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Piracy Checks At LAN Parties?
by Jack Mathews, Nov 05, 2001 1:34pm PSTWell Zoid stumbled upon this story about a LAN party in Denmark that was busted for software piracy by an anti-piracy group. Now, while this did not happen in the states, it does pose some interesting concerns. For one, not only are the participants getting investigated and fined, but the organizers of the event are as well for providing the network. So what if there is a piracy crackdown here at LAN parties. How hard would it be for someone from the SPA to hook up to the LAN at QuakeCon and find hundreds of copies of Photoshop and Office floating around? Or what of the thousands of gigs of MP3's being shared? Who will be held responsible? I'll admit that I know nothing about these laws, so I figured I'd pose the questions to you guys.
Comments
So, I beleive that microsoft isn't that bad. If you don't like it, then switch to linux or mac.
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there is a middle road: your broke asses should goto college.
My University has site licenses with alot of companies, including Microsoft. I believe that one with Adobe and Macromedia is being hammered out as we speak. But, with the Microsoft agreement, my tuition basically pays for most of any Microsoft software I want. The rest is a small fee (usually $25-35 for media pressing costs), and I can have basically any Microsoft software (minus the server suites, which I bought through work). I don't think I've pirated a Microsoft product since this (other than the pre-release RTM copies, but I buy the real versions when they come out).
Evidently, you people complaining about how "I drive the software industry by warezing software" have never gone to college. Alot of software is VERY affordable at university rates, and you sometimes can get free training in it (my school offers free training in basically all content creation applications).
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If they didnt have little snotty kids, they wouldnt have market share...There HAS to be an upsell somewhere.
Not only that, but there are a lot of people on this same board that prove very valid points about the industry today and WHY there is warez floating around... Like, why am I gonna pay $50 for a piece of crust software that isn't even worth 2 seconds of me pushing my turd out...? Fuckin right Im gonna download the warez version...and if I like it, of course i would LOVE to buy it.
I think all of this shit applies the same to the music industry...There are a LOT of bands that I didnt know that were THAT good when I heard their MP3's. Right after I was freaking out on them, I went out and bought the original CD...
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A game that takes 3 years, several million dollars and years of manpower to develop and then provides you with 20 hours of entertainmet (not counting downloadable add ons and MP gaming) is fairly priced at $50. 20 hours at $50 is only $2.5/hour. A movie is closer to $6-7/hour.
If you have illegal software, you are not a gamer. You are a thieving whore. Ya.
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I don't see a significant software purchse on the horizon, period. There hasn't been a killer app released in a while, games are cheap, since I only like 3-4 a year anyway...
There's alot of software now that I actively will not touch with a ten foot pole, free or not, XP, included:)
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Fuck all that shit. Let me buy the game online. Let me download the game and let me fucking burn the game myself.
What a stupid wasteful system we have.
BTW, Screw LAN parties too. I already get a 30 ping.
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Without Piracy the tech industry would not be what it is today. If it wasn't for pirated software I would not have my job today and neither would 95% of the people in the industry. There is no way I could have ever afforded a copy of Win NT server, SQL server, Visual Studio, Photoshop, Corel Draw, etc.... How else was I suposed to learn the tools of the trade while living on my own making $13K a year. It took my six months just to save up for my first computer, a P133 with 16mb RAM.
Businesses should NEVER pirate software...I don't have a problem with an individual pirating commercial software for home use. I do have a problem with home users pirating consumer software......games, financial software, etc.....
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If the majority of gamers decide on a game that some people don't have, my friend takes his copy and loads it onto my computer. He also loads a crack so I can play without a CD. After the LAN party, I uninstall the game and go home. We have been doing this for 2 years, and both agree that it is a good way to hold a LAN party.
What makes me feel angry is that this bust hinges on two possibilities :
1.) Someone at the LAN actually let the respective authorities aware this was happening, and reccommended they 'come on down' for an easy bust. That in itself is fucked. Some self-righteous, bitter prick saw an oppurtunity to get alot of guys up shit creek, and jumped at it.
