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How bnetd Developers Reverse Engineered Battle.net
battlebot writes: "O'Reilly's ONlamp.com is running an interview with the bnetd developers that goes into great detail about how exactly they reverse-engineered Battle.net. This is by the same guy who wrote the recent Salon article, though is far more technical. They talk a little bit about their legal troubles too, and even sheepishly admit that perhaps talking to a lawyer earlier in the process would have been a good idea. Has this project been successfully squashed?"
When you can't steal everything you want. Whoever came up with this intellectual property stuff anyway.
fukc teh slashdoot it iz teh sux dicks and analee raps asean kartoon wimin wiv teh tentackels!@#!@#
-- on by
Although bnetd is up to its neck in legal troubles. Others have taken on the development tasks of the project and completely rewritten the server.
i gotys teh sekond post of teh gooodnes!@!@!@ w00t!#@@!
BNETD supports all the major features of battle.net, such as chat, channels, user icons, and gameplay! Well I'd sure hope it does!
WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
The article says that they have made BNETD virtually indistinguishable from the real battlenet through reverse engineering. What I wanna know is, what function did they assign to the gem in the Diablo 2 client?
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Korean War Navy veterans exposed to high levels of microwave radiation emitted from radar equipment were no more likely than other men to develop most forms of cancer--including lung, brain and testicular cancers--over a 40-year period, according to a recent report.
In fact, men with the highest exposure to radar waves--those who repaired and tested the radar equipment--were 35% less likely to die during the follow-up than men in the general US population.
"We found little, if any, evidence of adverse health effects resulting from microwave frequencies," one of the study authors, Dr. Robert E. Tarone of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, told Reuters Health.
One exception reported by Tarone and his colleagues, however, was that aviation electronics technicians, one group of highly exposed veterans, were more than twice as likely as other men to develop a type of cancer called non-lymphocytic leukemia.
However, the authors note that if radiation from radar was to blame, other highly exposed veterans would demonstrate the same increased risk. They suggest the increased risk is more likely to do with occupational exposures other than radar, lifestyle factors that are specific to this group, or simply chance.
The results, published in the May issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, stem from a 40-year follow-up of 40,581 Korean War Navy veterans designed to study the long-term impact of high levels of microwave radiation on health.
Studies of the association between radiation and brain cancer, leukemia and testicular cancer have had conflicting results.
During the Korean War, which took place between 1950 and 1954, some soldiers were exposed to high levels of radiation from search radar and fire control radar, the latter of which was used to direct gunfire.
Tarone warned that low-energy radiation emitted by radar detectors, cell phones and microwaves is different from extremely high-energy radiation like x-rays, which, as numerous studies have shown, can cause harm.
Furthermore, he explained that the Navy veterans followed in this study were exposed to much more radiation than we get today from our phones and machines.
"The average person would never be exposed to the high levels of radar waves that the Navy technicians were exposed to," he said.
Tarone explained that the finding that highly exposed veterans lived longer than men in the general population likely results from the "healthy soldier" effect. People have to pass physical exams to enter the Navy, he said, and must maintain their fitness while in service. Therefore, veterans are likely healthier to begin with than the general population, and may tend to exercise more.
Captain: What happen?
Operator: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Operator: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What!
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's You!!
Cats: How are you gentlemen!!
Cats: All your base are belong to us.
Cats: You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say!!
Cats: You have no chance to survive make your time.
Cats: HA HA HA HA!
Cats: Take off every "zig."
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move "zig."
Captain: For great justice.
Thing is, anyone with any kind of reasonable knowledge of law, patents, and copyright knows that the Blizzard lawsuit is, to be blunt, bullshit.
Blizzard has no chance, or interest, in winning on the merits of their case. They know that open source developers have limited resources and are unlikely to mount a decent legal defense. So why not sue? It's not a legal decision so much as a strategic one: given the chance to squash potential future competitors for free, why not?
It's a smart move on Blizzard's part. American IP laws favor corporations to such an incredibly laughable degree, it's amazing that Disney isn't suing everyone who uses a wheel (Steamboat Willie, 1928, and anyone who claims to have invented it before then had better have a notaraized motion picture).
Bottom line: disgusting on the USPTO's part, dispicable on Blizzard's part, par for the course for the good old USA. Oh, wait, this is *good* for consumers. I must have missed that edict somehow.
-b
I was 16 years old when I had my first man. He was the man who turned me on to the fact that I was gay, feminine and a crossdresser. I had always felt more attracted to boys than girls and had many girl friends and few
boy friends and this is my true story.
That summer I found a job cleaning a ladies lingerie store for a wonderful gentleman I will call Bill for this story. I had always tried to be a boy, I played hockey, football and baseball. I did all the "boy" things but was
always out of place. In truth I was always small, girly and feminine no matter how hard I tried. It was who I was and Bill was the first to
acknowledge this.
I had been working there about a week and every night Bill watched me. I liked him watching me because he seemed so much like me. Soft, feminine
not hard and mannish. He too was on the thinner side, soft features, long blond hair. I should tell you about me, I was about 5-4 then maybe 125 lbs and had long medium brown hair. I had a nice curved ass and was well hung even then, almost 8 inches. Today I am still small only 5-9 and 165 lbs but that suits who I am.
Bill one night asked, "Ever try on women's clothes?"
"No," I replied trying to sound indignant, "of course not!"
Bill laughed, "It's ok Jimmy, I have lots and I think you would look great al dressed up."
He picked out a nice b cup bra, matching panties and a see through top and short skirt. He handed the items to me and started to get me undressed. I stepped back but he just smiled and continued.
"It's ok Jim, I won't tell anyone, honest."
So I let him because it really excited me to do it. I had gotten into my Mom's and sister's clothes so often and imagined a nice man kissing me. I had always felt ashamed at my gay fantasy and being dressed up, even though I always orgasmed. Bill got me naked and my cock was stiff, no one had ever seen it hard before.
"Nice piece." He said looking at my hardness. "You know it's not fair your naked and I'm not."
So he took off his shirt and pants and just the sight of him naked got me even harder. I could feel pre-cum oozing from the tip of my cock. I was feeling wonderful as he moved closer to me.
"You can't try on lingerie and dresses with this." And he bent down and took my cock inot his experienced mouth. I thought I died it was so
beautiful,the feel of his wet tongue working the bottom of my piss slit lapping up my cum. I couldn't hold back and I just shot a huge load into his mouth.
"There, that's better isn't it Jim?" All I could do is nod my approval. I
took the clothes and put them on. I looked in the mirror and damn I looked
pretty good. My ass filled out skirt nicely. Bill took some nylons and
shoved them in my bra to give the look of cleavage. Then he got some
make-up and applied it to my face, he did my nails and the next time I
looked in the mirror I looked nothing like a boy.
Then he did the really unexpected, he dressed in ladies wear as well.
After he put on his makeup we were ready.
"Come on I know a great club where we can go."
Go, go? How the hell could we go anywhere, wouldn't someone see? But go we
did, we went to a private club and no one seemed to notice we were men.
There was dancing and drinks and we had a great time. After we left I held
his/her hand and told him how much fun I had.
"I'm glad Jim because I need you, I must admit I had this planned because I
called your parents and said you needed to stay over as I had work for you
early."
I was shocked, planned? Just then he kissed me, full on the lips, tongue
deep in my mouth. His hands cupped my ass lifting the skirt just a bit.
