downloading illegal software

kevogy

i just found out that some of my friends download illegal software of torrent sites

i know this is illegal but is there any risk? one lad in particular has at least 3 music making software reaching into hundreds of euro on his computer

can he be caught? whats the punishments if he is caught?

nobodythere

Unlikely. RIAA in America take individual cases but rarely against torrents, generally in Europe they mostly target the ISPs and the sites directly, worst that will probably happen to you unless you're VERY unlucky is getting disconnected from your ISP.

.... Mostly

CreepingDeath

In before the lock !

The industry does turn it's head towards Ireland now and again.
I believe they get a court order against the ISP's for the contact details of their worse offenders.

From what I hear, if you're caught it generally entails a legal threat and the settlement of about Eur 3000, or else they'll take it to court and the fines could be more.

pauldiv

The big software producers know that their applications are well cracked but they dont try too hard to lock it down. Their applications are so easy to crack.

These firms are smart and they know that a percentage of the pirate users will eventually become legal users and recommend the software to other potential users in future. It is an indirect means of marketing for them.

They easily afford the best developers money can buy and still make huge profits.

In some countries, like Brazil and Russia, pirate software is the norm and you would get strange looks if you said you had just paid €500 for Adobe Photoshop.

Its all a question for your conscience. There are people out there who are a million times worse than pirate software users, like bankers and politicians so dont fret.

Feelgood

I'd be more concerned about what viruses and spyware etc are bundled with the illegal download to be honest.

A lot of that software can rightly fook up your computer and god only knows what else it installs.

Ass

kevogy wrote: »

i just found out that some of my friends download illegal software of torrent sites

i know this is illegal but is there any risk? one lad in particular has at least 3 music making software reaching into hundreds of euro on his computer

can he be caught? whats the punishments if he is caught?

Most of the software that you download copyright material with is distributed by cops and it has built in GPS software so they can calculate your exact location.

They build this up in a database of offenders and share this information with the cops.

If you've ever downloaded software illegally, the cops know where and when and by who it was and they will send someone out to that location. Usually it takes a couple of weeks for them to arrive, but they do come eventually.

I've known people to participate in this activity and most of them ended up with jail sentences or criminal records. If you've downloaded a lot and you've been looking at porn on the internet or through the illegal downloading programs, they put you on the sex offenders list too.

The cops don't always catch you though. Apparently if you only download a song or two there's only a 1 in 5 chance that they'll track you. Anything more than a song or two every half a year and you're pretty much guaranteed to see some jail time.


Sorry for the bad news.

Donald-Duck

Ass wrote: »

Most of the software that you download copyright material with is distributed by cops and it has built in GPS software so they can calculate your exact location.

They build this up in a database of offenders and share this information with the cops.

If you've ever downloaded software illegally, the cops know where and when and by who it was and they will send someone out to that location. Usually it takes a couple of weeks for them to arrive, but they do come eventually.

I've known people to participate in this activity and most of them ended up with jail sentences or criminal records. If you've downloaded a lot and you've been looking at porn on the internet or through the illegal downloading programs, they put you on the sex offenders list too.

The cops don't always catch you though. Apparently if you only download a song or two there's only a 1 in 5 chance that they'll track you. Anything more than a song or two every half a year and you're pretty much guaranteed to see some jail time.


Sorry for the bad news.

Jail? Piracy is funding terrorism. Hes off to guantanamo bay

towel401

Ass wrote: »

Most of the software that you download copyright material with is distributed by cops and it has built in GPS software so they can calculate your exact location.

They build this up in a database of offenders and share this information with the cops.

If you've ever downloaded software illegally, the cops know where and when and by who it was and they will send someone out to that location. Usually it takes a couple of weeks for them to arrive, but they do come eventually.

I've known people to participate in this activity and most of them ended up with jail sentences or criminal records. If you've downloaded a lot and you've been looking at porn on the internet or through the illegal downloading programs, they put you on the sex offenders list too.

The cops don't always catch you though. Apparently if you only download a song or two there's only a 1 in 5 chance that they'll track you. Anything more than a song or two every half a year and you're pretty much guaranteed to see some jail time.


Sorry for the bad news.

each time you illegally download a porno a pornstar loses a toe.

nobodythere

pauldiv wrote: »

The big software producers know that their applications are well cracked but they dont try too hard to lock it down. Their applications are so easy to crack.

