The Pirate Bay Knocks Anonymous

Originally posted by UnixFE
I was already working on a second app but stopped worling on it as I won't spent my free time just to have it stolen.

Most of what you're talking about here is rationalisation for corporate greed. First you say that you've stopped writing software in your free time because you can't make money from it, and then you go on to rationalise how it's supposedly fine for giant corporations to create app stores, in order to prevent piracy so that they can make more money; like they really need it.

As far as I am concerned, if you want to sell something, create a tangible, physical good of some type that people actually need to survive. There is far too much adulterated crap out there masquerading as food; make some bread with non-GM ingredients, and sell that to a few people under the table. It's not hard. And no, I'm not talking about "running a bakery," here. I'm talking about being just as small scale as you already are with software.

You're not going to make money as an independent developer of software. I'm sorry, but generally speaking, it's just not going to happen. Open source means that people now expect to be able to get virtually everything software related without paying for it; as a UNIX user, you should understand that more than most.

Nobody needs to care about independent code enough to pay for it. No matter what you're writing, someone else has done something which is either identical, or near enough, as open source, that people don't need to pay you for it. As a result, unless you're writing games, indie software development for money is dead, at this point.

If you want to make money writing code, become the proverbial cubicle dwelling battery chicken, which I'm assuming you've already done as a day job. Anything you do off hours though, is going to be gratis, whether you like it or not.

reply to post by petrus4

You are right with most of this. And my software was for free. There was just an option to add high quality content loaded from my server. And as I had to pay for the hardware/running costs to provide this content I had to take some money for this. If you than see that you not only offer free software but also have to pay traffic/server costs for many users loading stuff from your server that never gave something back for it than this is right out stealing.

And there really is nothing worse than stealing software. And it's not because the big companies will loose money - stolen software is the reason why Microsoft or Adobe are so big that they can do anything they want.

For example if users just used Gimp or something other we would have many great graphic apps today. But all those millions pirating Photoshop created a monopole. You just have to look at Gimp, they never reached the crowd. I even have colleagues that outright tell me 'Why should I try Gimp, I can get PS for free' . So on the one hand they tell me that these companies are evil and monopolist but on the other hand they are the reason why this is the case. But this is a completely different topic and has nothing to do with the OP

reply to post by MrWendal


That's how you fight the fight!

I strongly believe Anon is fighting the wrong way. Just drop all of you got by spreading it through the piratebay or social media. Notice that not that much juicy information was released in those Wiki Leaks cable. Now that you mention it, you haven't heard about much from it.

American's are dumb but not everyone and a large population of the world is really pissy right now. Everyone is in on this fight.

There are two at war in overwhelmingly differing forms. And it is death that calls out to them with an eternally empty voice. I believe both, that both sides of this are wrong, and that to choose either one as "good," is as foolish as most people discern to exist the state of true godliness. That is to again say, simply; I think there is a second option to these madnesses.

Lastly, more simply and deceptively perverted; Effem-all.

Originally posted by MrWendal
Good for Pirate Bay! They are 100% correct. You can not scream about internet censorship being wrong, and then turn around and block others and claim it is right. Censorship is censorship no matter what the reason is for doing it. What I like the most is the Pirate Bay did not just condemn the actions, but also offered up several alternative ideas.

"If you want to help; start a tracker, arrange a manifestation, join or start a pirate party, teach your friends the art of bittorrent, set up a proxy, write your political representatives, develop a new p2p protocol, print some pro piracy posters and decorate your town with, support our promo bay artists or just be a nice person and give your mom a call to tell her you love her."

Nice Job Pirate Bay!

Couldn't have said it better.

Originally posted by UnixFE
reply to post by petrus4

 

You are right with most of this. And my software was for free. There was just an option to add high quality content loaded from my server. And as I had to pay for the hardware/running costs to provide this content I had to take some money for this. If you than see that you not only offer free software but also have to pay traffic/server costs for many users loading stuff from your server that never gave something back for it than this is right out stealing.

Ok, well...I have a slightly different perspective on reciprocity.

I've been a trader of software for a long time. My uncle used to give me games for the Commodore 64. That is where it started. Later, during my Amiga days in the early 90s, my mother would take me over to a neighbour's place, who had a few large drawers full of disks. I'd take my own box of ten blanks, give the guy $5, and come back with a stack of new games to play. The Amiga had virtually no retail game distribution that I was aware of, at least near us, so it was generally the only way I could get new games at all. There were times when we bought C64 games retail, though.