We got in the car and went to his place. Climbing the stairs I was so hot,
my cock strained at the panties. Bill stopped at the top and dropped his
panties and lowered my head to his cock. I could smell his musky scent and
my cock got harder. My lips were dripping drool as I took it into my
mouth. I sucked pullling his ass into me, I lost myself in it. Then he
came, shooting a delicious load down my throat. I sucked and sucked until
I could not get anymore.
We went inside and stripped off the girls clothes and my cock bounced out,
his had recovered already. We went to his room and lay on the bed kissing
touching and generally feeling each other up.
"I want your ass Jimmy, I need to feel that tight ass around my cock."
"Yes Bill take it, please?"
Bill got some lube and I smeared it all over his cock while he worked my
asshole. I had used things in it but this was going to be my first man.
Bill was gentle, easing his cock into my tight hole. IT felt so good to
feel it slide in. It was bigger than mine and at first I was scared. But
he stroked my thighs and butt cheeks and I relaxed as he began to fuck me.
He went harder and faster until I could feel his cock contract and shoot it
deep in me. When I felt it hit my walls I came all over the sheets leaving
a big wet spot.
Bill rolled off and kissed me, letting his covered cock lean against his
fine feminine leg. I loved the fucking, the sucking, the cum. I could
never get enough cum., the rest of the summer I had poor Bill fucking me
every day. Luckily he introduced me to his men friends. They all liked
the idea of fucking someone so young. Oh yeah Bill was 45.
I hope you liked my telling of my first time. If you drop me a note I
would love to share more.
Jim
Captain: What happen?
Operator: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Operator: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What!
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's You!!
Cats: How are you gentlemen!!
Cats: All your base are belong to us.
Cats: You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say!!
Cats: You have no chance to survive make your time.
Cats: HA HA HA HA!
Cats: Take off every "zig."
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move "zig."
Captain: For great justice.
PlZ D0nt Staalk M3 sIr!@!
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=323 08&cid=3487555
This guy managed to code an application that crashed bnetd servers. Apparently there is a feature in Battle.net that protects it from happening, but in bnetd it was unknown.
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
A real gangsta-ass nigga plays his cards right
A real gangsta-ass nigga never runs his fuckin mouth
Cuz real gangsta-ass niggas don't start fights
And niggas always gotta high cap
Showin' all his boys how he shot em
But real gangsta-ass niggas don't flex much
Cuz real gangsta-ass niggas know they got em
And everythings cool in the mind of a gangsta
Cuz gangsta-ass niggas think deep
Up three-sixty-five a year 24/7
Cuz real gangsta ass niggas don't sleep
And all I gotta say to you
Wannabe, gonnabe, cocksuckin', pussy-eatin' prankstas
Cuz when the fry dies down what the fuck you gonna do
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
Feedin' the poor and hepin out wit they bills
Although I was born in Jamaica
Now I'm in the US makin' deals
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
I mean one that you don't really know
Ridin' around town in a drop-top Benz
Hittin' switches in my black six-fo'
Now gangsta-ass niggas come in all shapes and colors
Some got killed in the past
But this gangtsa here is a smart one
Started living for the lord and I'll last
Now all I gotta say to you
Wannabe, gonnabe, pussy-eatin' cocksuckin' prankstas
When the ship jumps off what the fuck you gonna do
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
A real gangta-ass nigga knows the play
Real gangsta-ass niggas get the flyest of the bitches
Ask that gangsta-ass nigga Little Jake
Now bitches look at gangsta-ass niggas like a stop sign
And play the role of Little Miss Sweet
But catch the bitch all alone get the digit take her out
and then dump-hittin' the ass with the meat
Cuz gangsta-ass niggas be the gang playas
And everythings quiet in the clique
A gangsta-ass nigga pulls the trigger
And his partners in the posse ain't tellin' off shit
Real gangsta-ass niggas don't talk much
All ya hear is the black from the gun blast
And real gangsta-ass niggas don't run for shit
Cuz real gangsta-ass niggas can't run fast
Now when you in the free world talkin' shit do the shit
Hit the pen and let the mothafuckas shank ya
But niggas like myself kick back and peep game
Cuz damn it feels good to be a gangsta
[And now, a word from the President!]
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
Gettin voted into the White House
Everything lookin good to the people of the world
But the Mafia family is my boss
So every now and then I owe a favor gettin' down
like lettin' a big drug shipment through
And send 'em to the poor community
So we can bust you know who
So voters of the world keep supportin' me
And I promise to take you very far
Other leaders better not upset me
Or I'll send a million troops to die at war
To all you Republicans, that helped me win
I sincerely like to thank you
Cuz now I got the world swingin' from my nuts
They talk a little bit about their legal troubles too, and even sheepishly admit that perhaps talking to a lawyer earlier in the process would have been a good idea.
Damn, I should have known going to slashdot for legal advice was a bad idea!
I AM LOOKING FOR HOT IANAL ACTION...if you are interested, please reply to this post with a full, crinkle by crinkle description of your annular ring. thanks.
GET EM HERE
fuck you niggers! Death to Amerika!
...to house all the jews and niggers in! Donate now!
starwars episode 2 script at www.script-o-rama.com or at #vcd or #0dayvcd on efnet
Sounds like a tough job.
Why are all you wankers reading Slashdot on a Saturday night? Go out and get pissed or something. I'm a bitter old man, so I have an excuse. All the rest of you have is bad acne. So put down your xbox controller, get out there, get plastered, and fuck someone's brains out!
- Install packet sniffer on local network.
- Read lots of 1's and 0's into a huge dump file
- Familiarize yourself with UDP.
- Tear out clump of hair as stress relief.
- Create nifty diagrams that show the battlenet server as a black box with the game that you and your buddy have made online as the two other pieces.
- Look at the responses that the black box sends back to each of the machines.
- Ponder on whether or not a monkey would be a good programmer since a tail in addition to two hands that can hit those hard-to-reach keys.
- Create a prototype program that relays game packets from two client boxes.
- Play lots of StarCraft through this box.
- Debug lots and lots.
- Decide against implimenting cheats on the server box against your other cohorts that are helping you develop this
- Create a chat room interface.
- Do final testing on the program.
- Program into the server daemon random insult messages that will be sent to all of your friend programmers while testing, making them abandon the project out of anger.
- Profit.
That was easy enough!/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
having a cell phone can be very fucking bad for you in certain situations. for instance, if i see you using a cell phone, and i don't like your face, and i'm carrying a ball of string, then you probably get off easy. but if i'm carrying, for example, a Glock 9mm semiautomatic handgun, then it's much more likely that i will shoot your eyes out at point-blank range, and then empty three or four more rounds into your chest on your way to the floor. add to that situation me having to pee at the time, and it could get pretty ugly.
the radiation won't kill you, but i probably will.
It seems this project was completely innocent at first (just some guys in a dorm trying to play StarCraft together without dealing with the basically beta version of Battle.net), but 1337 warez leechers saw it as a way to play their pirated copies of SC, Diablo, Warcraft BNET, etc.. online.
I feel bad for these guys because they basically got used and now they're the ones in trouble. I'm sure they liked the 'fame' they got by creating and maintaining this software, and they kept pushing themselves to see how of programmers they really were.
Ohh well, goes to show all of us OS people that while our intentions may be innocent, the user's of our software may not be noble. In the end (because of the DMCA) we are the ones that are going to be held liable, not the end users.
Sux to be a [young] programmer right now...
-- D3X
If we assume for the moment that they had thought of consulting an attorney when they first embarked on this project, would it have made a difference? I mean, seeing as the DMCA didn't actually exist in '98, how could they have made some plan to defend themselves against prosecution under it. As for the straight up copyright issues, it's total hogwash, but at least they could have gotten the lawyerly advice of, "well they haven't got jack on you, but can you afford to fight it?"