Ultimately it's code vs code, it's literally impossible to make it uncrackable. Cubase 4 is out for a year and still uncracked however!

nobodythere

I think software developers have accepted that the only money they'll make is off businesses who are afraid to pirate

IRLConor

grasshopa wrote: »

I think software developers have accepted that the only money they'll make is off businesses who are afraid to pirate

That's not true at all. Most software developers out in the world are making their money on software that has never been pirated and probably never will. Programs that are attractive to those who pirate software are only the tip of the iceberg. There's a huge chunk of the software industry which produces software that is either a custom job for a particular client, or a niche product for a given industry or is an application which is hosted in some way and can't be pirated.

Not just that, but characterising businesses as "afraid to pirate" is probably wrong. "Too honest to pirate" is probably closer to the truth in most cases. You shouldn't rip off someone's software because it's wrong to do so, not because you're afraid of getting caught.

I don't download software and use it without a license because I'd feel aggrieved if someone did that to my software. If I can't afford a piece of software, I substitute or do without. You should too.

PaddyTheNth

Ass wrote: »

Most of the software that you download copyright material with is distributed by cops and it has built in GPS software so they can calculate your exact location.

They build this up in a database of offenders and share this information with the cops.

If you've ever downloaded software illegally, the cops know where and when and by who it was and they will send someone out to that location. Usually it takes a couple of weeks for them to arrive, but they do come eventually.

I've known people to participate in this activity and most of them ended up with jail sentences or criminal records. If you've downloaded a lot and you've been looking at porn on the internet or through the illegal downloading programs, they put you on the sex offenders list too.

The cops don't always catch you though. Apparently if you only download a song or two there's only a 1 in 5 chance that they'll track you. Anything more than a song or two every half a year and you're pretty much guaranteed to see some jail time.


Sorry for the bad news.

lol +1

boardsbasher

I've got the feeling that one or two people who replied to the original post may be cops themselves! Some posts were simply scaremongering! Don't pay any attention to them. The fact of the matter is that in Ireland, with a small population and therefore a small number of pirates, we are generally considered to be not worth it when it comes to prosecution. One poster was correct when he said that any action at all is generally aimed at ISP's, like Eircom for example.

However, its when you start uploading pirated torrents that you may draw attention to yourself. But I'm assuming your "friend" isn't doing this. And by uploading I don't mean uploading data during and after downloading a movie, album, program etc. I am referring to someone who creates a torrent of an illegal movie etc, and uploads that torrent onto a tracker site for other users to download, which will then start uploading pieces of the movie etc.

Anyways, I wouldn't worry about it, I've downloaded many, many, many gigs of data using bittorrents, and spent a lot of time chatting with other so-called pirates from many countries and learned a lot about the various organisations associated with initiating criminal proceedings against downloaders and ISP's, and Ireland generally gets away with a lot.

I would like to point though that heavy piracy hurts the future quality of movies, tv shows and so on. If you do decide to take the step of downloading a movie or program and find that you like the film etc, then please go out and buy it! You'll find that this is something that a lot of long-time downloaders will tell you. Think of downloading pirated data not as stealing, but more as "try before you buy". You can go into a music shop and preview an album before you pay for it for example. I've become a customer of companies behind programs like FruityLoops, Ableton and Nero through pirated materials. I've discovered new tv shows and gone on to buy boxsets because of enjoying pirated shows.


We're not all bad.....

And if you'd like me to point the way to a forum dedicated to these activities feel free to pm me.

bigbadcon

You wouldnt steal a handbag....

Then again if you could make a copy of someones handbag while leaving their handbag intact maybe you would...


Heres a funny video from the IT Crowd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wRxfz_6E7o

Anima

With regards to Cubase, I remember reading the NFO file for a crack for Cubase 2 or 3 and the cracker was saying that the anti-cracking protection was so embedded in the code that it was reducing the overall performance by 10-20% which is why it takes so long to crack Cubase.

I don't think I'd bother using a program that has such measures because a) its probably unstable if it takes that much work to uncrack it and b) the performance loss is too much especially for a taxing program like that.

My personal opinion is that if I'm not making money off it then I don't see the problem. I don't use that many pirated programs these days but when I was 14-17 I used to modify games which meant I needed Photoshop and 3dStudioMax. Theres no way I could have afforded those back then or even now. I think developers should really have customizable software to purchase rather than big packages which cost hundreds / thousands.

pauldiv

Anima wrote: »

With regards to Cubase, I remember reading the NFO file for a crack for Cubase 2 or 3 and the cracker was saying that the anti-cracking protection was so embedded in the code that it was reducing the overall performance by 10-20% which is why it takes so long to crack Cubase.

