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Bringing Down A Copycat Site
Nigel Cross wrote in with an interesting story from the world of software fraud. Cross writes "I found a copycat site fraudulently selling my own software and kept a record of the steps it took to bring him down."
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Step one: Find out name of evil twin from mother.
From article:
:-P
> Dec. 24, 2005: I received an e-mail from
Now, how did you know that?
Connection closed by foreign host.
Dec. 24, 2005: I received an e-mail from a former colleague...
Talk about the mysterious future!
"Come on, let's go drink till we can't feel feelings anymore."
from the link:
Dec. 24, 2005: I received an e-mail...
holy shit! he lives in the future!
check the validity of this guy's claims? He's getting free advertising from Slashdot now, and it'd be funny as hell if this Nigel Cross character was full of shit (like slashdot itself).
That's the solution to everything: /. it!
Think about it... Just post a link to that site saying that it's a fake, and just watch as it takes a slashdotting.
Now THAT'S how a nerd kicks some butt!
I'm glad there is now only 1 site selling easybulkmail...since I receive enough spam already.
He should've been allowed to sell your software because you should've BSD'd it.
I know that a lot of people are going to compare this with suprnova/etc to support their stance on copyright law. Rather than take a side right now I would just like to point out that this is not just simple copyright violation. The site in question was also committing fraud and trademark violation, both of which are separate issues in addition to the copyright violation.
All this Windows and proprietary crap is getting annoying. Give me a slashdot which cares about open source.
Still too chicken to sue I see...
Doesn't anyone get the feeling that MaillistKing is used by spammers? Thats why it was on a site advertising other spam software and email lists with 1mil names... and thats why the guy was hosting in Pakistan and probably knew the spam business well. Probably why he had such blatant disregard for the law and any acted like a prick?
I don't know if I want to feel sorry for a guy that sells and develops spam software. I guess there are legitimate uses for Mailing Lists, but just because there are a few people using it legitimitely (sp?)... doesn't mean it's not used to increase spam.
Other than that, this is nothing new. Have a problem, contact the ISP... wow... what a revelation.
Awesome! Great work on taking the copycat's site down. There are way too many punks on the internet these days that will stoop to massive lows just to make a buck or two, it's pure garbage. I have many ideas always in the mix and I dare tell a couple people about them before the official release date - I've been ripped off by people before like this.
sadly, you know as well as I, it won't be long before your copycat starts up on a new hosting server and does the exact thing again.
Valkyrie is about to die! Wizard needs food -- badly!
Seems that he just bugged the guy until he stopped after he realised the ISP's weren't interested.
MailList King... Sounds like the sort of software used to bulk mail the crap that blocks up my email every morning.
In which case I'd have no sympathy.
[)amien
To bad the hosting provider didn't take his complaint seriously. This guy can just pick the next company and start all over again.
Isn't "Mail List King" the sort of software used by SPAMers to send out their lovely gifts that we all enjoy receiving?
This doesn't make Mohammed right in any sense, but IF (and apologies if I misunderstand) Nigel is tied to the wonderous world of SPAM, it seems a little hypocritical to be high and mighty about taking somebody down this way....
with 100% success! This has bullshit written all over it. I'd bet Xequte's "Mailling List" software is just spamware and now it's getting free advertisement from slashdot.
I've heard here that people trying to protect their IP should just give up on their quaint old ways of doing business.
So, was he from India or Italy? If he was from India, you probably could have called the local police department and sent them $5 bucks. They would have killed the guy. They are incredibly currupt. I hear people over there sell their kids if the price is right. If he was in Italy, you could have filled a complaint with Interpol. They might have been a little more civilized with the crook, but he would have been forced to remove your works.
Did you know his buisness address? You could have used the Kyzinski solution...
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
http://216.239.63.104/search?q=cache:Fuwwkr0yD5gJ: www.e-buyonline.com/
Google cache
Link to it on Slashdot!
Tim Dorr
Owner/Manger
A Small Orange
He failed to call it GNU/MailList.
The old copy cat site
Bravo to Nigel Cross. He just used slashdot to promote his mail spamming software.
Has anyone ever seen this fake site?
Why hide any of the domains if the site was shut down already? I would want to know what sites are selling fake shit.
Do guys from Italy really talk like teens on aim?
Things like this are exactly what the bedrock of the whole spam industry is composed of (There are thousands of these people out there, and they all know they can get away with it). Until a passive attitude on the problem is absolved, the internet, or computer digital storage in general, will never reach the tried and tested security of paper and pen. But then again there is genocide and unjust wars happening as we squabble about these things
Good luck buddy.
- chainsaws are used by serial killers?
- binoculars are used by stalkers?
- cars are used for drive-by shootings?
The fact that some products can be used for illegal purposes doesn't make producing the products wrong.
Every website wich collects e-mail adresses (so that's pretty much *every* website) has need for a tool to maintain their mailing list.
Talk about a shameless promotion. An instant steady stream of a few hundred thousand visitors to the company's site. Nice concealed advertising scam. I bet there wasn't even a www.****online.com selling your stuff.
"The site in question was also committing fraud and trademark violation, both of which are separate issues in addition to the copyright violation."
Here's to hoping he gets 15 years.
http://www.e-buyonline.com/mk.php
thats a nice and secure server if i must say myself. in one of the emails, he was specifically referring to being part of the esellerate affiliate program - if so, he should e using the esellerate e-commerce engine.. this guy smells danger everywhere, anyone who purchases software from this guy probably gets their credit card number stolen in addition to getting their email address added to the spamming lists (that he also sells)..
fun!
Properly linked this time
I'm thinking Nigel hasn't won yet.
http://www.e-buyonline.com/
Defecation occurs.
the link sends you to a COPY SCAT site.. you really don't want to go there.. save your retinas. i don't know enough about google cache, but it sure ain't what i expected to see considering the other comments. it ain't safe work and not safe for your breakfast either.
regards.
I doubt very much, he is scared of the Xequte coming after him. Hopefully the US will declare war on pakistan... that would solve things. I suggest the writer lobby for that. That is the only thing that will stop this. ...start by visiting whitehouse.com to research uh "lobbying" practices
He didn't write those. Take a look at his site. Only MailListKing belongs to him. All the other software was only advertised on the fake fraudulent site. Jees... lay off the poor guy and rtfws...