I was thinking about this earlier, and the really frustrating thing is how much of computer related tinkering seems to need to be run by a lawyer. I mean if you have a hobby like building kit cars, or constructing furniture, you have no need for attorneys. But if you want to get deeply involved in tinkering with software, etc, you suddenly need a law degree. Companies talk a lot about the damage that piracy has on the software economy, but I have to wonder how much more damage has been caused by the chilling effect on independent developers by this legal morass we call intellectual property.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
warforge has been the team working on a warcraft 3 server (which caused all the problems with blizzard). they started with bnetd's code, but now the projects are basically separate.
shame blizzard didn't do some research before turning the lawyers lose. even if they get an injunction against bnetd, they'll be shutting down the wrong group.
_f
i dont think you realize timothy that ALL YOUR STORIES SUCK ASS and you are a fucking nerd little turd shit and should not be a posted on this crappy site.
a/s/l? britney@aol.com
The BNETD developers say that BNETD was made as an alternative to Battle.net's oftentimes slow and buggy service. It was also meant to enable friends to play Battle.net-enabled games with each other on a private network, without having to deal with abusive strangers on Battle.net.
Sounds to me like a strange little occurence that happened back in the 18th century. Seems a bunch of colonists got tired of being taxed without representation, dealing with pricks, and in general wanting a place of their own to live their lives as they saw fit. I think it was called the American Revolution.
Maybe England can sue the U.S. and ask for back taxes with interest collected in arrears...
you don't have to outrun the bear, just the slowest person in your group.
in my self righteous slashdotcide! When slashdots deserve to die!
What is easier to sue, a well defined group with names and a good site that explains what they are doing; or a group that works over irc, never uses their real names, might not even have distributed their data over their own computers, and have a website that says nothing of their work (and just distributes it).
I mean, its a hell of a lot easier suing something somewhat established, which is what bnetd was. WarForge isn't exactly well established, they got a group, but who really knows who they really are? I can bet that blizzard doesn't know, and why find out when you can set an example with the established group?
This entire thing was enough to scare the shit out of the several other groups working on warcraft3 support (warforge isn't the only one). This is the main reason why warcraft3 bnetd modified servers are not in distribution (binary or source). Just the client side crack for the exe is given out. (This also is the reason for the insanely low amount of bnetd war3 servers)
I woke up the next morning around 9:30. Mom came in to change me because Tammy was sleeping in. I was ready to get up. Mom changed me out of my wet diaper and into a nice dry cloth diaper. Mom put me in my highchair and made me a very yummy breakfast. Soon after I was done eating Tammy came into the kitchen. "Good morning honey. Did you sleep well?" "Yeah." She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she sat down at the table.
I woke up the next morning around 9:30. Mom came in to change me because Tammy was sleeping in. I was ready to get up. Mom changed me out of my wet diaper and into a nice dry cloth diaper. Mom put me in my highchair and made me a very yummy breakfast. Soon after I was done eating Tammy came into the kitchen. "Good morning honey. Did you sleep well?" "Yeah." She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she sat down at the table.
I sat in my highchair and watched her eat. Mom and dad had already eaten earlier. Dad was out in the garage. Mom was doing some laundry. I called Emily and she was watching a video. She said she would be over at 11. So we hung up and then I played in my room with my toys for a while.
The doorbell rang and I ran out of my room and answered the door. To my surprise it was not Emily. "Hello little girl. Is your mommy home?" "Yes, me go get her." I ran into the laundry room and got mom. She came out to the door. "Hello. We are from the FBI and we are here to talk to your husband." "FBI?" "Yes ma'am." They showed mom their badges. I was sitting on the couch in the living room and I could see everything that was going on. "We just want to talk to him." "Well ok, let me go get him." Mom ran into the garage and got dad. Dad came out to the door. "Hello sir. We're from the FBI. We would like to ask you a few questions." "Ok, come on in, sit down. They all came in. Mom, dad, and I sat on the couch. Just then Tammy walked in. "What's going on?" Mom motioned for her to come sit with us on the couch. She sat down.
The man who came to the door began to talk to my dad and accuse him of some crime or something. He denied it but they handcuffed him and took him away. He went willingly. I started to cry and asked them why they were taking my daddy away. "Don't worry honey, daddy will be back home. I just have to go answer some questions, that's all. Don't worry baby." Somehow I knew that more was going on than he told me. Tammy was crying too and we both held on to each other. Mom came over and hugged us. She had tears in her eyes too.
A while later Emily came over to play. Mom answered the door and let her in. She could tell we were all sad. "What's wrong?" "Um, the FBI came here and took our daddy away." Tammy said as she fell to her knees and started to cry. Emily was shocked by all this. Mom knelt down and held onto Tammy.
I started to cry too. Emily hugged me and we sat on the floor and I laid my head on her shoulder and cried. After a while we all wiped our tears away and stuff. Tammy and I went up stairs and sat in my room. Mom went to her room and so did Tammy. The house was very quiet. I was still sad. Emily didn't know what to say to me either. We just sat in my room on my bed in silence. Finally I broke down and cried some more and laid face down on my bed. Tammy leaned over and laid on top of me and hugged me and turned me onto my back and looked into my eyes. "Listen to me. I know your sad. I don't know what else to do, but hold you. You know I love you. You and Laura are my bestest friends. All I can do to make you feel better is to hold you and stuff." "I know. Thank you. I love you too."
We both laid in my bed cuddling and hugging each other. Emily pooped in her diaper but we didn't wanna bother Tammy or mommy so we just laid there anyway. Finally she got uncomfortable. I told her I could change it for her. I had never changed a dirty diaper before but I knew how to do it since I had it done for me quite a few times.
I laid her on my changing table and took off her pants and her diaper. I wiped her. It was yucky. But I managed to get her all clean. I put another diaper on her. I went down the hall and put the dirty diaper out in the trash. Then I came back. Emily had just put her pants on. She laid back down and I picked up my bear and came over to her.
"I wish we could both fit in my crib. Then we could just take a nap like little babies." "Yeppers you're right Tiffany." "Well at least you have a bed and a crib in your room. I only have a crib. So when friends come over they gotta sleep on the floor now." "Yeah that's why mommy left my old bed in here. So that if we needed an extra bed for someone, we'd have it." "I think when I go home tonight I'm gonna get mom to put my old bed back in the corner, that way I can have friends over and they'll be more comfy." "Yeah, that'll be nice."
I cheered up a bit. Tammy stayed with us all day. We got a phone call that night though and when mom hung up the phone she sat us all down. "Girls, I have some bad news." She had tears in her eyes. "Daddy is in jail. He will go to court next Thursday. They say that he used to hack into Federal computers and steel blueprints for top secret weapons and sell them to other countries. I don't know if your daddy did it or not. All I know is when I met him he was well off, and we got married and I just never thought.." She paused and then started to cry. "Tammy jumped up and hugged her. I started crying again. Even Emily was crying this time. She hugged me.
Later on Emily's mom came and took her home. She noticed that things were very sad around our house. My mom talked to her and started crying again. Emily's mom was very nice to her and told her if she needed anything, just to call. I hugged Emily and she and her mommy went bye bye. I went up to Tammy's room and she was laying on her bed and sobbing into her pillow. I walked over to her and laid down beside her and snuggled up to her and she turned over and I gave her a hug. I grabbed some tissues of her nightstand and wiped her tears and then she blew her nose. She hugged me and pulled me down on top of her as she laid back down. We stayed there for a while. Then mom came in and she sat on the bed next to us.
