Slashdot Mirror
Anti-piracy Vigilantes Tracking P2P Users
brevard writes "From SecurityFocus comes news that a pair of coders with a deep hatred of software pirates have gone public with a months-old experiment to trick file sharers into running custom spyware they wrote that scolds users and phones home to a server. They circulated the program disguised as sought-after downloads like Unreal Tournament 2004 and Microsoft source code, and they have a website that updates in real time whever someone executes it. They've logged IP addresses for over 12,000 'pirates' since January. The EFF says the vigilantes may be committing a crime."
Your statement is wrong on so many different levels. First of all, at least in the US, people are supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty. That means they are violating the privacy of an innocent person.
Secondly, there are moral wars being waged over things like the privacy of a criminal. You can't blindly say it's ok to violate a person's rights just because they're a criminal.