... the first page. If you click any of the 'products', you'll get links the emaillist 100k and the others. Firewall does look very familiar...
The screenshot in the picture is of the fraudulent website. The developer who wrote the article owns MailListKing (a mailing list management program). He is not associated with the other programs. Please try to pay at least a modicum of attention before complaining.
Even if you don't agree with the aims of the software he sells, you should agree that others shouldn't steal and resell his software.
--jeff++
ipv6 is my vpn
It looks like his pirater just changed the name and icon of the software. www.ebuy-online.com now has a program called Maillist Pro with a different icon but the exact same key features (minus extraneous whitespace) and a description that only differs in that the word King doesn't appear.
Check it out:
http://www.e-buyonline.com/maillist.php
Totally dude. I mean, I can't believe Majordomo and Mailman are still being peddled. They should be the subject of much vitriol.
i mean his product is called "maillist king", right?
/didn't rtfa
well, sign the copycat loser up to every known source of spam in the universe, as befitting the skills of someone whose product is called "maillist king"
and then watch the copycat's server melt
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
http://www.e-buyonline.com/maillist.php
Looks like he wasn't too successful, his "bulk mail" software is still being sold on that site...
"sadly, you know as well as I, it won't be long before your copycat starts up on a new hosting server and does the exact thing again."
And exactly why would that be so? Couldn't you all figure out a technologicaly permanent solution to the problem? How about a legal one? Surely those will work? Throw money at it? Works well for the big guys, right? Vigilantism solves many problems...permanently. Surely there's some way.
Thats easy:
a: If skin colour is white goto home-free
b: Jail
c: goto b
home-free: Laugh
Doing a whois on e-buyonline.com gives us simply_hippy@hotmail.com, which gives us http://members.msn.com/simply_hippy@hotmail.com
Enough said, and don't do anything illegal with that info I just mentioned.
The copycat site has better layout,
/.ing would boost sales ;)
I think Xequte is losing customers due to bad layout. So the thought a
"503 Service Unavailable
The service is not available. Please try again later."
Who says Slashdot doesn't have a sense of humour?
You should NOT have stopped at the pulling of your gear.
Send all the emails to the admin at the host.
Do not give this bastard an even break. He obviously will not give others a break.
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
I'm curious, he sent some mails and ended up with a smartass reply from the copycat who promised to remove the software.
...
A few days later the software is up on the site again
How is that "Bringing down a copycat site" ????
Wheres the screenshots of a hacked and defaced Copycat website?
Wheres the sentence from the judge putting Mr Copycat behind bars?
Wheres the info about the other 5 sites that went down at the same time?
Nobody has brought down anything yet, except maybe some laughter that can be heard all the way from Pakistan.
Im sorry to say, but doesnt his software "maillist.king" sound like a spamming software?
Bullshit or not he is getting a free ad and I'd bet that that fact did not go unnoticed by him before he decided to post it. A pretty damm good free ad to if you consider the hits/clickthroughs I'm sure it will get. There's gotta be a least a few people who still RTFA.
MailList King is a piece of mailing list software, you know, the kind where you can set up a mailing list for discussion, or use it to send information to your customers. He explains it clearly on his site! Sure, you can probably use it for spam, but that's not the author's fault is it? If MailList King is spamming software, then GNU Mailman from GNU.ORG is too. Can you all see how ridiculous all this spam talk sounds?
If you people had actually bothered to visit the page and read the text, you would have known that the screenshot is of the scammer's site. Yes, those bulk e-mail programs, e-mail addresses for sale, and so on, are all completely unrelated to the author of MailList King software, apart from his program and the content of his site being ripped off by a spammer/scammer (it seems that the scammer has just renamed the software, but he still has the text from the actuall MailList King page on his site).
As far as I can tell, all the evidence so far clearly shows that the MailList King author is not a spammer or involved in such activities. Until someone posts evidence to the contrary, I suggest that you all stop shouting about spammers when the only spammer here is the guy who ripped off Xecute's software. Seriously, people.
One thing I'm disappointed about, though, is that he didn't follow up on this. The site clearly belongs to a spammer, and he rips off other people's sites and software, making money from spamming and scamming. As mentioned above, he simply renamed the mailing list software, but the product page on the scammer's site still shows text taken directly from the original page.
I would have hoped that this spammer/scammer could have been nailed down and kicked off the 'net. Perhaps someone else can pick it up from here and track down the scammer to put an end to his online adventure?
Clever signature text goes here.
I can't say I feel too sorry about a bunch of Pakistani punks giving the developer of spammer software a hard time. Yes, that software may have legitimate uses, and it's never the gun that kills people but rather the people using them. But on the whole the damage done through the abuse outweighs the benefits by far, and so I can't squeeze too much sympathy out of myself on this cool December morning.
However, I do wonder: how would you proceed if you tried to make a living (or just a few bucks) through software you write upon finding that someome else is selling it? You can never stop piracy, that much is for sure, but don't the emails that were shown on the website (assuming they are legit) make you feel a bit helpless? Just shrug it off since there is little the Pakistani hoster is going to do against the wishes of his paying customer?
Anyway, This comment says it all, really. This guy is not just a copycat, but a scammer and a spammer. He should have been taken down completely!
Anyone up for the task?
Clever signature text goes here.
When I read the article write-up, I just assumed I was in for some great tale of some peice of scum getting fscked. This was as mundane as going to see a batman movie and batman handles the final foe by calling his mom names.
"A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes." -Mahatma Gandhi
Or are you saying that the Free Software Foundation thrives on spam?
Can't you see how silly your own comments sound? I hate spam as much as anyone else. I have flamed people on Slashdot who defend spammers on numerous occasions! But your comments are just completely ridiculous.
Yes, so that must mean that anyone who creates mailing list software is a spammer or promotes spam, right? Even the Free Software Foundation!Sigh. I am at a loss for words here. How can I explain to you how silly you sound? I can't, and I'm having problems not flaming you like I would flame people who defend spam.