Later on we all got ready for bed. Tammy and I and my fluffy teddy bear all slept in mom's bed. This way we were all with each other all night. Mommy cried for a while and then fell asleep. I finally got tired and fell asleep as well.
The next morning I woke up. My diaper had leaked and the bed was wet and Tammy was wet too. "Looks like you had a little leak huh?" Tammy said as she got up. "I sorry I got everything all wet." I started to cry. "Oh honey, it's ok." She hugged me. She took my diaper off and threw it in the diaper pail. We both went into the bathroom and took a shower together. Mom got up and took the sheets off the bed. Luckily she didn't get wet. When Tammy and I got out of the shower Tammy went to her room and got dressed and then I went to my room and waited for her to come change me into a diaper and an outfit for the day. She finally came and changed me.
Then we went to the kitchen and had breakfast. Just oatmeal today. Mom didn't feel like doing much. Emily called and asked If I still wanted to come over to her house. Mom said I should go because it would get my mind off of things for a while. Tammy also got a call from Kimmie. She wanted to go to her house. "Mom, I don't wanna leave you here by yourself though." "Honey, I'll be ok. You two go play. Mommy needs to be alone for a while anyway ok."
Tammy walked me to Emily's house. Then she went back. As she was going back Kimmie pulled up and gave her a ride to the house. They went in and saw mom. Kimmie already knew what had happened because Tammy had called her last night. Kimmie brought my mom flowers which I saw later on when I got home.
Meanwhile, I was at Emily's house. Laura hadn't came over yet but she would be there soon. Emily's mom gave me a hug when I came in. Everyone was really being nice to me. Even more than usual. It made me feel better though. Laura came over and we started to play. She still didn't know what had happened with my dad yet. When we were playing I bumped my head on the edge of Emily's desk. I started to cry. Laura hugged me and Emily got a damp wash cloth and put it on my head where I hit it.
After a while I stopped crying. We played some more and then I started to cry. For no reason. Well it was for a reason. Because my daddy was gone. "I want my daddy." I cried and Laura said she would walk me home to see him. "NO! my daddy is gone!" "What do you mean?" Laura asked. I just cried. Laura hugged me again and Emily explained what happened. Laura started to cry too. Emily came over to us both and hugged us. Emily's mom came in. "What's wrong? Did Tiffany hit her head again?" "No mommy, she sad because her daddy is in jail." "oh honey come here. Emily's mom picked me up and held me and patted my diapered bottom and rocked me. Emily hugged Laura because she was crying too. Laura liked my dad and had gone camping with us last year. Emily knew him, but not the same way Laura did. So this was kind of hard on Laura too.
Emily's mom carried me to the kitchen and sat me in her lap at the table. She got one of Emily's bottles and fed me. I fell asleep in her arms. She brought me back into Emily's room where Emily and Laura were still playing. "Shhh. She's sleeping. I'm gonna lay her here to take a nap. Why don't you two come out to the living room and play."
Later on I woke up from my nap. I started to cry again. Not just because I was sad but because I was still half asleep and in an unfamiliar room. And no one was there either. Emily ran into the room. "Hey baby, its ok come here. I sat up and she came over to the bed and hugged me. Laura came in and sat next to me. Laura rubbed my back while I laid my head on Emily's shoulder. Finally I stopped crying. Emily wiped my tears from my eyes with her shirt. "There you go Tiffy." "Thanks. I love you guys. I sorry I'm crying so much." "Oh it's ok. We know you're going through a lot right now."
As I sat there and hugged Emily I pooped in my diaper. Emily smiled at me. "You just went poopy didn't you?" "Yep." "I'm going poopoo in my didees too." Laura said as she laid back on the bed and finished doing a load in her diaper. "Oh my gosh you know what?" "What I asked as I was bouncing on my poopy diaper bottom. On the bed." "I gotta go poop too." "Well what are you waiting for. GO!" Laura said as she began to bounce with me. Laura and I were mushing our poopy all over our hiney. Emily squatted down and held onto the bed frame and leaned back and was pushing. Finally she had a load in her diaper too. She sat on my lap and started bouncing. I could feel her lumpy poo-filled diaper getting more squishy as she mushed it all." "Hey, get off of my poopy butt." I said as I pushed her onto Laura. Laura got onto her and sat on her and pinned her down. We all were yucky in our poopy diapers.
Emily's mom came in to see what all the commotion was about. She could smell poopy diapers and she asked which one of us did number two in our diaper." "I said me." Then Emily said "ME!" then Laura said "ME!!!" "Ok so which one of you?" "We all did poopoo in our diapers." Emily said. "All at the same time?" "Yeppers." I said. "oh my goodness. Well Emily, you come over here first and I'll change you." Emily laid down on the floor and got her poopy hiney wipied and powdered. Then she got a new diaper put on her and then her mom rolled her out of the way and I sat on the floor and leaned back and she took off my cloth diaper. "Eww, you really really did a big yucky load in your diaper honey." I blushed. Laura laughed a little bit. Finally after a half a box of wipes, my hiney was clean and then she powdered me and put me in a disposable diaper and then asked Emily to take my poopy diaper and dump the crap out into the toilet and then throw my diaper in a bucket of soapy water for now. So she left the room. Then Laura laid down and got her diaper changed. "Wow, you and Tiffany both have some pretty gross diapers." She said to Laura. Finally we all were changed. Then she went and washed her hands and got rid of the disposable diapers. She then told me that she would wash mine and next time I came over that she'd give it back to me. I thanked her for doing that. Cloth diapers are a pain to wash, so it was nice of her to do that. That way mom or Tammy wouldn't have to.
Finally we all had something to eat and watched a movie. I then went home and Tammy was already back home with mom. I felt better since I was with Emily and Laura but when I got home it kind of hit me again. I didn't cry, but I felt sad. Mom gave me a bath and put me in my jammies. Tammy was on the phone talking to another one of her friends from school. I didn't go to bed until 9. We were going to church the next day. Of all times to need God, we surely needed his guidance now. Tammy got off the phone and came in and tucked me in.
"You know what. We haven't prayed in a day or so. We need to pray for dad and ask God to help our family." "Yeah you're right Tammy." So we knelt by my toy box and prayed. It seemed like we were there for quite a while. But when we got up we really felt the peace and the presence of God. Tammy put me in my crib and kissed me goodnight. She turned out the light and left. I laid away for a while. I thought of all the good times we had with daddy. I also prayed some more. After a while I finally fell asleep.
As I slept, I had a dream about being in a field with some trees to one side and a river to the other. It was sunny and windy. There were pretty flowers every where. I woke up after that but it was still the middle of the night. I wet my diaper and then turned over and hugged my teddy bear. I sat in my highchair and watched her eat. Mom and dad had already eaten earlier. Dad was out in the garage. Mom was doing some laundry. I called Emily and she was watching a video. She said she would be over at 11. So we hung up and then I played in my room with my toys for a while.
The doorbell rang and I ran out of my room and answered the door. To my surprise it was not Emily. "Hello little girl. Is your mommy home?" "Yes, me go get her." I ran into the laundry room and got mom. She came out to the door. "Hello. We are from the FBI and we are here to talk to your husband." "FBI?" "Yes ma'am." They showed mom their badges. I was sitting on the couch in the living room and I could see everything that was going on. "We just want to talk to him." "Well ok, let me go get him." Mom ran into the garage and got dad. Dad came out to the door. "Hello sir. We're from the FBI. We would like to ask you a few questions." "Ok, come on in, sit down. They all came in. Mom, dad, and I sat on the couch. Just then Tammy walked in. "What's going on?" Mom motioned for her to come sit with us on the couch. She sat down.
