.

When Windows 7 comes out watch to see who is the first crew to distribute a cracked version will make allot of money.

So what about the 'free' downloads on torrents, well there is allot of reasons but the one that scares me the most is about infaltration. A torrent can be just a trojan for a piece of software that turns your machine into a bot. This bot can practically do anything to your machine. Bot machines can be bought and sold for various criminal activities that make perfectly untraceable crimes such as using your machine to perform credit card fraud.

So don't be naive and don't think your uptodate anti-virus will always protect you. The best protection is not to download stuff in the first place but like thats going to happen.

But what about just downloading keys? Hmmm, they just can't give you a key, it always comes in a 'key-gen' program ... again another trojan.

Sabot, any illegal activity can cause violent crime. This is not inherent in the activity but in the illegality. This is not to say that copying copyrighted works should by legalized, it is to say that the BSA lose some credibility by making these claims. The chosen method of communication by the likes of the BSA, RIAA and MPAA is often eerily similiar to that of a common street thug.

Which is why that, although I agree with their basic goals, I'd prefer not to be associated with them. You know, the company you keep and all that.

Software pirates get a vist from these guys.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=InBXu-iY7cw