Clever signature text goes here.
RTFA. The copycat only copied Maillist King which is a mailing list management package not a mass mailer. He abused the images for other software by applying them to spam tools. The rest was not software or any other tools from the original site. So the copycat is the one with the spamsoftware.
This guy is producing software for bulk emailing and he expects sympathy here.
Someone mod the parent up! It's almost the only comment worth reading in this mess.
----- Wtcher Dragon, UDIC
And yet, slashdotters are routinely up in arms about fines being handed out to copyright infringers. We may all agree or disagree whether the amount of the fines is excessive or insufficient or whatever, but remember that the goal of such fines is to discourage illegal activity (and to repay the not insignificant cost of discovering and prosecuting the maldoers).
I'm happy for this guy who got somebody to stop selling his stuff, even though a prima facie the stuff looks like scummy spam-sending software. Alas, the guy who did it is not punished - he's still on the loose and will probably just do it again.
...are harping on this because it could be used as a spam product. Even if it is being used for spam, this is a program which is being fradulantly ripped off. How would you feel if you spent a lot of time working on a program and someone stole it from you? Sure, everyone hates spam, but this isn't the point. The issue isn't what the program does, but the fact that it's being stolen from the person who conceived it.
Gr@ve_Rose
!ekoj on si aixelsyD
Dispite the questionable nature of the software involved, I can't help but feel I've just read some kind of war novel with a happy ending...
Honestly people, read about the software before you call it spamware.
Leaving aside the question of whether or not MK itself is a spamtool, was it really smart to post the steps that led to resolution? Nothing really forced this person to stop his actions; it was just threats with no guaranteed teeth, as the posting now explains to him. So why wouldn't he now just put the site back up, knowing that the threat was potentially empty?
Maybe the Pak site would have objected to his forged email, but maybe they don't care a bit - the article certainly makes it sound like Nigel was about to give up in frustration. Now the copycat site knows that..
-- Tony Lawrence
It's obviously a software product catering to spammers. So het gets burned and ripped off - who'd 'a' thought this may happen!
Give me a break, this guy deserves the hassles and then some for supplying spammer tools.
Registrant Contact:
mksoft
big boss (simply_hippy@hotmail.com)
0
Fax:
n/a
n/a, 54800
AE
!ekoj on si aixelsyD
A similar story has been reported on Slashdot earlier. That guy's website was affected, not his software.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
in this story:
"bring him down."
^ usually in this sort of thing they talk of
`ways to defend oneself` and `defending your business`
so it's a bit over sensational don't you think
A blog I run for the wealth
Nigel, you haven't won yet.
First you need to consider that this asswipe might just start selling your software under another name or from some other URL. You need to continue to protect yourself.
Second you need to consider that he is still out there doing this to someone else. It looks like he's selling other software still and I don't think it's too big of a leap to assume that he stole that as well. You need to continue in order to protect your community.
Third you need to consider that revenge is sweet. Think of the taste of the finest honey, only sweeter. Are you tasting that yet?
Go forth and kick some ass....in the cause of the greater good.
But mostly go kick his ass for the revenge. That's what it's all about. I would guess you're about half way there.
.
. Quit playing Monopoly with Bill. Switch to one of many non-Microsoft products today.
Why would small time spammers pay for mailing list software, when they can get it for free from the Free Software Foundation?
This guy has one piece of mailing list software, in addition to several other software packages that have got nothing to do with spam. He probably wrote the mailing list software to use it for his own customers at first, and then figured that he might as well sell it to others too.
Most companies today use mailing lists to send out newsletters to customers. It's completely legitimate. When the MailList King product page even talks about "double opt-in confirmations", then that should tell you something.
Stop it now, OK? Just stop it.
Clever signature text goes here.
This would be a great time to get the entire site offline. Wouldn't it be cool if you went to the police and got this scamming spammer arrested or something?
Clever signature text goes here.
if this scammers site suddenly got knocked off the face of the internet by thousands of large UDP packets?
"It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
this is front page slashdot material? I've had email arguments that were better executed and more entertaining.
The Pakistani guy (if it is really him) is a carder.
- He bought a domain name with the CC of an Italian
- He bought the software of Nigel with the CC of an British (was it?)
- When found out, he asks Nigel for more CCs
- He sells Nigel software requesting CCs from potential customers. He will send them a working code so the customers won't feel something is fishy.
- However, I am about sure that those CCs will be recycled/resold/cashed in somewhere else.... And when a customer from the Pakistani (maybe) guy is finding that he is being stolen money on his CC, he will accuse Nigel right away (as the "official" developer of the product)
So Nigel I think you have to go and talk to the police or FBI or you will be in BIG trouble soon...
Forward a pointer to the bogus site to Microsoft's legal department. Notice the name? Notice the font used? Doesn't it look like it's designed to resemble Microsoft's logo? This is precisely the type of thing Microsoft Legal prosecutes with a vengeance.
Hey, just because you hate Microsoft doesn't mean you can't use them to your advantage occasionally...
Mailing lists are widely used by open source projects, like GNOME and KDE. Apparently almost nobody at Slashdot has ever heard of mailing lists. This just proofs Slashdot has become an anti-Linux site.
According to you, the Free Software Foundation develops spammer software.
Also, how do you explain the fact that most companies with an online presence seem to offer people to sign up for newsletters or mailing lists for news on their products? They all use mailing list software.
And why on earth would a spammer develop mainly software completely unrelated to spam, and then a single piece of software which could be abused by spammers?
By your logic, anyone who develops something which can be abused deserve to be ripped off. I find that to be a rather stupid and ignorant attitude, to be honest.
Also read my longer comment on the stupidity in accusing him of being a spammer or having anything to do with spam.
Clever signature text goes here.
I read stories of copied websites everyday, and usually they are a damn sight more interesting. Why is this on Slashdot? The only thing remotely remarkable about this whole story, is that the software maker did not start civil and instigate criminal procedures. For all he knows, people are still selling his software. And we all know what great customer service criminals give, and how well that will reflect on his name.