The man who came to the door began to talk to my dad and accuse him of some crime or something. He denied it but they handcuffed him and took him away. He went willingly. I started to cry and asked them why they were taking my daddy away. "Don't worry honey, daddy will be back home. I just have to go answer some questions, that's all. Don't worry baby." Somehow I knew that more was going on than he told me. Tammy was crying too and we both held on to each other. Mom came over and hugged us. She had tears in her eyes too.
A while later Emily came over to play. Mom answered the door and let her in. She could tell we were all sad. "What's wrong?" "Um, the FBI came here and took our daddy away." Tammy said as she fell to her knees and started to cry. Emily was shocked by all this. Mom knelt down and held onto Tammy.
I started to cry too. Emily hugged me and we sat on the floor and I laid my head on her shoulder and cried. After a while we all wiped our tears away and stuff. Tammy and I went up stairs and sat in my room. Mom went to her room and so did Tammy. The house was very quiet. I was still sad. Emily didn't know what to say to me either. We just sat in my room on my bed in silence. Finally I broke down and cried some more and laid face down on my bed. Tammy leaned over and laid on top of me and hugged me and turned me onto my back and looked into my eyes. "Listen to me. I know your sad. I don't know what else to do, but hold you. You know I love you. You and Laura are my bestest friends. All I can do to make you feel better is to hold you and stuff." "I know. Thank you. I love you too."
We both laid in my bed cuddling and hugging each other. Emily pooped in her diaper but we didn't wanna bother Tammy or mommy so we just laid there anyway. Finally she got uncomfortable. I told her I could change it for her. I had never changed a dirty diaper before but I knew how to do it since I had it done for me quite a few times.
I laid her on my changing table and took off her pants and her diaper. I wiped her. It was yucky. But I managed to get her all clean. I put another diaper on her. I went down the hall and put the dirty diaper out in the trash. Then I came back. Emily had just put her pants on. She laid back down and I picked up my bear and came over to her.
"I wish we could both fit in my crib. Then we could just take a nap like little babies." "Yeppers you're right Tiffany." "Well at least you have a bed and a crib in your room. I only have a crib. So when friends come over they gotta sleep on the floor now." "Yeah that's why mommy left my old bed in here. So that if we needed an extra bed for someone, we'd have it." "I think when I go home tonight I'm gonna get mom to put my old bed back in the corner, that way I can have friends over and they'll be more comfy." "Yeah, that'll be nice."
I cheered up a bit. Tammy stayed with us all day. We got a phone call that night though and when mom hung up the phone she sat us all down. "Girls, I have some bad news." She had tears in her eyes. "Daddy is in jail. He will go to court next Thursday. They say that he used to hack into Federal computers and steel blueprints for top secret weapons and sell them to other countries. I don't know if your daddy did it or not. All I know is when I met him he was well off, and we got married and I just never thought.." She paused and then started to cry. "Tammy jumped up and hugged her. I started crying again. Even Emily was crying this time. She hugged me.
Later on Emily's mom came and took her home. She noticed that things were very sad around our house. My mom talked to her and started crying again. Emily's mom was very nice to her and told her if she needed anything, just to call. I hugged Emily and she and her mommy went bye bye. I went up to Tammy's room and she was laying on her bed and sobbing into her pillow. I walked over to her and laid down beside her and snuggled up to her and she turned over and I gave her a hug. I grabbed some tissues of her nightstand and wiped her tears and then she blew her nose. She hugged me and pulled me down on top of her as she laid back down. We stayed there for a while. Then mom came in and she sat on the bed next to us.
Later on we all got ready for bed. Tammy and I and my fluffy teddy bear all slept in mom's bed. This way we were all with each other all night. Mommy cried for a while and then fell asleep. I finally got tired and fell asleep as well.
The next morning I woke up. My diaper had leaked and the bed was wet and Tammy was wet too. "Looks like you had a little leak huh?" Tammy said as she got up. "I sorry I got everything all wet." I started to cry. "Oh honey, it's ok." She hugged me. She took my diaper off and threw it in the diaper pail. We both went into the bathroom and took a shower together. Mom got up and took the sheets off the bed. Luckily she didn't get wet. When Tammy and I got out of the shower Tammy went to her room and got dressed and then I went to my room and waited for her to come change me into a diaper and an outfit for the day. She finally came and changed me.
Then we went to the kitchen and had breakfast. Just oatmeal today. Mom didn't feel like doing much. Emily called and asked If I still wanted to come over to her house. Mom said I should go because it would get my mind off of things for a while. Tammy also got a call from Kimmie. She wanted to go to her house. "Mom, I don't wanna leave you here by yourself though." "Honey, I'll be ok. You two go play. Mommy needs to be alone for a while anyway ok."
Tammy walked me to Emily's house. Then she went back. As she was going back Kimmie pulled up and gave her a ride to the house. They went in and saw mom. Kimmie already knew what had happened because Tammy had called her last night. Kimmie brought my mom flowers which I saw later on when I got home.
Meanwhile, I was at Emily's house. Laura hadn't came over yet but she would be there soon. Emily's mom gave me a hug when I came in. Everyone was really being nice to me. Even more than usual. It made me feel better though. Laura came over and we started to play. She still didn't know what had happened with my dad yet. When we were playing I bumped my head on the edge of Emily's desk. I started to cry. Laura hugged me and Emily got a damp wash cloth and put it on my head where I hit it.
After a while I stopped crying. We played some more and then I started to cry. For no reason. Well it was for a reason. Because my daddy was gone. "I want my daddy." I cried and Laura said she would walk me home to see him. "NO! my daddy is gone!" "What do you mean?" Laura asked. I just cried. Laura hugged me again and Emily explained what happened. Laura started to cry too. Emily came over to us both and hugged us. Emily's mom came in. "What's wrong? Did Tiffany hit her head again?" "No mommy, she sad because her daddy is in jail." "oh honey come here. Emily's mom picked me up and held me and patted my diapered bottom and rocked me. Emily hugged Laura because she was crying too. Laura liked my dad and had gone camping with us last year. Emily knew him, but not the same way Laura did. So this was kind of hard on Laura too.
Emily's mom carried me to the kitchen and sat me in her lap at the table. She got one of Emily's bottles and fed me. I fell asleep in her arms. She brought me back into Emily's room where Emily and Laura were still playing. "Shhh. She's sleeping. I'm gonna lay her here to take a nap. Why don't you two come out to the living room and play."
Later on I woke up from my nap. I started to cry again. Not just because I was sad but because I was still half asleep and in an unfamiliar room. And no one was there either. Emily ran into the room. "Hey baby, its ok come here. I sat up and she came over to the bed and hugged me. Laura came in and sat next to me. Laura rubbed my back while I laid my head on Emily's shoulder. Finally I stopped crying. Emily wiped my tears from my eyes with her shirt. "There you go Tiffy." "Thanks. I love you guys. I sorry I'm crying so much." "Oh it's ok. We know you're going through a lot right now."
