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Earthstation 5 Claimed to be Malware

Rob from RPI writes "You may remember the announcement about a company, or program, or both called Earthstation 5 who recently 'Declared War' on the MPAA. Well guess what? Turns out that it's got code in it that allows anyone to delete any file on your computer. I suggest that you un-install as soon as possible!"

37 of 548 comments (clear)

  1. Too bad by Gortbusters.org · · Score: 1, Funny

    Too bad slashdotting them doesn't delete their files!

    In Soviet Russia, the files delete you!

    --
    --------
    Free your mind.
  2. Not surprising by aacool · · Score: 3, Funny
    This isnt surprising - the slashdot rage/paranoia/humor when Earthstation 5 was announced was palpable.


    Just goes to show you can't trust anyone but the RIAA for f'air and balanced info-warfare:)

    1. Re:Not surprising by chemmathguy · · Score: 3, Funny

      New tv show,

      Queer Eye for the Straight GUI

  3. This is absolutely shocking. by Ygorl · · Score: 5, Funny

    Really, I mean it. From looking at their web site one would have thought they were totally legitimate!

  4. Just what the MPAA wants... by Kedisar · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now they can delete all those movies from your hard disk!

  5. I don't have to uninstall... by BlackBolt · · Score: 3, Funny

    It deleted itself.

  6. Earth Station 5 - legalese by Stalyx · · Score: 5, Funny

    And in other news when Reuter's contacted Earth Station 5's lead programmer, he had apparently mumbled under his breath.. "its not a bug damnit!, it's a feature"

    1. Re:Earth Station 5 - legalese by Glonoinha · · Score: 2, Funny

      I would tend to agree. The odds of a programmer 'accidently' adding working code capable of deleting an end user's files or participating in a DDoS is about as likely as a programmer 'accidently' having sex with a pretty woman. It can happen, but it takes a LOT of work and planning on the part of the programmer (and wasn't an accident.)

      --
      Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
    2. Re:Earth Station 5 - legalese by MegaFur · · Score: 2, Funny
      The odds of a programmer 'accidently' adding working code capable of deleting an end user's files or participating in a DDoS is about as likely as a programmer 'accidently' having sex with a pretty woman.

      Well gee, darn, there goes that fantasy...

      --
      Furry cows moo and decompress.
  7. Not surprising by skryche · · Score: 4, Funny

    What about the terrible GUI? That's the real crime here!

  8. A complicated world by TopShelf · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wait a minute, I thought these guys were anti-MPAA and anti-RIAA, meaning they can only be powerful forces for good!

    Arggggghhhhh

    Binary world-view is breaking down as we speak...

    --
    Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
  9. Earthstation 5 sounds like... by vudufixit · · Score: 4, Funny

    A bad UPN science fiction series.

  10. Re:Stupid stupid people. by hobbespatch · · Score: 2, Funny

    From their website... (quote) Our group is made up of many people, Jordanians, Palestinians, Indians, Americans, Russians and Israelis. Some of us are Jewish, some Christians, some Hindus and other of us are Muslim. Believe it or not, we all love and respect each other. (/quote) Yesh, now we know that was too good to be true.

    --
    Still Mud? Try www.phoenixmud.org!
  11. Dateline "Jenin, West Bank?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Rest assured, brothers, your files have not been deleted; they have been martyred and are currently being serviced by 72 virgins.

    1. Re:Dateline "Jenin, West Bank?" by LittleGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

      Rest assured, brothers, your files have not been deleted; they have been martyred and are currently being serviced by 72 virgins.

      So, the standard Tech Support staff?

      --
      Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
  12. Also look out for these P2P programs... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Deep Space 9
    Babylon 5
    The Dagobah System

  13. now I know why my computer has been complaining by dnotj · · Score: 2, Funny

    About a missing file: /home/dnotj/.wine/fake_windows/boot.ini

    --
    No more Micro$oft bashing from me. Its like bashing at the special olympics.
  14. Verify the presence of malware by Bingo+Foo · · Score: 4, Funny
    $ grep "rm" ~/W4R3Z/es5
    Binary file ~/W4R3Z/es5 matches
    $
    --
    taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!
  15. Anagram conspiracy theory by mblase · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did you know that you can rearrange the letters of "EARTHSTATION FIVE" to spell "RIAA VOTES IN THEFT"?

    They're behind the whole thing, I'm telling you.

    1. Re:Anagram conspiracy theory by bpd1069 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Did you know that you can rearrange the letters of "EARTHSTATION FIVE" to spell "RIAA VOTES IN THEFT"?


      I also found "SEVENTH TIT OF RIAA"

      We all know the RIAA is a bitch, but this just proves it...

      --
      --
  16. ...or a brilliant MPAA/RIAA tactic by LilJC · · Score: 2, Funny
    1. Release excellent mother-of-them-all P2P software under guise of legitimate software
    2. Once everyone has it, delete all pirated files
    3. Profit!

    I half wish they'd actually do that - maybe it would incite a full boycott. Though I am happy with the understanding that their sales are declining already.

    --

    The only thing more dangerous than a file named -rf is renaming it -rf\ /
  17. Re:BAH! THIS IS JUST FUD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Please welcome the lead programmer for ES5!!