What a pleasant, middle-class, all-white, US suburb you obviously grew up in and still live in, where policemen don't beat people just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Well goto here and all he did was change th icons and the names a little. Match the previous link with the one in the article.
This SIG pulled due to lack of funding. (This damn war is costing too much!)
Its a place where millions of geeks write total crap based on a 3 line summary because they cant be bothered to RTFA/RTFWS...
I'm moving back to kuro5hin
http://www.paknet.com.pk/
Funny, I would have thought if mikerowesoft got invited to appear in court by MS' lawyers even when lots of people disapproved, that MS' lawyers would have jumped at the chance to take a bad guy down for MKSOFT in very familar font(so this time playing the good guys)!!
I just called the host http://www.e-buyonline.com/ and had a 7 minute no result discussion after which he asked me to email their US office which i just did. :)
I told him that this site is earning negative publicity to his host and may even lead to shutting down of his host if someone complains to Verio (from where he is getting his dedicated servers), but he was not ready to close down one of his clients and he didnt even know about slashdot
DDoS the hell out of him!
Within minutes I received the following:
okey I had remove the logo and the software completely.
And with that single line I had won. I checked his site and all references to our software were gone.
Boy that really showed him! I'm sorry but I don't think emailing someone and asking them to remove the software "otherwise you will complain to the hosting company" quite constitutes the phrase "steps it took to bring him down". I was hoping for a story of how you chartered a private bounty hunting squad of ex-navy SEALs and pursued him through the jungle while your software was tied to a site under threat of being sold - hell it would have been nice if he'd been sued for $50 but asking him to remove it? Come on - more like "steps it took to send an email asking him to remove it" may be more appropriate!
Make the bastards suffer!
One google for the guy's e-mail address later and we find an address and phone number (and another link where he's selling porno CDs). What a nice person he is. . . . .
l ph a=A&parentID=21&tracker=1
http://www.morocco.com/business/trade.php?listA
address: hafees center j9b lhr
telephone: 0092-333-4265586
url: http://carpetswithhand.com
email: simply_hippy@hotmail.com
For those interested, yes, Xequte is the real developer. I went to the websites that gave the awards (which both the real and fake pages have the logos for). I had to Google for some of them.
WebAttack.com
TopShareware
Shareware River
The File Transit
Those four pages link to Xequte's website, not the fake one..
i was going to email the scammer and ask him to be my gay love partner 1000 times. but the contact link is a 404. aw :(
would i get in trouble for that?
Perhaps Nigel should contact Webroot (www.webroot.com) as they seem to be a) a much larger organization, b) also a victim with 2 copied products (Firewall Plus and SpySweeper). Maybe Webroot does have the means to do legal actions.
R.
Nigel: I don't know if the original story was dealing with "e-buyonline.com", as someone on slashdot already pointed out it appears they just changed the name of your software and altered your logo (if at all):
"http://www.e-buyonline.com/purchase.php"
Some interesting things I've noticed about the domain:
Name: e-buyonline.com [67.18.82.84]
Aliases: www.e-buyonline.com
root@argc:~> g 67.18.82.84 | m
[whois.geektools.com]
OrgName: ThePlanet.com Internet Services, Inc.
Address: 1333 North Stemmons Freeway
Address: Suite 110, Dallas, TX 75207
Phone: 214-782-7800, Fax: 214-782-7801
Inverse DNS: welcome.topakistan.com [67.18.82.84]
ToPakistan.com Registrant Contact:
Welcome.ToPakistan.com
Khalil Ahmad (khalil@paksys.com)
+92.427596659 , Fax: +92.427583039
6-L, 73 Business Center, Shadman
Lahore, PUNJAB 54000 PK
I take it that's where your pak***.net (and also paksys.com is the same company, maps to the same IP address and WHOIS registration data)
WHOIS Administrative Contact:
Ahmad, Khalil khalil@paksys.com
116 Salem Road, North Brunswick, NJ 08902
732-297-8908, Fax: 732-297-8906
They are a U.S. company. The phone number confirms they are paksys software, also a gander at their website shows the same address and phone number. Calling the New Jersey phone number reveals someone with a thick Arab accent announcing "you have reached paksys software..."
They are located INSIDE the U.S., telco exchange shows that prefix (732-297) to be in Franklin Park, NJ.
Their hosting website also shows the same information, their "U.S." address available for visits by appointment only (could be a residence)
https://www.pakhost.com/?sect=0&subsect=40
The State of New Jersey will sell you the company filing information for a nominal fee, it looks like PAK SYS SOFTWARE is listed, their file # is
ID: 0400053874, go to the State of NJ's Business Entity search at
https://accessnet.state.nj.us/GatewayWatchNameS
Start with filing a complaint with the New Jersey state attorney general, this could get you some type of response (though I noticed you're
in New Zealand.
http://www.state.nj.us/lps/
Consumer Complaint form:
http://www.state.nj.us/lps/ca/ocp/ocpform.htm
Franklin Park, NJ is in Somerset county, start at:
http://www.co.somerset.nj.us/
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
How can we aver convince MPAA and RIAA of the legitimate uses of BitTorrent if you start bashing a simple maillist creator at the drop of a hat.
We aint getting anywhere with that attitude...
I'm against the whole copycat website business and the guy selling the software seemed like a real jerk. But if you ask me that software really looked like spam software.
I downloaded the software just for kicks and there's an option that lets you mask you real name and e-mail. Gee all we need is mailing software that will automatically fake parts your header info.
e-Campaign
Note how e-buyonline has also ripped the menu from lmhsoft.com.
http://www.e-buyonline.com/mk.php/
No SSL - and the most dodgiest credit card processor webpage i've seen in a while :)
Free hits? Hah! The guy in Pakistan was selling the software directly from his site, with none of the profits going to the true author. Tell me how that's free advertising? Sounds like outright theft to me.
For info sales@e-buyonline.com
ever since the advent of the internet there has been IP theft, if you can not handle your IP being pirated then i suggest you either find another trade that does not include IP. [eg] carpentry, construction, truck driving, machinest, etc...etc...
or learn to live with it, sure you can fight it and with some sucess but i bet for every site taken down 3 more spring up...
for software go with OpenSource GPLed brand, you can not steal what is already free, and if you are stupid enough to pay money for what is free then thats your problem...