As I sat there and hugged Emily I pooped in my diaper. Emily smiled at me. "You just went poopy didn't you?" "Yep." "I'm going poopoo in my didees too." Laura said as she laid back on the bed and finished doing a load in her diaper. "Oh my gosh you know what?" "What I asked as I was bouncing on my poopy diaper bottom. On the bed." "I gotta go poop too." "Well what are you waiting for. GO!" Laura said as she began to bounce with me. Laura and I were mushing our poopy all over our hiney. Emily squatted down and held onto the bed frame and leaned back and was pushing. Finally she had a load in her diaper too. She sat on my lap and started bouncing. I could feel her lumpy poo-filled diaper getting more squishy as she mushed it all." "Hey, get off of my poopy butt." I said as I pushed her onto Laura. Laura got onto her and sat on her and pinned her down. We all were yucky in our poopy diapers.
Emily's mom came in to see what all the commotion was about. She could smell poopy diapers and she asked which one of us did number two in our diaper." "I said me." Then Emily said "ME!" then Laura said "ME!!!" "Ok so which one of you?" "We all did poopoo in our diapers." Emily said. "All at the same time?" "Yeppers." I said. "oh my goodness. Well Emily, you come over here first and I'll change you." Emily laid down on the floor and got her poopy hiney wipied and powdered. Then she got a new diaper put on her and then her mom rolled her out of the way and I sat on the floor and leaned back and she took off my cloth diaper. "Eww, you really really did a big yucky load in your diaper honey." I blushed. Laura laughed a little bit. Finally after a half a box of wipes, my hiney was clean and then she powdered me and put me in a disposable diaper and then asked Emily to take my poopy diaper and dump the crap out into the toilet and then throw my diaper in a bucket of soapy water for now. So she left the room. Then Laura laid down and got her diaper changed. "Wow, you and Tiffany both have some pretty gross diapers." She said to Laura. Finally we all were changed. Then she went and washed her hands and got rid of the disposable diapers. She then told me that she would wash mine and next time I came over that she'd give it back to me. I thanked her for doing that. Cloth diapers are a pain to wash, so it was nice of her to do that. That way mom or Tammy wouldn't have to.
Finally we all had something to eat and watched a movie. I then went home and Tammy was already back home with mom. I felt better since I was with Emily and Laura but when I got home it kind of hit me again. I didn't cry, but I felt sad. Mom gave me a bath and put me in my jammies. Tammy was on the phone talking to another one of her friends from school. I didn't go to bed until 9. We were going to church the next day. Of all times to need God, we surely needed his guidance now. Tammy got off the phone and came in and tucked me in.
"You know what. We haven't prayed in a day or so. We need to pray for dad and ask God to help our family." "Yeah you're right Tammy." So we knelt by my toy box and prayed. It seemed like we were there for quite a while. But when we got up we really felt the peace and the presence of God. Tammy put me in my crib and kissed me goodnight. She turned out the light and left. I laid away for a while. I thought of all the good times we had with daddy. I also prayed some more. After a while I finally fell asleep.
As I slept, I had a dream about being in a field with some trees to one side and a river to the other. It was sunny and windy. There were pretty flowers every where. I woke up after that but it was still the middle of the night. I wet my diaper and then turned over and hugged my teddy bear.
Hello,This is a excite game This game is my first work. You're the first player. I wish you would enjoy it.
15 men on a Dead Man's Chest... OH HO HO and a bottle of rum! (repeat)
First off, this is not an issue with DMCA.
The law suit has to do with "stealing code" and other non-DMCA type accusations.
Even if it did, there's an old lawsuit that covers acceptable reverse engineering.
Oh well.
I fully support the bnetd ideal. That is, supplying a different server then the blizzard one. You would be a lot less likely to find n00bs so to speak there. However.... I get sick of paying for the thousands of warez users that download the iso or image, then burn to cd, then are able to play fully on bnetd.
Unfortunately, blizzard's key remains the copy protection stopping that, and bnetd weren't able to support that at all. So it's back to the beginning.
Maybe if blizz could implement a central cd key verification server ie Half-Life's WON servers, it would be more beneficial. But still, the whole situation sucks. Blizzard aren't that bad, its more likely vivendi or just a complete miscommunication hogwash.
Though i have heard, that blizzard must prosecute now, or they aren't able to prosecute pirates/cd-key removal later on. This true?
Think nothing is impossible? Try slamming a revolving door.
I Found a Reason
Velvet Underground
I found a reason to keep living
Oh and the reason, dear, is you
I found a reason to keep singing
Oh and the reason, dear, is you
Oh I do believe
If you don't like things you live
For some place you never gone before
Honey, I found a reason to keep living
And you know the reason, dear it's you
And I've walked down life's lonely highways
Hand in hand with myself
And I realized how many paths have crossed between us
Oh I do believe
You're all what you perceive
What come is better that what came before
Oh I do believe
You're all what you perceive
What come is better that what came before
And you'd better come, come come, come to me
Come come, come to me
Hackers penetrate and ravage delicate private and publicly owned computer systems, infecting them with viruses and stealing sensitive materials for their own ends. These people, they're terrorists.
Help wanted, inquire within.
Several positions and openings available.
I have legimate copies of every game/expansion pack they've ever produced, on up to Diablo II. Full retail price, too, not bargain bin or second hand. They _were_ the one company that you could be sure I would buy a game from, maybe not the day it was released, but I'd get it eventually.
As I remember it, this news hit the very day that I couldn't hold out any longer for D2. Strangely, I'd never heard of bnetd until then. Being able to play on a server I could control though, would only have encouraged me even more, to buy their games. I had only played Diablo I on Battlenet once or twice, and not been at all happy... nice idea, but too many assholes. To think that I could fix that problem without extending several dozen ipxtunnels, etc... that is kickass.
They should have hired these guys, not sued them. That would have been a cheaper way to stall bnetd, they would have gotten more for their money, and they wouldn't have pissed people like me off.
Fuck you, Blizzard.
To everyone on the bnetd team, keep kicking ass, and the best of luck to you.
Yes, BNETD is completely dead. The DMCA has prevailed.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
It's unfortunate that Blizzard is targeting BNETD. The problem that Blizzard is facing, is leaked copies of the Warcraft III beta being played all over the internet. Every beta tester got a unique CD-Key with their copy of the beta, to play on Battle.net you needed a unique key (i.e. one that was not being used).
The people with pirated copies of the beta want to play too, and since there's no single player in the beta, they need a Battle.net server to connect to. Now, Blizzard isn't about to let 10,000 illegal copies on to their server so the people running stolen copies turned to BNET.D.
At this time, through some strange coincidence, BNET.D attracted the attention of Blizzard. BNET.D said "Ok, game pirates suck, we won't develop Warcraft III compatiblity", got sued, and pulled their code. A handful of the contributers of BNET.D wanted to keep pursuing WC3 and formed Warforge.
Granted, there is a point or two in favor of developing a BNET.D server for WC3:
[] Warcraft III doesn't allow for LAN play
[] I forgot the second one
They've been keeping up with Blizzards efforts to disallow use on non-battle.net servers very well (a patch is usually out in less than two days).
As for my opinion: People are going to find a way to play/use the latest and greatest software without paying for it. Period. The more attractive it is, the faster it will be cracked. Companies need to realize this and make software more available (public betas, lower prices, no prices (free)...) Even then, people will find ways to get products for free, but just like the music industry is starting to realize, people will take path of least resistance to the software they want.
That's my $0.03
--
dan
-- dan.sherman
This is part of the Great Literature of Slashdot series.
And now, as it slowly sucked the morsels of beetle-flesh off its feeding pincers, the signal for the scorpion's own death sounded from far away on the eastern horizon, audible to a human, but made up of vibrations which were far outside the range of the scorpion's sensory system.
A few feet away, a heavy, blunt hand, with bitten fingernails, slowly raised a jagged piece of rock.
