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P2P vs. The Clones
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."
You can never go bankrupt betting on the ignorance of average PC users.
This does, in fact, represent a flaw in current open-source licenses such as GPL, and in the free (as in speech) software movement in general.
o st-of-copying-and-the-media clause works. The difficulty comes in deciding exactly what needs to be restricted, and how to word it properly. You then combine this with a proper copyright on the code, and you have something you can enforce.
I've noticed this happening more and more as I am called upon to uninstall this kind of garbage from my friends' computers; "Uhh, this looks rather like Gnucleus; you could have just gotten that for free, without the spyware, you know...."
The idea is that adding spyware to open-source projects circumvents the "You can't take this software and sell it" restriction of the licenses because it's not being sold. It's just adding spyware to. And in some cases, the source code isn't even modified, so there is no need to redistribute the modified source code as per the license. It's just open-source software bundled with spyware in an installer.
The problem in using a license such as the GPL, and giving people essentially unlimited rights to incorporate your code into their software is that you'll end up with situations like this, and most critically, have absolutely no recourse against them so long as they are following the letter of the agreement.
(In this particular case, I don't know if they're following it or not. I don't see them providing the source code for download, so they may be in violation if they have modified it. But I may just have missed the link, and I'm not about to install their spyware fest on my box to see if it comes with source code or some such.)
The solution, unfortunately, would seem to be to add more restrictions to the licenses, similar to how the you-cannot-sell-this-software-for-more-than-the-c
Because at that point, once you can clearly show that the company pulling this crap is in violation of your license, you can start using the DMCA as your friend, and issuing takedown notices to their ISP. Do you think for a minute that C|Net would still have the files available for download if they'd been told that they are an illegal distribution of copyrighted material? Doubtful.
Well, DUH!! you cant just give away source code and not expect this to happen. This is what you open source people get!! /begin astroturfing
Internet accelerator
Bandwidth optimizer
Password manager (Gator, the industry standard)
HotBar
and many other goodies you would have never got off some open source site.
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.
If you have to ask, you'll never know.
These programs are the #1 problem I encounter when I get the oh so common call from friends and family about how their PC just keeps popping up ads and is running really slow.
/. I am sure a great deal of you know my pain.
Damn them all to hell!
This being
The preceding message was based on actual events. Only the names, locations and events have been changed.
Ever since download.com went from a free listing of free/shareware to a pay for listing service they've gotten far less scrupleless. They realy dont seem to care what they host so long as they get paid.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
How can you steal something that is free? I admit that I have yet to read the links. Off to do that now but that line in the story above sure seems incorrect to me.
Slashdot, home of supporters of free software, free music, and free speech.Except for Moderators that disagree with you.
The solution, unfortunately, would seem to be to add more restrictions to the licenses, similar to how the you-cannot-sell-this-software-for-more-than-the-co st-of-copying-and-the-media clause works.
What clause? Gnucleus, Shareaza, and eMule are licensed under the GNU General Public License. This license lets a redistributor sell copies or digital deliveries of a covered program provided that the source code is either included or available at cost.
Those user opinions have got to be fake. " "I like it :)"
No spyware is bundled with it, and it is a fairly reliable software package. This must be the best Thing in the world. Now my life is excelent!"
""Great Program No Ads!"
Fast, easy to use, plenty to choose from My roommate and I both use this program and we think it's stupendous! This program is excellent."
Give me a break. They could have at least made it a little less obvious.
The Television Wiki
By rereleasing the software with spyware included, they have modified the software. Certain linux distributions contain proprietary software, but linux = the kernel. linux does not equal the distribution.
gnucleus, gtk-gnutella, etc are covered by the GPL. So modifying the program itself means they MUST release the source code at no additional charge.
They aren't actually doing anything wrong by charging a price for this software either. Technically, they could justify it for their "enhancements" to the software such as spyware and adware.
Mod points are pointless when you browse at -1.
I use a combination of eMule, BitTorrent, and DC++. eMule is great for small files like MP3s and files that have been out for a long time (and therefore BT won't have many peers). BitTorrent is great, naturally, for big stuff that's popular. DC++, I just use for use with friends on my private registered-users-only hub.
Some might call this 'astroturf', but I reckon that even blind freddy could see that this grass is brown!
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
"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."
Oh, so When you steal something from a record label, it's copyright infringement, but when you steal GPL software, it's actually theft?
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.
Or, use the service which is free, and has been for a while:
SnapFiles
NeoThermic
Use my link above, or to view my server, NeoThermic.com
"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?"
Doesn't the original KaZaA client have it's own spyware? I don't see a reason to cry over someone robbing a company of spyware revenue in favor of their own spyware revenue. Now, if someone robs the client to remove the spyware altogether (like KaZaA Lite supposedly did), I'm all for that.
Marketing a product that secretly does something other than what the seller acknowledges seems to me to be equivalent to fraud.
