GTA: San Andreas Leaked

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Posted by michael on Thursday October 21, 2004 @12:47AM from the abbie-hoffman dept.

Anonymous Coward cuts-and-pastes: "Less than a week after a pirated version of Halo 2 began appearing on the Web, another of the year's most sought after games has been stolen. Ironically, it also happens to be a game titled after a larcenous act itself. That's right. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has become the latest victim of piracy, with illegal copies of the game, its manual, and its cover appearing on various Web sites." Update: 10/21 13:54 GMT by Z : Rockstar adds some details to what we know about the crime in a press release covered by CVG.

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Ms. Pacman by 2.7182 · 2004-10-21 00:49 · Score: 3, Interesting

Interesting. I recall that one of the first "Leaked" games was a version of Ms. Pacman for the commodore 64. I think I was in HS, so that would be about 1984.
1. Re:Ms. Pacman by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-21 00:57 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  But sometimes it moved like the wind.
  
  I used to love cracking BBC Micro games. I remember when FRAK! was released, it had some rather good (for the time) copy protection. It took me hours to crack, but eventually lady luck smiled on me and it was cracked.
  
  I gave a copy to a friend of mine on the Monday.
  
  On the Friday I went to see some old chums from Uni. about 150 miles away. Guess what? They had my cracked version!
  
  And during the course of the year, every single copy of this game I cam across was my cracked version.
  
  I later went on to develop and sell some of my own copy protection and had great fun hearing people bitch and moan about how they couldn;t crack it. Blew their mind when I told them I was the author.
  
  Fun days.
Garcia Marquez's last book by rguiu · 2004-10-21 00:50 · Score: 5, Interesting

This is a another example, as the bbc explain in the article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3745484.stm

But what Garcia Maruez did finally is he modified the final chapter of the book so the book in the street does not have the same ending than the published book. Quick reaction and probably a very good publicity campaign for boths, the pirate version and the published version
Re:It's like a free ride when you've already paid. by sorrowfloats · 2004-10-21 00:59 · Score: 5, Interesting

Then came this warning from the company: "We take the theft of our intellectual property very seriously and we are and will continue to diligently and aggressively pursue this matter."

Anyone wanna let Microsoft know that someone has substantively ripped off the text of their Halo 2-leak threat? "Microsoft takes the integrity of its intellectual property extremely seriously, and we are aggressively pursuing the source of this illegal act." http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/10/14/news_61105 39.html/
Re:What Next? by YOU+LIKEWISE+FAIL+IT · 2004-10-21 01:07 · Score: 3, Interesting

We hate licensing and the such, but how far away are we from USB dongles?
Not a good idea. USB devices can be easily emulated in software ( c.f. various "virtual cdrom" drives that appear as being on the USB bus ), and there is a well developed and sophisticated toolchain on nearly all platforms of note for debugging and analysing USB information flow.

Unfortunately, there is precious little other in the way of standardised ports to plug into. Some machines are even shipping without Parallel ports now, if the word I'm hearing is correct, which is a bit troublesome if you're trying, for example, to run Compumedics Profusion 2 which uses a parallel dongle.
YLFI

--
One god, one market, one truth, one consumer.
This Begs A Half-Life 2 Question by BRock97 · 2004-10-21 01:10 · Score: 5, Interesting

Prepare for a "If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around" question...

So, hypothetically, if Half-Life 2 were to be pirated, I download the game, and I already have it paid for via Steam, is it illegal?

--

Bryan R.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, or $12.50 as seen on eBay.....
Re:What Next? by jxyama · 2004-10-21 01:29 · Score: 3, Interesting

what does that have to do with anything? just because they are going to sell a lot of copies makes it ok that their intellectual property distribution rights were violated? if someone's rich, does it make it actually okay to steal from him/her, instead of, perhaps, less morrally wrong?
Re:It's like a free ride when you've already paid. by JaredOfEuropa · 2004-10-21 02:06 · Score: 4, Interesting

Presenting an argument as if it were ridiculous, as a way of countering it, is a fallacy. So let's be explicit: what is your specific logical response to this argument?
OK, I'll bite.

Copying this game isn't stealing in the usual sense of the word, like taking a physical asset from the owner. But you are potentially still causing them damage. Perhaps you would not have bought the game... but you're happy to share the copy of this game with your friends, and your friends' friends, some of which might be potential customers. Suppose everyone obtained their copy from a friend instead of buying it... even though no-one actually stole anything from Rockstar, they'd get no revenue from a product they probably spent several million on to develop. Many people counter this argument with a rationalisation "Oh, I would not have bought this game anyway, it's all the others causing the damage". Well, I can certainly believe that you wouldn't buy the game for $50 when you can get it for free... which is why you are still causing damage to the company by passing the copy onwards to others, thereby convincing them not to pay money for a legit copy.

Copyright is a rather artificial construct. Why would we allow publishers control over their work, if that work could be made to benefit the whole world without any additional cost to the publisher? Answer: because it still takes money to create the work, and publishers should be able to make a profit on it. Only a communist would demand that publishers and artists work for nothing... and that is what you are demanding when you state that it is OK to copy software. That, or you think that others should pay for the content you enjoy for free...

Of course there are reasons why copying actually helps rather than hurts: people can have a free preview, it's like free advertising for the publisher, etc. etc. But if you copy something and continue to use it, I have no problems calling you a thief of the artist and of those who paid for their legitimate copy.

--
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
And that should stop them? by SeanDuggan · 2004-10-21 02:28 · Score: 3, Interesting

The explanation is quite straight forward. It's lawyer-speak, and you can expect to see it standardised. Not always quite this similar, but it is no coincidence (or theft of MS' threats).
*snort* Yeah, and various software algorithms are standardised and the most obvious and simple answer to a question. It doesn't keep corporations from copywriting those. Free speech is becoming less free-like-beer these days.

--
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
Re:Clarification by zurab · 2004-10-21 05:45 · Score: 4, Interesting

You are denying them the profit they have a right to.

Great - another corporations-have-a-right-to-profit thinker. Corporations don't have a right to profit; they have a right to do business but whether they make profit depends on how they do it - it's not their guaranteed right that they will! They don't have a right to any sales revenue either if people decide not to buy their products.

This whole theft/copyright infringment argument is tiring, because the end result is that people are breaking the law.

So are the corporations. Who makes non-compete agreements? Enforces illegal trade restrictions? Lies with creative accounting practices to avoid paying equal share of taxes? Is a member of a cartel, and engages in price-fixing taking customers' money by illegal means?

How many times have those corporations' actions been discussed in the news recently compared to the mp3 music "thieves" and "pirates?" How many times has Congress proposed any legislation recently to combat the situation compared to what they have proposed and enacted to combat the "pirates?"

Gimme a break - next thing you'll tell me is that corporations have a right to break the law. Because we already know they have a right to bribe the Congress to enact new ones, making common sense illegal.

Theft is not the wrong word to use, it's just that the definition of the word is dated.

OK, maybe "theft" is the right word to use. After all, corporations in the entertainment industry alone have stolen 100s of millions if not billions in U.S. dollars over time from consumers using illegal means.

Look, I am no "piracy shop" supporter, and I don't know much about the Rockstar and its products or how all this applies in this case, but, for a general statement that you are making, having a one-sided view as if corporations' "rights" to profit are being violated is very ignorant of the whole situation.