There was no noise, but the scorpion felt a tiny movement in the air above it. At once its fighting claws were up and its sting was erect in the rigid tail, its near-sighted eyes staring up for a glimpse of the enemy.
The heavy stone came down.
"Black bastard."
The man watched as the broken insect whipped in death agony.
The man yawned and got to his knees in the sandy depression against the trunk of the bush where he had been sitting for nearly two hours and, his arms bent protectingly over his head, scrambled out into the open.
The noise of the engine which the man had been waiting for and which had signed the scorpion's death warrant was louder. As the man stood and stared up the path of the moon, he could just make out a clumsy black shape coming fast towards him out of the east, and for a moment, the moonlight glinted on whirling rotor blades.
The man rubbed hands down the sides of his dirty khaki shorts and moved quickly around the bush to where the rear wheel of a battered motorcycle protruded from the hiding place. Below the pillion on either side were leather toolboxes. From one of these, he extracted a small heavy package which he stowed inside his open shirt next to his skin. From the other he took four cheap flashlights. He then strode to an area fifty yards from the big thornbush where there was a clear patch of flat ground about the size of a tennis court. At three corners of the landing ground, he screwed the butt end of a flashlight into the ground and switched it on. Then, the last one alight in his hand, he took up his position at the fourth corner and waited.
Its getting to the point where the open source movement will move further and further underground. All the benefits of the open source would still remain if the lead developers remained anonymous (except maybe for ego purposes). Nobody ever has, and probably won't challenge the majority of open source software, but why risk it anymore. Let the software companies and the movie industry waste a large sum of money trying to silence the small insignificant factions. If those factions ever do rise to power and the power bases lose their market as a result, then in time, most of this won't even matter.
Take Microsoft and the northwest schools. It is not just ONE school district talking about mass migration here. If they do it, and pull it off, other districts will notice. They'll see that it actually CAN be done. They'll see that there really IS support available, and they'll see that it IS saving a lot of money, and they can safely tell the BSA to fuck off. They'll switch too. One at a time, one after another. Microsoft will lose them all. Now you have a whole bunch of high school students, ALL of them trained on linux or whatever open source suite appealed to the districts. They go off to college. You will now see the same movement there. And once that wave is done sweeping through, the corporate world is next. It really COULD start with one school district, and in 10 years, Microsoft will have completely lost their grip on the market, never to regain it.
The point is, after a few years of this, everyone will be using open source software to some degree. People will EXPECT software to be free. And when Blizzard, or the movie industry or anyone comes along and sends out letters saying "you can't use that software" a whole lot of regular non-geek people will turn around and say "up yours!" to the respective finger pointer and tell them where they can shove it and take their money elsewhere.
The music industry is already learning the hard way on this. They had their chance. They could have completely cornered the online market for years had they put in place a simple, inexpensive, non-intrusive music distribution system YEARS ago when they had the chance. But no, they were so concerned about rampant piracy and how it might affect their bottom line, they instead played stupid legal games to attempt to stifle the music trading. And for all the court cases, and all the laws that passed, trading has increased to massive proportions. They sue napster into the ground, 10 others pop up to take its place, only non-centralized and no way to easily shut them down. Who do you go after now? the programmers??
Well, you can't if you don't know who they are.
So undergound all this even potentially murky legal stuff. Wait a few years. All those who would threaten you will be overcome by the wave, and afterwards, they wouldn't dare.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
so, you want to embark on a business enterprise? Better include LawyerCosts in your budget, thats a given these days.
Its kinda funny, I would love to see the impact of Internet laws implimentation on Legal firms bottom line.
I like continuous claims that bnetd is better than Battle.net because bnetd said so, in 1997 no less. Don't see any uptime comparisions or user load comparisons or anything to qualify such statements, but every article seems to feature this same theme.
;)
Crittenden goes on to say that figuring out that a modified SHA-1 was used for the password scheme was obvious by looking at the packets, which is complete crap. Latter Combs adds "Thankfully, the hash size was the same as SHA1 and [we were] sent an example hashing function". Sounds like clean room reverse engineering to me
gcc-3.1 is almost out (the first new usable compiler in a long time), and freebsd has already started incorporating it into 5.0. linuxfromscratch is soon going to base their "distro" on it, and i'm sure many others will follow.
RMS HAS A GIRLFRIEND!!! holy shit. she's supposedly young and hot. whooaaaa...
debian 3.0 is almost out. unstable will finally start to become interesting again.
Bnetd's developers certainly do wonders with those reverse engineering hack. The only drawback I can see is their limited ambition.
Why not implement an open protocol to offer a platform so that all the rest of the game developers can write networked games? It's certainly true that Blizzard has the advantage of popular games. But I doubt that those developers have enough resource to keep up with all the strange packets designed by Blizzard intentionally or unintentionally. I also doubt that other game companies will sit idly to let Blizzard grab all the share. Blizzard's lawsuit won't bear the results they expect. It is unthinkable that a gamer will sign up for a service just be able to play one or several games designed by Blizzard.
Wish Bnetd's developers good luck.
Why doesn't BNETD just implement piracy checking? Then blizzard wouldnt have a leg to stand on.
That was my first reaction too. But after giving it some additional thought, I have come up with a reason the Blizzard/Vivendi legal team might be acting with more insight than it appears to at first blush.
There are several theories as to why Blizzard is taking action now. Possible movement of battle.net to a subscription service. Blizzard's announced future offering of World of Warcraft, certainly to be a subscription service. And the new release Warcraft III which is supported by the bnetd fork called Warforge. And there's the key. Warforge is a fork. A spinoff. Further development of a project that has been an annoyance to Blizzard since 1998.
If Blizzard managed to kill Warforge, what is to stop another group from retracing those footsteps and modifying bnetd again? What about fans who decide they don't wish to continue paying a subscription to World of Warcraft and use bnetd as a basis for a new, freely available alternative? What if battle.net goes pay-to-play and private and public bnetd servers offer a much more attractive alternative?
The fact is that bnetd makes a very sensible target to head off all these possible forks. And once the legal groundwork is laid in killing bnetd, it would be trivial to send out cease-and-desist letters to those whose work is based on bnetd.
Sure. It will be almost impossible to wipe bnetd off the face of the net. But development is going to slow down considerably if bnetd source code is just as illegal as a warez copy of Warcraft III.
People need to see the flip side of the coin.
Chris
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Blizzard doesn't distribute a battle.net hub.
BNETD does.
Blizzard gets mad because BNETD doesn't check for warez copys.
Shouldn't Blizzard then have distributed an official hub?
Less users would then have been aware of warez friendly hubs. You can't stop the 10% who will do every thing they can to be warez puppies, but you can take steps to stop the 90%.
Stopping the 90% this way though is morally bankrupt. Someone stepped in and created a product which adds value to your product. You want CONTROL OVER ALL, so instead of providing BNETD with help to implement copy protection, you sue them to take them down!
Screwed.
Barto
When will those kikes learn that stealing is wrong? If they refuse to learn we might have to kill them all.
I can't get very excited about a free server for a proprietary game running on a proprietary OS. Why not go all the way and design a free server and a free game?
Don't try to take control from Blizzard by letting people use their client with your server. Blizzard sees it necessary for keeping their business to have that control exclusive to them, and you may not like it, or agree with it, but you need to respect it. Especially if you decide to play their games. This isn't an operating system we're talking about. Where an operating system is just a middleman, something to build upon, there is (usually) nothing more to a game than itself. You take it as it is, or not at all. Some game developers choose to give the user further liberties through game editors and programming interfaces, and that's great, but those liberties should be given, not taken by force.