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Let me summarize you're argument,

    "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, keep using the app, there is no bad code, keep leeching!"

    right... nice try.

  18. Whois by Xerxes2695 · · Score: 2, Funny

    www.es5.com is regestered to (get this)

    Earthstationv Ltd., A Palestinian Corporation
    Jenin refugee camp #23
    Jenin (PS)

    Rfugee camp? Palestine? Unless they lied on the registration I doubt this is RIAA.

  19. Re:Parent is a TROLL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Yeah, you're right. I'm glad to see the rise in subtle trolling around this place, even if we do have to do it as AC's.

  20. What's the big deal? by Giant+Ape+Skeleton · · Score: 2, Funny
    It's not a bug, it's a *feature* !

    ;-)

    --
    The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
  21. Re:Good thing it wasn't email by chicoy · · Score: 5, Funny

    If I had received this in my Inbox, I probably would have ignored it. It's interesting that I'm conditioned (brainwashed?) to ignore this stuff when it's in an email, but when I read it on /. I take it seriously.

    you must be new here.

    --
    ~the keyboard is mightier than the pen.
  22. Earthstation 5 Lite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Can somone make an "Earthstation 5 Lite" version of this, similar to Kazaa Lite (err. K++)?

  23. Earthstation 5 is a GODSEND by 0x0d0a · · Score: 5, Funny

    People need to stop trashing Earthstation 5. It's a fantastic program, and does exactly as advertised. Plus, it seems to have built-in compression software -- my free disk space has been steadily increasing ever since I installed it!

  24. Failsafe hypothesis [and a another foil hat :)] by DingoBueno · · Score: 2, Funny

    Scenario 1:
    Maybe this is not malicious. Possibly a way to protect people in the event that something bad happens, like all this hyped anonymity and encryption turns out to be trivial to crack. ES5 may have already developed a worm that spreads and exploits this function to delete all shared files on the network, which may be in the users' best interests.

    Scenario 2 (aka Conspiracy theory 1):
    Orrin Hatch is making good on his promise to destroy the PCs of filesharers around the world, while placing the blame on Palestine.

    I like the #2 better, but you decide for yourself :)

    Later...

    --
    ascii art
  25. Re:where... by Silverfuel · · Score: 1, Funny

    he downloaded the source from the SCO website.

  26. punish them... by Doobian+Coedifier · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...with their next bandwidth bill:

    $ wget -O /dev/null http://download.es5.com/es5us.exe

  27. Re:Sacrificial goat... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oh no! My ISP info!

    iface_eth0="dhcp"

    My Life is Over!

  28. No, It's DRM by tds67 · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's obviously just Digital Rights Management code!

  29. Re:Nice try, MPAA! by reverius · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought the MPAA -was- a terrorist outfit.

  30. ES5 is too shitty for this plan to succeed by heironymouscoward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I tried ES5 some time ago to see whether it worked or not.

    It was such junk that I uninstalled it without even managing to find a single thing, illegal, legal, whatever.

    If the application was designed to get a community and then hurt them, it is a real failure.

    What I suspect is that the people behind ES5 really are a bunch of half-mad Russian programmers paid by oil-quaffing Saudis, who actually believe that their application rocks. And they planned to get 15m users, then approach the highest bidder, advertisers or *AA, selling the captured market. The "encryption" stuff is just to make it impossible to reverse-engineer ES5 clients, and the backdoor is just there to up the ante for selling their shit to the *AA.

    A poor plan, horribly implemented.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature
  31. Oh God not again... by Theatetus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can someone please please PLEASE write a filter that excludes threads that mention the words "Israel" or "Palestine" more than once each?

    Here, guys, stop arguing. I'll make all of your arguments for you:

    Pro-Palestinian guy: Israel is guilty of $ATROCITY1, $ATROCITY2, and $ATROCITY3

    Pro-Israel guy: Surely you're not comparing things like $ATROCITY2 to $ATROCITY4, $ATROCITY5, and $ATROCITY6, which were committed by Palestinians

    Pro-Palestinian guy: Oh come on! $ATROCITY6 wasn't nearly as bad as $ATROCITY3! Besides, they only did it because of $ATROCITY3! If Israel had never committed $ATROCITY3 then the Palestinians wouldn't have had to have committed $ATROCITY6!

    Pro-Israel guy: but the Israels only committed $ATROCITY3 as a defensive measure because the Palestinians committed $ATROCITY7!

    This will continue for about 20 or so posts as both sides try to justify violence because of things that happened 30, 60, 100, or 5000 years ago; apparently in the middle east the moral high ground of a situation is inherited from your parents. I've really never understood that.

    Anyways, I've now said EVERY SINGLE THING every partisan in this argument has ever said and will ever say, so you can all just STFU.

    --
    All's true that is mistrusted
  32. Leave it installed - you deserve it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I suggest that if you were stupid enough to install that software, then you are a detriment to the computing community and will probably leave it installed or install something even worse soon. So unless you're feeling especially kind to your fellow man, just leave it installed.

    On the other hand, if you *are* feeling socially responsible, then go ahead and smash your computer with a sledge hammer. Once that's done, go get a tatoo on your face that says "Do NOT sell a computer to me - I'm too stupid to use one."