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P2P vs. The Clones

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hidden-payloads dept.

smash writes "Rebranding software then loading it with spyware and adware (or just selling it for profit) has become a recent trend with oversea individuals trying to make a few bucks. We all remember the KaZaA Gold, don't we? Shareaza, which recently went open source under the GPL, has been subject to a similar type of theft by a company going by the name RockSoft Development. Surprisingly enough, their software labelled as 'Go Music' hasn't been pulled from C|Net's Download.com after more than a week."

8 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. Kazaa gold? by Billobob · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If anything, this reminds me more of how Morpheus completely ripped off Gnucleus after Kazaa kicked them off their networks, leaving Morpheus pretty much screwed. They changed a few pictures, and originally presented none of the code to the public.

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    If you have to ask, you'll never know.
  2. Re:Fake user opinions on CNET by darth_MALL · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm loving the negative ons like this:
    ""Virus Infected Shareaza Ripoff" Included malware: 1. Win32:Trojan-gen. {Other} 2. New.Net spyware 3. Search Toolbar adware "

  3. 75% popular my donkey! by B747SP · · Score: 4, Interesting
    A quick read of the user comments pages on C|Net makes it pretty clear that all of those positive comments are written by the same person with the same fractured ESL English and the same misgivings about what is 'really cool' and how to make one's life 'complete'.

    Some might call this 'astroturf', but I reckon that even blind freddy could see that this grass is brown!

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  4. Open source software on eBay by mbrubeck · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I work on the Audacity sound editor, a free software project that is being re-branded and sold on eBay under names like LuxuriousitySound. Most of the sellers try to conceal the app's identity, and of course they don't mention that it's free and open-source. The same vendors are also selling rebranded versions of Open Office and GIMP. We get a lot of messages from angry users who find out that they payed $15 for software that's free for everybody.

    The vendors are obeying the GPL, so they aren't guilty of copyright infringement. They're careful not to use the software's real name, so of course they aren't guilty of misusing our trademarks. They might be in violation of deceptive advertising laws, or eBay's own "Brand Name Misuse Policy," but eBay hasn't yet acted on any of the buyers' complaints.

  5. Not only open source by ad0gg · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I've seen this all applied to public domain works by the government. I've seen the US Census data being sold for up to $750, when you can just download it from their site. I've also seen people selling access to NOAA weather images for a subscription rate of $100 a year. It all comes down to marketing, there's no way a producer of free content can compete against someone selling their stuff on the marketing side.

    Selling NOAA data for $100 a year

    --

    Have you ever been to a turkish prison?

  6. Re:Hahaha.... by JPriest · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Something I was thinking about the other day. It is pretty obvious that spyware is a gray area in legislation, but maybe there would be a loophole in this. Say I require anyone that develop software for my OS have a free license to do so. I could simply refuse less than credible companies a license. Instead of going after them for writing intrusive software, you could go after them for license violations.

    A big company like MS could never get away with this, but I wonder if one could build a Linux distro with a module or something that requires such a license. The idea would add another layer of security for people that use that distro again legit companies whose software is not considered malicious but should be. Is anyone doing something like this?

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    Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
  7. Similar shenanigans....... by Handpaper · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Here and here. The genuine article has even changed the title of its home page to draw attention to the problem.
    Mind you, when somebody can't even look for the site probably deserves to be scammed.

  8. Another one by zjbs14 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Here's another one, looks like the same folks doing it:

    http://www.download.com/Music-Master/3000-2196_4-1 0306583.html?tag=stbc.gp

    The negative review are stacking up for Go Music, let's add some to Music Master too.

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    No sig, sorry.