GNU/Linux
Anyone else notice that:
--he's selling Spy Sweeper for $6?
--his "news" says he just released version 3.6 of Spy Sweeper - when Webroot has only released version 3.5 (though that's what he actually offers).
--the MKSoft Spy Sweeper license is for lifetime, when Webroot sells for 1 yr.
Intersting... very interesting. Actually, I already sent an email to the Webroot folks about him... and linked this article here.
He didn't get damages or an injunction (or the equivalent in Pakistan). If we had better international and national laws for this kind of thing he would have been compensated by the crook for the time he put in dealing with this not to mention get an injunction against this behavior if the obviously immature crook decided to change his mind.
By your logic, anyone who develops something which can be abused deserve to be ripped off. I find that to be a rather stupid and ignorant attitude, to be honest.
No, I did not say they deserve to be ripped off. I just said that I do not feel much sympathy for that particular product being ripped off. It might not be good for my karma, but you have to allow me being an asshole just as much as you have to allow the MailList King people the free ad they got through that 'article'.
There is in mailman too... is that suppposed to be spam software?
Sometimes mailing lists need to be anonymous.
This happened to Tony Arts - only worse - his domain was ripped away from him, and then whoever done it started charging for his free[ware] software!! (and he codes some good stuff - I used to use a few in my winders days)
t m
:-(
The 'Official' Toni Arts page now:
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/index.h
and the unofficial 'ripped off' one:
http://www.toniarts.com/
If ever a site needs removing, it's that one
Seems like the ISP finally did suspend the fraudulous site!
Account Suspended Temporarily Due to AUP Violation
Please contact abuse@pakhost.com for any questions.
Thank you for your cooperation!
Best Regards,
PakHost.com
it works;)
Let me be the first to say that www.e-buyonline.com has just been suspended due to "AUP Violation" (whatever that means).
---------
Account Suspended Temporarily Due to AUP Violation
Please contact abuse@pakhost.com for any questions.
Thank you for your cooperation!
Best Regards,
PakHost.com
---------
I dunno if Nigel did it, or if the webhosting company suddenly just woke up and took action in cancelling the fucker's hosting account, but whatever it was, well done!
"If you people had actually bothered to visit the page and read the text"
/. your not supposed to RTFA let alone investigate, just throw some generic babble out there and get +5 Interesting
Sorry, this is
I have worse karma than M$.
Franklin Park has a very large pakistani/indian community btw, so this is probably a very good lead
pakhost has taken the site down now
if they put spyware in this guys product too
Account Suspended Due to PakHost AUP Violation
... not just having the logos/software "removed."
Ok, that's a bit better. Now he's a little closer to "winning"
The "story" of how he got the copycat site down is clearly fiction, even ignoring the "2005" probable typo. Nigel could have easily set up *both* sites since either way he is getting money, then created this false story for some free publicity and some "positive" PR ("hey, I'm not a spammer, really!"). What you are buying into is nothing but a marketing campaign.
Mailing lists are widely used by open source projects, like GNOME and KDE. Apparently almost nobody at Slashdot has ever heard of mailing lists. This just proofs Slashdot has become an anti-Linux site.
It's "GNU/Linux". By not saying "GNU" you are discrediting the truly righteous and supporting terrorism.
The offending website seems to have bitten the dust. It's been replaced by an "account suspended" page showing all the email received or sent by the hosting providing regarding Nigel's complaint.
cp /dev/zero ~/signature.txt
one would be no better than.... I don't know.... SCO.
Someone was just compared to SCO. Next thread!
looks like they have brought down maillistking from their own site itself... strange fellow.
WTF is 10,00,000k ?
So that's what a "Gazillion" looks like... An email list that is a gazillion or above email addresses.
I only mod up parents of "mod parent up" posts...
Yeah, those 404s for the products he's flogging really add up in revenue production, don't they?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
why don't we just slashdot his site. Flood it with DOS and other miseries for him. That'll teach him.
If tool makers are always held responsible for the use of the tool then shut down the Steal Industry because Steal is used to make knifes.
This is a moral question, isn't it?
Can we know all of our clients and what they do with what they make? If we have to know everything about everyone before we sell our tools, then how are we ever to make a living?
The Internet is littered with copycat sites. I don't doubt that everything of any value at all has been copied. Look at even a simple site like:
Saugus.net's Computer Terms... and see how many times it's had its content copied without people even having the decency to give proper credit.
Googling on partial text of a few of the definitions will get you the copycats; there's no reason to advertise them here.
Do you believe he should die because he is a scumbag?
To me that seems like a diseased thought.
I hope your mind gets better.
Nessus Scan Report
...
SUMMARY
- Number of hosts which were alive during the test : 1
- Number of security holes found : 6
- Number of security warnings found : 4
- Number of security notes found : 11
he he he
Would you rather have someone illegally selling copies of your software, or trading illegal copies?
My question is which of the lesser evils would you prefer?
Idea for future releases. Add an autoupdate feature, this way you could have just killed all copies with the illegal regcode.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
The site is suspended.
-- http://www.MindBlowingPhotos.com
Photography inspired by music, nature and life itself.
He sent a few emails, a couple to the hosting provider, and the hosting provider sent a threatening email.
Woot.
Isn't that the way the system is supposed to work?
Do I post a story to Slashdot because Wal-Mart sold me a defective MP3 player and I took it back to Customer Service to get my money back? "Yeah, baby! I won! It was just me versus WAL-MART, and I crammed it in their faces and they backed down! Woo hoo! I'm the king of the world!"
And did he really expect Network Solutions to intervene? When they let people register domains like "kiddieporn.com," do you think they give a rip what people are doing on the internet?
The publicity will probably attract a patent infringement suit, at which point slashdotters will claim all software is mathematics.
What about the other software on the copy cat site? Are those software applications developed by others and illegal resold on this website? Did the author make any attempt to verify the origin of the other software? I know it isn't his responsibility to do so, but I think it would be helpful to other developers...
Why did I lurk so long before registering for a Slashdot account? I could have had a Slashdot ID of less than 100000.