2.) The respective authorities actually got wind of this LAN ( it was prolly advirtised on fuck knows how many mediums ) and made a collective decision to make a bust - on the whim they'd find warez at the event. Which, hey - they did. Gee, Who'd have thought ?
Both scenarios are fucked. I'd challenge anyone who's into law enforcement, or whatever, to look me in the eye, and tell me every piece of software on their PC at home is totally lisenced, and legit. People in that very niche of law enforcement are the stupidest hicks conceivable, and have no idea about what they are dealing with, and are among those of us who 'borrow' CDs, disks, etc from their cousin, mum, dad, brother, sister, neighbour, friends etc for use at home.
'Hey thats cool, can I get a copy of that ? Can I borrow the CD for a couple days ?'
* Rip, Burn, ISO, Install, call-knowledgeable-family-member-who-knows-computahs-to-install-for-me, etc *
It's not like Joe Friend, brother, cousin, neighbour, whatever is going to say 'No ! Piracy is illegal and immoral ! Make your way to the store and buy your own lisenced copy ! How dare you suggest such a taboo notion !'
However - I am not niave to the damage 'casual' piracy is causing, and I agree that it's a problem. Though, I am a firm believer that alot of guys out there freely warez stuff, and, if it's good, and if it's going to grace their hdd for more than a week ( i.e. it's not shite ), they will indeed BUY the lisenced product.
( Except Microsoft stuff. Fuck those capitalist pigs. The more people that warez M$ shite, the fuckin' better. Ahem. IMO :) )
If they have the power to just walk on in and carry out a 'warez' bust - do that to corperations, not a bunch of guys who are playing Quake and Counter-Strike, with an MP3 playing in the background.
Double standards, contradictions & two faced probably aren't the right words for the situation, but they're the first thing that comes to mind.
I hate this subject of discussion :)
this is how software
if someone can't afford software, and just takes it, the software industry loses NOTHING. they wouldnt have bought the software ANYWAY.
but in fact they gain, because that person is getting acquainted with the software, and computing in general, and someday when they have the money they will buy. and buy. and buy.
moral to this story: don't put your future customers in jail
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I mean I finished it.
Hell it kept me occupied for the time.
But you could have just as well taken it away from me, and I wouldn't care and would never have bought it.
not all piracy is justified, that's why original boxes of nolf and half life sit in my room as well as a few others.
as for this lan thing - solved so so easily
perm lan box, windows and games installed only.
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"LET THEM EAT CAKE"
rofl
a - Beta product code
b - extremely short (lack of value)
c - crappy multiplayer
d - just plain sucks.
Look, you can't trust reviewers because half of them are bought off anyway, demos almost never truly represent the real/full game, and except for Electronics Boutique most stores will NOT let you return opened software.
Before you start ragging on people who warez, suggest an alternative way for people to be sure they are getting a product WORTH their money. (Oh wait, you can't.)
-J
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As for games, you got me there.
*should turn in everyone he knows...*
I don't like it when money issues keep someone from being better informed or more productive. Books cost money, but we have public libraries where people can go and check many of them out. Software costs money, hardware costs money, and public schools are notoriously underfunded when it comes to technology...what if, in addition to getting schools up to date, there were free public computer labs for people who want to learn? Is there anyone doing this sort of thing?
I'm probably a commie retard...dunno...just something to throw out there.
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Moreover the organizers have been charged for providing a network that has been used for illegal data transfer.
Like the internet?
The only way to really protect yourself from this bullshit is to not share stuff at LANs, or at least share with a password that people have to ask you for.
And assert your rights! If some Fed Goon says "OK, kid, let me see your computer" tell him to show you the warrant that specifically names YOU and lists YOUR computer as a premises to be searched. If that's not there, tell him to fuck off, that you know what your rights are. If he still fucks with you, all your lawyer needs to do is show the judge the warrant to make your computer's contents inadmissable. Worst case, make a backup before you go to the LAN and have a format script at the ready so you can run it when the doors get busted in ;)
MoNsTeR
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The point isn't that people are punished for pirating, which they obviously should under current legislation (whether 'piracy' should be legal/prices should be lower etc. etc. is another matter).
