Thread

Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy (2021)

220 points · 120 comments · succinct_ideas

lm411 · 1789782149 · focus · HN ↗
The Warez scene was an absolute blast. I made some of the best friends of my early teenage years there, both online and online/offline.
Unfortunately it came to a sudden end after I got a little too cocky and persistently took and re-took control of a smallish US telecom companies network, and the RCMP came knocking on my door for the FBI. That was largely unrelated to Warez but the advice given to me was that I should probably stop that as well. Thankfully I was too young to be charged with any of it at that time.
I do regret the massive headaches I must have caused the system administrators at the telecom company. Sorry guys. I have repaid my bad karma many times.
1. shevy-java · 1789784869 · focus · HN ↗
  The question is whether you find it ok that the FBI comes sniffing after you. Personally I don't find it ok at all. I don't see any of that as a crime either. The legislation is clearly written by corporations and lobbyists acting as lawyers. That's another reason why I think open source is preferrable - that way they are replaced indirectly by not depending on them in the first place, meaning, as a trade-off towards how the society is currently structured. Hopefully it will become more sane again in the future. Back then, though, say in the 1990s or early 2000s, the "vibe" of warez also was "look how great ILLEGAL can be".
  1. enneff · 1789789477 · focus · HN ↗
    You don’t think it should be illegal to hack a telecom network and take control of it?
    ExoticPearTree · 1789799008 · focus · HN ↗
    Nope. It means the people running it did not do a good job configuring and securing it.
    shitloadofbooks · 1789800482 · focus · HN ↗
    So if you steal something it means the owner didn’t do a good job securing it and if you murder someone they didn’t do a good job protecting themselves?
    What an absurd world view.
    ExoticPearTree · 1789809297 · focus · HN ↗
    I have this view when it comes to computers and software, not physical property or people.
    Mistletoe · 1789810020 · focus · HN ↗
    If your bank has shoddy software and a thief steals your money is that ok?
    ExoticPearTree · 1789818744 · focus · HN ↗
    I don’t care in that scenario, it is the bank’s fault, not mine. It is on them to make it right.
    Craighead · 1789846729 · focus · HN ↗
    It is this disconnected from reality attitude that gives technical people a bad reputation. Please reconsider your bad takes.
    zbentley · 1789847202 · focus · HN ↗
    Does that extend to medical systems? If someone hacks my pacemaker and destabilizes my heart, or my pharmacy/hospital and prevents me from receiving medical care, is that something that should be legally permitted on the basis that "medical device makers/pharmacies/hospitals should try harder, and should somehow compensate their patients if a hack occurs"?
    How do you compensate someone who's dead?
    This isn't hypothetical: <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/28/cyberattacks-u-s-hospitals-00075638" rel="nofollow">https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/28/cyberattacks-u-s-ho...
    ExoticPearTree · 1789893659 · focus · HN ↗
    > Does that extend to medical systems?
    Anything network connected that can be reached by an adversary. And, I did not say it shoukd be legal or illegal, just that the fault lies with who administers/secures those systems, not with whoever breaches them.
    > How do you compensate someone who's dead?
    In some countries where I lived, there were pricelists based on nationality that insurance would pay out in case of accidental death. If you live in a more homogenous country, you can use other factors to determine what the payout should be.

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