Check out iBackups.net, they sell downloads (and for extra $ discs) of popular PC products. They've been around for years...
Does the software developer in question has authorization from NATALIE IMBRUGLIA to use her images for his software demonstration/advertising? I doubt it.
...if you're going to violate trademark and copyright laws, don't impersonate your ISP's administrators in the process thereof. Still, glad to see this creep offline.
I followed the links and found out the stolen site has a forum. It seemed a good idea to post a message containing the now official URL of Toni Arts's site and the fact the site was stolen. /.-ing might be fit....
I doubt if my post will stay on the forum for a long time, but a little
What person will donate an airborne act of love?
We end up suing infringers in federal court. We have taken down numerous infringing web sites. The only ones we can get down quickly are from China.
Uh, I think the parent was actually talking about the "free advertising" that Xequte (the true author) received by getting the story on the Slashdot frontpage.
The difference between MailList being used for spam and guns killing people is that guns are DESIGNED to kill. They have no other function. There is no stun setting. And very few choose to opt-in. =)
" well in that case doesn't the DMCA allow you to take the f*&$er down by whatever mean necessary"
When US law prevails in Pakistan, *many* problems can be solved.
...don't be such a Nazi.
I thought Roland Pissepaille's blog had been DDoS'ed.
If the software item was free - none of this would be a problem as no one would be stealing your profits from a copycat website - we would just call it a "mirror". /innocence-off
If it were done when 'tis done, then t'were well it were done quickly... MacBeth
Or know how to spell "you're," haha! YUO SUXORZ!!
Modern defensive weapons are not designed to kill, they are designed to incapacitate an aggressor as quickly and efficiently as possible. If weapons were "designed to kill" as you say, ammunition designs would not focus on maximum energy deposit, but would rather have poison, explosives, etc in them. If there existed a device that could incapacitate as effectively as a firearm, but do no permanent damage then I, as well as every police officer in the country, would prefer carrying it over a firearm.
In the hands of the just, firearms are not used to end life, but rather to preserve it.
Not quite. Just the opposite really. If lots of people go to Google and search to try to find the fraud site, they certainly might raise the rating of the site and bring it closer to the top of the Google search results. But if the link had been posted here, then Google would not be aware of the high traffic to the site and would not increase the site's rating. And the thought that the one entry here might increase the site's sanking can be dismissed too, he would have just had to post it in a munged form (replace . with [dot] for example), it would have still got a good slashdotting and likely extra traffic charges, but not increase in ranking at all.
Besides, if he really believes his problem is over and the crook isn't going to sell the stuff any more, no problem. Personally I think he was way too easy on the crook, and the crook will likely respond by putting the product back on the site in a day or two after it was taken down.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
My project TuxMobil: Linux with Laptops, Notebooks, PDAs, Mobile Phones and Portable Computers has been under the attack of content thieves some times. Therefore I have decided to sign all my pages with a steganographic watermark. Also I often watch out for stolen content using a special search engine, e.g. CopyScape. In case I detect a fraudulent site, I contact the FBI to Report Internet Fraud and the FTC's Consumer Complaints site (this applies only if the thief is located in the U.S.). And I complain to the thief's ISP.
Anyways, this gets me thinking, what happens if the copycat didn't back down and in fact claim he was the real author. (uh oh, did I just give him some ideas?) How would Nigel even prove he is the real author if he went to court?
Actually in this case, it might not be that bad since Nigel would have the source code. But what about open source projects? The copycat would have that as well. How would the real author prove him/herself?
As proven by the "Flamebait" moderation. If he had written GNU/Linux, he would have been modded up instead.
It is one thing to illegally sell someones software. But it is an other thing to no do anything when you are caught. Just take the information down and take your losses as part of running an illegal business. It is very stupid to assume that the product you are selling is from a small company who may not have the resources to sue them or do legal damage.
Many large companies have smaller companies with different names connected to them which allow them to make programs and see how well they do in the market without the risk of hurting the larger companies name if it is a flop.
You just annoy the small business person so much that they are willing to put their money in the law suit to get them.
The person you are dealing with may have less morals then you do and do illegal activities in retribution back.
The person my have no morals and send a hit man after you.
Pissing off people is usually a bad thing. Pissing off people when you are in the wrong is a really bad thing.
Pissing off people when you are in the wrong and there is money involved. Only trouble will ensue.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Well, no one can stop you from being an asshole. You seem very well qualified for the position.
>>
/. are so fond of telling songwriters to follow.
But dood, those whiney software people can make money by doing live performances of their code. That should be about as good a business plan as some of the mommy & daddy-supported little darlings here on
- Immediately(!) purchase the stolen software, using a Mastercard or Visa. The resulting download is evidence, and the purchase itself will be used later. Make every effort to identify who (URL, domain name, contact info, company name, etc.) is actually processing this credit card transaction (hint: it's usually not the kid in Pakistan).
- Notify the contact info of the domain of the infringement. Use a DMCA-compliant notification.
- Notify the next upstream ISP of that domain of same.
- Notify the domain's registrar. Some have TOS which forbid illegal activity.
- Is the bad guy still up? Then start notifying the credit card processor that they have participated in a sale of stolen goods. Use a letter that calmly documents the date of purchase, how you identified the download as a stolen copy of your software, etc.
- When your credit card bill arrives, follow the instructions on the back of the bill to contest that purchase. Inform the credit card company of everything that's happened, including dates and times and copies of correspondence
- Join the ASP. It's a chance to notify fellow software producers that their software is being ripped off along with yours (and increase the pressure on a particular pirate site). It's also a way of supporting an organization that works to support your right to make a living selling software.
The linchpin in this effort is credit card processing. I don't care if you live on a small island that you rule yourself, if you take Mastercard/Visa transactions, you rely on American companies and American law. These giant companies grant smaller companies the right to parcel out merchant accounts, and they can cause non-trivial financial pain for merchant accounts that generate too many complaints for them.The wheels of the law can take much time to grind to a conclusion, and not always in your favor. Visa/Mastercard can issue a $20,000 fine in a much shorter time, and they don't have to consult a jury.