The point is that the organizers are being charged for providing the network. The implications are vast: Isn't every ISP doing just that? Are the traffic authorities responsible for car accidents? Could the Postal Service be held responsible for the distribution of anthrax letters?
I sincerely hope the courts will tread cautiously in this matter.
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Q1 approx 30mb
Q2 approx 375mb
Q3 approx 500mb
AVP2 approx 1.3Gb
Diablo2 approx 1.5GB before the addon pack.
And these comparisons don't take cpu, ram, or videocards into the equation. Anybody else notice this disturbing trend?
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Not only is this an efficient way to game because you avoid the headaches of installing games you havent played in a while only to find out they crash your system - but it also prevents people from knowing about your REAL stash at home of mp3s/warez/etc.
At least that's my advice. :)
-J
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For instance, when the RIAA says they lost millions in "projected revenue"
wait...I think I should get a couple million a year, can I write off that money I didn't make as a loss? I think I deserve that much money, so I should get it, right?
Money they think they should've gotten != lost revenue, it's revenue they didn't ever have, not revenue they lost
greedy fuckers
and well i can't say i'm not fond of using it cause well it really costs a damn load of money to build a decent computer equipped with the essencial
and besides you gotta admit, the charges are somewhat ridiculous, i mean 200 bucks for software from a company that just has it all?
its like, dish out those 200 or you're out of 'the new trend, the multimedia experience' and all that shit together
but still i think they do deserve something for all their work on software which in the end is a honest job in itself and stuff.
just not that much!
but still
and this stuff about lan crackdowns is real scary, loads of people would be busted and in the end lans would dissapear, or at least big publicized lans
which also sucks
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i mean damn, they aren't starving or whatever
that's the asshole point i find to it
what the price should be i don't know but common sense should have it already
sadly it's been shadowed by a wallet sense (or whatever)
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At the same time, though, I don't feel for the whole industry. How can Adobe charge $600+ for Photoshop when Paint Shop Pro (which is admittedly not as good, but very feature similar) only costs $100? Also, what the hell is up with 3D Studio MAX? $3500 for a 3D package? I will legally own a copy someday, yes, but at this point in my life, it's just not possible.
So, I guess that's my poorly written take on piracy... I use piracy like a credit card.. For me, it's a buy now-pay later thing. No, I don't feel that that makes it right, but I have no choice.
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If you're such a moron that you try to register or sell a software product that you didn't pay for, then you deserve to get caught. But the lan party/file swapping stuff that happens at lans I doubt they'll be able to touch.
While I doubt this law exists in other countries (it's illegal in the UK as far as I know), you'd better hope it doesn't continue in Denmark or even snowball into other countries with them passing laws to do stuff like this too.
Aside from legal issues, LAN party organisers just won't run LAN parties if there is a risk of getting shafted by anti piracy groups. It isn't worth the financial risk, most LAN party groups barely make money anyway (unless they're ripoff merchants *cough*MultiPlay UK*cough*).
node
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"THOU SHALT NOT WAREZ, MONKEY"
Ook Ook.
// EvilJohn
// QuakeCon 2002
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The powers that be should be more focused on the ridiculous copyright laws
that are killing competition rather than sniffing around at LAN parties. Then
again, the powers-that-be are most likely heavily subsidized by the companies
that want to stomp out fair competition.
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For many people the main purpose of going to LAN partys is purely to copy stuff from others. For me it's basically just to meet friends, people I talk to all day long on ICQ but seldomly all gather in one place to hang out. These parties are an excellent time to meet all your intarnet buddies who live too far away to be worth a visit.
I can't imagine getting 'razzia'd like that. I don't think it could happen on Dreamhack, but if it happened in Denmark i guess it could. The difference between our countries isnt that big. Maybe I'll have to format my harddrive before I go there?
/ [V]
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