Before the F/OSS community gets all hot and bothered about changing licensing language (ignoring how they might enforce any language) maybe the best course is to go after spyware using the fraud laws.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
If a user is too lazy to type the name of their software into google before they download it, that's their loss.
-Amalcon
It can't have spyware; it's site says it doesn't.
"It is totally free from spyware, adware and other similar stuff."
"And the best thing about this program is that it has been thoroughly checked and built so it is free from spyware , adware , pop up ads etc."
See?!
I'll give it a shot...
Back in days of yore, Kazaa was given away for free for people to download to connect to the fast track netword. Then someone came along and modded the program, and created kazaa-lite. This gave users many added benefits, and made getting files easier. But, the changes were freely available, and then a company took those changes, renamed them, "gave" them away on a website that required your email address, and they bundled a ton of spyware crap in (not that the regular Kazaa didn't already start out with enough of that as it was.
If you want to see the evil that is Kazaa Gold, it still exists, and can be found here... just don't download it =) forms of Kazaa Lite can still be found if anyone must use the Fast Track network... =) hope this helped.
WANNAWIKI Wannawiki WannaWiki WANNAWIKI!
giftcurs and Apollon are both quite good, both based on the gift daemon which has plugins for gnutella/openft/fasttrack/soulseek
http://www.nongnu.org/giftcurs/
http://apollon.sourceforge.net/files.html/
Look at the user comments at download.com. The newest comments are shown first, which are users warning about the GPL theft and bundled spyware. Then there's a LOT of REALLY HAPPY users.
... and so on.
;)
Three different users actually say "This must be the best Thing in the world. Now my life is excelent!"
"This is a great program, works well and easy My roommate and I both use this program and we think it's stupendous! Would recommend this to anyone"
"I'm using only best well-tested soft, and here it is."
"The speed is shocking"
"It id very-very-very and one million more times very NICE stuff i ever had"
The entire happy part of the user base seem to apply bad punctuation and similar spalling erors
"Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay to live in the land of the free." -- Montgomery Burns.
Selling NOAA data for $100 a year
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
"So, whats your point? Are you saying you disklike people re-branding your software and selling copies of it? If so, might I suggest you do not release it under the GPL." To clarify, I don't mind people re-branding and selling our software. One Linux distributor did this for a while, and I didn't object (although I did point out some practical problems with it, and they later stopped re-branding their version of Audacity). I know that the vendors are not stealing the software, and that I have given them full permission to modify and sell it. However, I think that these particular vendors are being unethical and deliberately deceptive in a way that is harmful to their customers. I wanted to point out the problems they cause, but I recognize that these some of these problems are unavoidable with free licensing. I'm interested in finding ways to prevent some of the harm while preserving the freedom of the software. One answer may be eBay's Brand Name Misuse Policy, which requires sellers not to use a different brand name than the product's manufacturer.
We can sit here and laugh at people who downloaded this stupid, stupid program. Heck, if one of us did it I think we would all laugh and laugh.
But this sad problem is the same problem that every new computer user has. No matter if you use Windows or Linux or Mac or / all new users have a tough time learning which program they need to accomplish a specific task. Hell, I spend more time telling people what program to use, more than actually fixing something.
Do you family and friends a favor. Since we all know the OSS versions of these programs, why not just post a list of what you use in your daily life so they can just look it up? Seems the easiest way to prevent non-computer people from getting screwed is for geeks to post their program list. Now that OSS has come around, I'm sure more of us can actually do that!
Mind you, when somebody can't even look for the site probably deserves to be scammed.
Am I the only one who sees the irony in shit statement, "...has been subject to a similar type of theft by a company going by the name RockSoft Development"?
Sorry, but I find the 'theft' of GPL code of P2P software ironic.
Flame away.
Macintosh humor! MacComedy.com
It mispronounces giga as in gigabyte. Although most people say it as a hard "G", it is pronounced (correctly) with a "J" sound. Derived from the greek word gigantikos. Example: Pronounce: gigantic, giant Same root word.
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.
No sig, sorry.
Everyone's favorite torrent site suprnova.org has two knockoffs - suprnova.com and suprnova.net (both seem to be the same ripoff site) that want you to sign up with an email address before using them, past which who knows? I'm not gonna check.
Maybe they have spyware laden versions of the BitTorrent client and who knows if they just steal listings from suprnova.org or link there directly...
a friend of mine told me that he paid for a subscription to Kazaa Lite network. I tried to tell him that Kazaa Lite was no longer being made, and never had a subscription model, but he didn't listen. Besides, I told him, it is based on Kazaa without the spyware/adware, and thus illegal. I am not sure what exactly he got, but it is some Kazaa named P2P program that you apparently pay a monthly fee for.
P2P file sharing is full of such scams, because people are gullable. Apparently file sharing, to them, is illegal, unless you pay a monthly fee for access to the files, and then it is legal? Internet Pirates with a business plan, who'dathunkit?
Once he wises up, I'll have to uninstall the malware from his system for him.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Hahahahaha
That is all.