I don't think I'd bother using a program that has such measures because a) its probably unstable if it takes that much work to uncrack it and b) the performance loss is too much especially for a taxing program like that.

My personal opinion is that if I'm not making money off it then I don't see the problem. I don't use that many pirated programs these days but when I was 14-17 I used to modify games which meant I needed Photoshop and 3dStudioMax. Theres no way I could have afforded those back then or even now. I think developers should really have customizable software to purchase rather than big packages which cost hundreds / thousands.

If you are making money from using the software then you should buy a license. Any self respecting professional would have no problem with that.

There are also lots of great software applications that are free or can be bought for a few tens of Euros, such as, Photoshop Elements.

Many colleges have deals with the big firms like Adobe and Microsoft where students get full versions of industry standard software applications for a nominal price. It's even cheaper when the whole class pays a fiver each and everyone gets to borrow the disks for en evening lol.

Whatever the cops try to do they have got 2 chances of preventing piracy - none and zilch. They are a joke. They should be out jailing the crims who have run the country into the ground instead of hassling poor students.

Its the ones who are making mega-bucks they should be targeting but then again they dont have the resources or the smarts to catch them.

Evil Phil

Personally if you use it, you should pay for it. I run a software and web development company so I can understand exactly how piracy hurts vendors. That being said if you're on a tight budget there's always the open source community - lots of good software out there.

AARRRGH

I've researched this topic in the past.

Downloading copyrighted software is legal. Uploading copyrighted software is legally ambiguous.

Note when you use bittorrent you are download and uploading.

boardsbasher

Evil Phil wrote: »

Personally if you use it, you should pay for it. I run a software and web development company so I can understand exactly how piracy hurts vendors. That being said if you're on a tight budget there's always the open source community - lots of good software out there.

Thats fair enough mate, no-one would disagree that piracy can hurt SMALLER vendors, but it can help it just as much. As I've said before if I downloaded some of your software and liked it I'd be more likely to buy it than if I walked into a store and saw your product on the shelf. Also freeware/open source is good, and serves a purpose, but its not always the solutiopn you may be looking for. It all depends on what you're looking for I guess.

If it's not classed as advertising, can I ask you what programs you've been involved in? Or at least what area of software development you're involved in?

AARRRGH

I agree with the above poster somewhat, especially when it comes to very expensive software. I prefer to trial the full product before deciding if I am going to buy.

Evil Phil

boardsbasher wrote: »

If it's not classed as advertising, can I ask you what programs you've been involved in? Or at least what area of software development you're involved in?

My company is a web development company. Prior to starting it I worked in various Irish software houses developing off the shelf products and bespoke solutions. Why do you ask?

boardsbasher

lol, just makin sure I haven't taken any of your products! It's all good tho....

stephenlane80

pauldiv wrote: »

If you are making money from using the software then you should buy a license.

I think you got it in one there, I see it more as stealing if your making money off somebody elses work

dvpower

stephenlane80 wrote: »

I think you got it in one there, I see it more as stealing if your making money off somebody elses work

Does that mean its not stealing if you download a game and play it or download some music and listen to it?

Most people clearly understand that downloading and using licenced software is illegal. They probably wouldn't do it if they thought they might get caught and they attempt to justify it because they know they have virtually no chance of getting caught.

Donald-Duck

I love when people try to justify piracy by saying its ok since they're not making money. Grow a backbone, no one here is gonna care less why you pirate.

stephenlane80

dvpower wrote: »

Does that mean its not stealing if you download a game and play it or download some music and listen to it?

This is a programming forum so i am talking about development tools, and im not suggesting piracy is ok in certain circumstances,

What i am suggesting is that its the piracy hurts the copyright owner less if the pirate was never going to buy the item in the first place

Donald-Duck

stephenlane80 wrote: »

This is a programming forum so i am talking about development tools, and im not suggesting piracy is ok in certain circumstances,

What i am suggesting is that its the piracy hurts the copyright owner less if the pirate was never going to buy the item in the first place

If you didn't need it enough to buy it then you can live without it

stephenlane80

Sure i agree, but im sure other wouldn't !

Epic Tissue

Downloading illegal software .. programming