I'm sure this is going to be a very unpopular opinion with many of you, all I'm asking for is if you disagree with me, explain why instead of flaming, so that I can take your opinion seriously.
Thanks, Nir
-- Classism is the new racism
I just got through reading about what your company is doing to those BNETD developers.
h tm l?tid=127
http://slashdot.org/articles/02/05/12/0231205.s
YOU PEOPLE SUCK ASS. I HOPE YOUR COMPANY ROTS IN HELL.
I used to think you were cool. I have Warcraft, Warcraft II, StarCraft, and Diablo. I have multiple copies of each that I run on my own computers.
These will be the VERY LAST games I ever buy from your company. I will remember the name Blizzard. I already knew it. But now you can bet I will be looking for your name on the box for a different reason, so I'll know when to throw it in the trash.
You should be ashamed of yourselves. BTW- I'm doing everything I can to spread the word about what you assholes are up to. I'm forwarding the URL to everyone I know.
You people suck ass. I hope your company rots in hell.
If Blizzard is so worried that the bnetd folks will need access to their CD-Key algorithms, simply create a new server that exposes the CD-Key checking routines through SOAP, etc. that the bnetd folks can then *blindly* pass the CD-Key to Blizzard, and upon a return value allow the user to play or not?
Blizzard still keeps their IP, and bnetd can still live on,
Of course, with it being open-source, there's nothing stopping someone from running a copy that bypasses those routines, but I would say that those that *do* bypass the game-checking routines should be more of a target to Blizzard than the current bnetd folks.
From reading the article, it's clear that the developers and maintainers of the bnetd project are Blizzard supporters. They are doing for free what Blizzard had to pay programmers to develop, and from the looks of the article, their paid programmers did it somewhat suboptimally.
Blizzard has a great resource at their disposal. The community that developed around their games has reached a point where they have started writing code to correct the flaws in Blizzard's system. How many companies can only dream of having such a devoted fanbase?
Unfortunately, depressingly, Blizzard's response to this is not an enlightened response that embraces such a community for mutual gain, but one which aims to lobotomize it. There will be no winners from this course of action. bnetd will always exist (potentially with consequences for the original author) and Blizzard will only harm a community that for the most part supports them.
Blizzard chooses to hide behind legislation to defend a business model that cannot naturally work , rather than innovate and develop one that benefits all, including themselves.
Blizzard is a company that wants to earn money, right? The only way to really hurt them is to boycott them. And I don't mean that you should copy it illegaly. That way Blizzard would also get no money but you would still support them just by playing and therefor promoting the game. And it doesn't work if everyone says here on slashdot: They'll get no money from me. Do what you say!!!! If they sell 10 copies less, they don't even recognize it. They must sell 50000 less, that will show them that it is wrong what they did to bnetd.
If Blizzard wants to make continued claims of "circumvention" and "piracy", then bnetd must also make accusations using "keywords" designed to upset the general population.
So, therefore, Blizzard provides a service which is much more graphically violent than "DOOM", which we all know was resonsible for many teenager deaths around the country.
They continue to push violence and killing upon the youth of America by releasing games which postively reward players [youth of America] for acts such as stealing, killing, misconception and deception of others.
Don't try to take control from me by dictating the usage of my computer. I see it necessary for keeping my liberty to have that control exclusive to me, and Blizzard may not like it, or agree with it, but they need to respect it. Especially if they decide to sell me games.
Well, to them I say sock it. Soulseek has it right - it's their game, and I can totally understand them wanting to try and keep piracy down. Instead of bitching about it, write your own damn games.
You have paid for it, therefore you are free to do whatever you want with it within the bounds of copyright law. If you want to write a replacement for some service that they would like you to use, there is nothing, legally or morally, stopping you from doing so.
Don't try to take control from Blizzard by letting people use their client with your server.
The problem is that blizzard doesn't have control to begin with. Once that piece of software is bought and paid for, they have no control over what you do with it. If I want to alter that program in any way I like, I am free to do so as long as I'm not distributing copies.
Blizzard sees it necessary for keeping their business to have that control exclusive to them, and you may not like it, or agree with it, but you need to respect it.
No you don't. Just because some company wants something doesn't mean I have to do anything to make sure it happens.
-- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
Remember about a year or so ago, Blizzard filed suit over the next Vin Diesel movie "El Diablo" because they said that it infringed upon their "Diablo" trademark?
Think about that. There you are, starting a little project so you and your buddies can play a game over your network. Things are looking good, the code is working, and suddenly you realise what a good idea it would be to expand the project to do what the commercial/proprietary software does.
Why on earth would you even think about legal consultation? It's a small project, a hobby, and when you're working on stuff like that legal implications generally don't cross your mind. Why would they? For one thing, what these guys are doing is perfectly legal, everyone knows that. When this project started, I don't think there was even a thought that it might be slightly illegal.
I remember when Napster first came out, and me and some buddies reverse engineered the protocol to make our own Linux client and server. Just for fun, something to do, y'know. It was interesting for me because I was learning how to reverse engineer a protocol. Something I had never done. Legal implications never once crossed our minds.
It just comes down to Blizzard being a bunch of rotten eggs, afraid of a little competiton.
Personally, I won't be buying a Blizzard product ever again.
-kidlinux.
All Blizzard has to do is make all its new games use REAL encryption and worse come to worse hard code the servers by IP or domain (yes with some work domains could be faked but most users will not do this). If they use some sort of real encryption, then their games will most likely not be usable without some sort of patching, and if bnetd released a patch of some kind to a blizzard game, I'm sure legally they could put a stop to it.
What this is really about is Warcraft III beta, they didn't think people would use Bnetd to use pirated versions of it, and so now they are trying to kill bnetd until Warcraft III comes out. After that don't expect them to make that mistake with DIII or whatever their next game is. There will be encryption.
Gnuyen
Gnuyen
They removed the source from their home page, but you can still get it over at debian's site if you want to see what their talking about.
So this is like saying if I didn't like the long distance service that came with my phone, I shouldn't be able to switch to another provider? Or I should only use sony media with my sony products? Or maybe I should only be allowed to go to the car dealer to get parts for my car. I'm sorry but if I don't like the way a piece of software works and it is because of the crappy server it is pointing to, I see no moral problem with giving my money or attention to someone else who will supply what it is I want.
The funny thing is that this is the essence capitalism and free market enterprise systems. Something the corporate barons tends to use as an excuse for their behavior.
Cat
It's amazing how much disk space I recovered after uninstalling diablo, starcraft and everything else including other companies titles affiliated with Blizzards parent company after reading about bnetd getting the boot from Blizzard. Battlenet sux and this would have been a very welcome alternative. Warcraft 3? Not on my hard drives.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
I hope that everyone who keeps saying they'll boycott blizzard and never buy/play their games again sticks to it.
A lot of people seem to think they are entitled to free service. "battle.net is a right, not a privilege! I spent my $50, I should play free until the end of time!"
I'm sure they all own legitimate copies...but all the contempt seems aimed at blizzard instead of the parasites that use bnetd to steal the games and play for free (not even a $50 investment!). Morality seems skewed here.
I think we need to take a trip back to 80's, where every video game cost a quarter at the arcade. that's 200 games of starcraft, or whatever. if you've played more than that..cough up.
-buzz
What the heck are you talking about? It's awesome that you don't have to pay for battle.net, and seeing as how it is the only on-line service that supports Starcraft and Diablo, you should be happy it even exists!