In the Wild West of Internet fraud that involves money flow, Mastercard/Visa is judge, jury, and executioner. Most victims simply don't know enough to bring their case to them, or the amount of fraud would be dropping.
All you had to do was post links to the offender's site(s) here at slashdot, and we would have smoked his server(s) within minutes.
Just like www.scanmalta.com and www.scan.co.uk
scanmalta copied scan's website and logos completely...
except for the service.. and the fact you can't order online.
... I noted that the WHOIS record for e-buyonline.com uses, as admin contact email 'simply_hippy@hotmail.com', which, ISTR, is a violation of Hotmail TOS. And, of course, if the email account is pulled, then the domain registration is invalid and can be pulled, too. Rules and technicalities are such great things to have on your side. :-)
Why am I not surprised that the copied site was hosted at ThePlanet.com? Less than one month ato I found someone make an exact duplicate of my companies website and had to go through ThePlanet.com to remove the copy. ThePlanet operates what looks like dozens of authorized resellers. In my situation, we found someone copy our site and host it at one of these resellers. Figuring out the reseller was essentially operated by ThePlanet was not easy. The entire process was actually much less complicated than what the author makes you believe. ThePlanet has a page of instructions dedicated to these types of complaints. Follow the simple instructions, send a letter, and any problem with sites hosted at ThePlanet will be resolved. Another important part of these processes is to get in touch with a lawyer. It's amazing how quickly people respond to formal legal complaints.
well, the /. effect is too late. The site is already down. The site is already down, but for anybody curious, check out the gcached site (www.e-buyonline.com)
if you are the curious type, you'll notice that my search terms are still in the link. A helful hint for finding the site if you have the page staring you in the face... search for specific phrases on the website. Happy googling.
ta ta
There's no place like ~/
I must be new here. Is this the good kind of copyright violation, or the bad kind?
...or a master flamebaiter
Yeah, but how can you defend a guy that got burned by the same type of people that he caters his software for? He knew what he was getting himself into.
The guy sells mail list management software. He is nothing LIKE the people who burned him. He is no different than Brent Chapman (creator of MajorDomo) except for the fact that the latter made his product community supported, Free Software. What's next, are you gona slag Apache because is it by far the most popular HTTP server used by fraudulent websites?
This frauster "Mohammed" is the lowest form of slimeball life. He wasn't just another spammer or BitTorrent pirate:
* He not only pirated the software, he did it with the intention to resell the pirated copies for a profit.
* He misrepresented himself as the creator of the software.
* He had an online shopping site that accepted credit cards--given his behaviour he intended to use those card numbers fraudulently
* He attempted extortion (demanding money, credit card numbers, etc for removal of the fraudulent site)
The author of the article succeeded in getting the site taken down, but if he hasn't done so yet, I believe he has an obligation to report "Mohammed's" activities to the authorities, as his behaviour is seriously illegal.
P2P apps may have perceived damages to a few large corporations, but they do not affect every single used of the internet like spam.
That is an absoulutely false and stupid statement. P2P is JUST LIKE email in terms of impact on network infrasutructure: used properly it is fine, but when abused it can cripple a network. At the height of the old Napster it slowed the sustained throughput of local cable ISP customers very noticeably. It is the chief reason for slowdowns on campus networks as well--in fact in some cases abuse of P2P apps is the chief reason for implementing bandwidth caps. I personally know of one remote site with internet connectivity provided by a sattelite uplink that racked up THOUSANDS of dollars in one months of fees because of a SINGLE KAZAA USER that shared all her music and lef thte PC on 24/7. As a result P2P was banned entirely. Incidentally, that same site had a Win2K box compromised and used to deliver spam, and it actually had LESS IMPACT on network performance than the P2P software did.
Show us a stun device which can protect Grandma as well as a gun can. There is none? Then a gun can not be criticized for not being designed to stun.
Today we have this story where someone was selling pirated software taking credit from the creator, but because this wasn't some giant software company overwhelming there are modded responses about "way to go", "stick it to 'em", etc. etc.
My questions is what is the difference between yesterday and today? Both folks committed copyright, trademark, and fraud, but because its the work of some smaller outfit it is more of an evil than the same thing happening to "Evil giant corperations"?
Piracy is theft. Fraud is Fraud. Infrigement is Infrigement. End of story. It doesn't matter if its small guy or giant huge megacorp.
I hope that the creator(s) of this program nail this guy and take 'em to the cleaners. Its times like these that lawyers are not an evil word and lawsuits in federal court aren't either.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
What's wrong with Slashdot?
Why are posters suddenly RTFA??
http://iconconstructor.say-it-now.com/
....g +-xequ te- xequ te+-Nigel+-Cross&
there are quite a lot of then
http://www.google.com/search?q=MailList+Kin
http://www.google.com/search?q=MailList+King+
Lima India November Uniform X-ray
http://iconconstructor.say-it-now.com/ http://www.google.com/search?q=MailList+King+-xequ te
http://www.google.com/search?q=MailList+King+-xequ te+-Nigel+-Cross
Lima India November Uniform X-ray
Answer: Slashdot isn't a Church where everyone claims to have common beliefs. It's a bunch of people that like similar things but may take differing view points.. you know, a discussion group. I see at least one or two posters a week that can't seem to grasp this concept.
I'll try to spell it out for you in short words:
People are all different. Slashdot is visited by people.. and trolls. Therefore you will get differing opinions on every story (from "I Luv Pir8 Software" to "Hang em' high!")
Common sense would say that an hour later it was back up, or even better, he used your tactics. He knows your IP address now, so he could easily serve up different products for you and still offer your software for sale to everyone else!
And I don't believe much of what he said, but his claim of other sites sounds credible, which means he's probably still selling your software on those too!
I hate to play lawyer, but you need more than an email apology at this point if you hope to protect your software.
bazily
--
http://www.gibsoncompany.com/ - Office space for lawyers
Why cut IT when your office space costs $3/sf? gibso
I had a website once for a game (MajorMud). it was considered the best available for people to get up-to-date, comperhensive, accurate data. I inputted the data entirely by hand (no html editing programs, only notepad). I would spend two - three hours a day updating it, and would get around 50-80 emails with requests, edits, etc from people (this was around 1995). One day I went and checked out a "rivals" site which just came up. She copied my data tables line for line, with the exception she did not provide ANY credit to me or even asked for my permission. I think it's lame to do. If you really like someones stuff, ask their permission and even go one step further and give them credit.