I was also into trading warez, mp3s, and pornography on IRC in the mid 1990s. At the time, there was an enforced ratio; either a file for a file, or a kilobyte ratio. Nothing was considered socially more undesirable than a leech; you had to make absolutely sure that you a] had files to trade, and b] that they were something which somebody actually wanted.

I also used to use eMule earlier in the 2000s, and I would always leave the client running and my computer on overnight. I ended up with an average ratio of 3-4 Gb to 1, in my own favour.

More recently (last year, from memory) I downloaded a book called The Vegetarian Myth as a pdf, in a big zipped torrent file with a heap of different stuff in it. It turned out to be one of the best books I'd ever read, so I tracked down the author, Lierre Keith, and ended up sending her nearly $50 all up, in the end. She sent me a paper copy, and obviously me pirating the pdf didn't hurt her at all, in the end.

So yes, I'll pirate, but I've always believed in giving back to the extent that I can. As I said, in the early days as a kid when I did it, I was just raised that way by experience, but I came to realise consciously that it is also a good idea, as well. The software I've written is generally BSD licensed, as well. The Wiccans have a saying; "Freely give, and freely take," and to me it's a good one.

If I were you, I'd probably write your software completely free, and upload it to TPB yourself, even; but then if you want something software related, you can go there and get it yourself for free as well. There's a system which a woman named Lyssa Royal popularised along those lines a number of years back, called the Pleiadian Equal Value System, and I think society would be a much better place if we could live by it.

Originally posted by stuncrazy


Basically TPB is calling anonymous childish, and using dirty tactics to censor people who are censoring other people.

I like what they have said also, but it makes me wonder why The Pirate Bay is not working today...

Originally posted by UnixFE
reply to post by petrus4

 

You are right with most of this. And my software was for free. There was just an option to add high quality content loaded from my server. And as I had to pay for the hardware/running costs to provide this content I had to take some money for this. If you than see that you not only offer free software but also have to pay traffic/server costs for many users loading stuff from your server that never gave something back for it than this is right out stealing.

And there really is nothing worse than stealing software. And it's not because the big companies will loose money - stolen software is the reason why Microsoft or Adobe are so big that they can do anything they want.

For example if users just used Gimp or something other we would have many great graphic apps today. But all those millions pirating Photoshop created a monopole. You just have to look at Gimp, they never reached the crowd. I even have colleagues that outright tell me 'Why should I try Gimp, I can get PS for free' . So on the one hand they tell me that these companies are evil and monopolist but on the other hand they are the reason why this is the case. But this is a completely different topic and has nothing to do with the OP

here's the problem with this, how many times have you tried out "demo" software only to find out the full version isn't up to what it claimed to be after you've paid for it? just like with movies and music it's more so quality control most are mad that they cant sneak lemons out there for people to fall for anymore. the freak show isn't as cool when you know the bearded lady is only as such due to gluing it on. produce something worth paying for and people will buy it regardless of it being pirated if not more so. not once have I complained of anyone pirating my music as long as its out there and people are getting enjoyment and use out of it is all that matters. when your primary motivation is financial gain and not doing something you love for the sake of doing it then of course anger will ensue when your initial goals aren't being met. I cant even begin to tell you how many times i've done a show and what was paid out came nowhere close to the cost of doing it. now if you goals are completely unselfish and you are attempting to fulfill a need that people have regardless of what you gain that's when you will start to see the result you have been looking for

I think that at best they annoy the evil corporations, but it's in exchange for the governemnt craming down our throats more restrictions in laws and such. I don't think their attacks help for that reason, it's just not worth it. What we need to do is tell other people about the real problems every day, because when people see a little clue one day and another clue the next day, eventually they wake up, and it's only a critical mass of awakened people that can do anything anyway. Not to mention scare the TPTB from taking any more evil actions lest they expose themselves to OUR criticism to the masses.

Originally posted by Jouislin
I think that at best they annoy the evil corporations, but it's in exchange for the governemnt craming down our throats more restrictions in laws and such. I don't think their attacks help for that reason, it's just not worth it.

Ever heard of Hbgary? Or Stratfor?

reply to post by stanguilles7


I meant when they do denial of service attacks and steal a million dollars. That mainly just pisses off lawmakers into making more laws and won't dent their money supply. But getting closer towards enlightening the public, like by having 800 million posts on google when you type in "Anonymous" is fabulous. I just think trying to bit the illuminati's toe off through hacking attacks, short of exposing information, just puts us all in a worse situation than otherwise in the end.