Yesterday (7/18), a concerned user, who I won't name, told me about the file
in /pub/incoming, and how it was warez. I thanked him and checked itout, and yes,
it was indeed warez. So I immediately rejected the files (with the permissions set
so they couldn't be downloaded and the statement of warez), then did my usual post-warez
routine, in which I looked through the FTP xferlogs to find when it was uploaded
and who did it.
Unfortunately, it had been put up two days previous (7/16), and there were already
385 FTP and a gut-wrenching 2180 WWW downloads of the file. Had I known about the
file sooner, I would have immediately killed it, but unfortunately, I've been quite
busy lately with my other job (Hobbes maintenance doesn't pay all that much) and
haven't had a chance to clean up incoming for a week now. 2665 downloads. It breaks
my heart to see people abusing Hobbes in this way. This is why I've come down hard
on people who abuse /pub/incoming.
In general, I ban their ISP and put their email address (along with the name of
the ISP they banned) on the message that banned people see. Fortunately, the user's
ibm.net account (if it even exists) isn't the one which he uploaded from; if it
had been, I wouldn't have banned ibm.net, since so many Hobbes users are from it.
This particular user was from uu.net, which I had no qualms about banning, hoping
that maybe that coupled with my nice letter to their admins might make them finally
be *responsive* to external problems, such as net abuse. (Also, about 90% of the
people who run web-based email harvesters on Hobbes come from uu.net, so I don't
have any sympathy for uu.net customers.) 2665 downloads. Now, one thing which disappoints
me to no end is how the file was sitting happily in /pub/incoming, being downloaded,
and it took TWO DAYS for an honest user to tell me. I thought Hobbes users, and
OS/2 users in general, were better than that. Maybe I'm wrong. Remorslessly leeching
warez off of FTP sites is becoming of Windows users, not OS/2 users. I thought,
for example, that OS/2 users would want to SUPPORT their not-so-popular OS, not
by using illegally-gotten applications for it but by trying to find out what the
state of the word processor was and then obtaining it through LEGAL means. Certainly,
OS/2 users should be better than those who quite obviously know that it's warez
and still download it without even *thinking* to contact me about the illegal activities
being conducted on my site. 2665 users had the opportunity to, and only 1 did.
Just because a piece of software is no longer made doesn't mean it's no longer copyrighted.
There are still ways of contacting a software publisher even if it's no longer active,
and seeing if their abandoned software is safe for becoming freeware. It could always
be the case that another company has bought up the rights and is about to republish
it.
I don't particularly like the mixed message on @Macarlo's site. His article on "Describe
Day" is neutral regarding the event itself, but below he describes how one
installs DeScribe. I don't know if he's trying for completeness, but it indicates
at least that he has also partaken in the illegitimate program.
That is my take on warez. You abuse, you lose, simple as that. The only way a ban
will be revoked is if I can get definite confirmation from the ISP that the user
has been removed from their service permanently. Of course, uu.net, being so large
and so sluggish, can never make such a guarantee. As a result, uu.net will most
likely be banned forever.
@Macarlo, Inc. @Macarlo's Shareware & Web OS/2 Java Lobby Member
Java Site Accredited