On a recent note, I found that a company had copied my companies website word for word.. with the exception they changed the background colors and changed some of the graphics (they actually stole the graphics from Adobe website).
I believe the steps I took back then, and the steps we took with the company site were the same: we contacted them, told them to remove it or else. They did which was good - but the Internet is so big it is hard to find people copying your site.
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
quote :
... :
To introduce Icon Constructor, we are offering a $29.95 SPECIAL LIMITED TIME OFFER for this version until December 30, 2004! Click here to order now
hmm and if I change the local time on my computer
quote
To introduce Icon Constructor, we are offering a $29.95 SPECIAL LIMITED TIME OFFER for this version until December 24, 2004! Click here to order now
Now who has finally found a good use for javascript ?
Lima India November Uniform X-ray
MailList King, like all of the products, was created because i personally had a need to manage the people who were asking to be contacted about new releases of our software (most of our software is viewers and slideshow tools).
Presently our site is bobbing on and off line due to the hits from slashdot, but hopefully this will subside before too long and I can get back to what i do (making shareware).
The fraudulent site in question is now down, due to the efforts of slashdot readers. We are still getting abusive e-mails and threats from him (in fact i see he has even posted to this board), but I expect that too will pass.
Regards
Nigel Cross
Xequte Software
www.xequte.com
Assuming software is patented, there is a person that has a legal agreement to be the only person that can benefit from the sale of that software for a period of time. By not selling the software, you are not infringing on their right to benefit from it.
Do you see the difference? In one case, someone is paying to distribute copies of something at no cost and no benefit to themselves. In another case someone is making money off of something that someone else has the exclusive right to be making money off of.
To simplify: I can download 1,000,000 copies of MS Office and still have the same amount of money in my pocket, and the same ability to buy MS Office.
Spammers don't use "mailing list software" you fucking retard. Besides, this Nigel moron IS FUCKING LYING, JUST LIKE YOU! GO FUCK YOUR MOTHER!
you have the reading comprehension of an eggplant
Thanks, this is a good example of how little guys get crushed by well meaning laws with onerous enforcement. He did write a take down notice, but the host did not follow through. As can be seen above, the no good is still selling, so Provision 512 has not helped at all. The case has been very different when the requester represents some big dumb company with an army of lawyers. The differential result shows that the system is broken. Who you are should not matter but they do when you are dealing with copyright.
This inherent inequity is one of the biggest dangers of exclusive franchises. An exclusive franchise is created and must be enforced by Government by restricting the natural actions and rights of others. This is unlike most other criminal and civil law, where violations are unnatural, obvious and easy to demonstrate. Even in such a clear cut case, justice in exclusive franchises is more a matter of who you are and what kind of resources you have than anything else. The complaint people have about the DMCA is that it makes some people more equal than others by it's vagueness.
The DMCA is a huge, steaming shit pile that shows how broken "IP" laws are. Ordinary copyright law should have been able to handle the bad guy. In return for not being able to help our hero, the DMCA makes it so we can't tell people how to work their toys. Somehow, the "compromise" worked out by the dummies who passed the DMCA looks like a clear win for big publishers and a clear loss for the rest of us.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
But I do feel for a programmer that has invested a lot of personal time and expense into a project and have it totally hijacked.
Anyone who subscribes to a *website* digest mailing is really living in the past.
You should really look into an RSS reader.
For windows, try Awasu
Thank you for bringing in our notice. We already have received few complaints and the customer account was suspended. Best Regards, Best Regards, -Khalil Ahmad PakHost Abuse Deptt. abuse@pakhost.com PakHost Web Services http://www.pakhost.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Nasir Ghaznavi To: support@pakhost.com Sent: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 16:39:38 +0500 Subject: Immediate action required The site hosted on your server http://www.e-buyonline.com is currently in bad news and is currently causing negative publicity to your company visit http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/04/12/29/0237224.shtml ?tid=185&tid=95&tid=17&tid=8
to see for yourself. The site owner is selling software which he has no
rights over and is collecting credit card information from unsuspecting
users. I would like to suggest that you immediate close this site before
it earns more negative publicity.
Nasir Ghaznavi
Now he has started hosting with another provider and i have kindly forworded them the complaint too, lets see what happens there :)
Steal
Steel
LOL! Now the bogus site says "System Under Update"
Read my blog: HansMast.com
Remember p-p-p-owerbook?
Someone at Lahore able to take pictures?
There is a slight moral difference between charging for access to a pirate WAR3Z site for stolen software, and fraudulently selling stolen software as your own product. In the former case, you're a slimeball coordinating with other slimeballs, and ripping off the owner; in the latter, you're a slimeball potentially fooling other mostly honest citizens, who might prefer keeping their integrity over the marginal cost between a pirate copy and a legal one. In my view, the former at least has the merit of being an honest crook.
DMCA, like RICO, is an overpowered law that can be grossly abused. Unlike RICO, discretion rests with a corporate or citizen owner, not with even the minimally wiser judgement of a Court Prosecutor.
There are some limited cases where near-DMCA powers are appropriate. Unfortunately, the DMCA is not limited to those cases. (And there would be a major debate even on Slashdot for where the limits should lie. However, there are too few Congresscritters who have studied Midaeval history and too many in corporate pockets for the current law to have been wisely crafted.)
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
u r so gay
g2g ok by!!!!!!1111111
This article got me googling and I would like to share what I found about this a**hole. Seems as though Khalil Ahmad has been involved in some other scams. First, Khalil Ahmad might have lived @ 147-A, Roanoke Street, Woodbridge, New Jersey 07095, USA at one time (Or could still live there) and you can see this address on the terms and agreement page found here (http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:Z-TfswWHiA4J :www.paknic.com/agreement/+147A,+Roanoke+Street,+W oodbridge,+New+Jersey+07095&hl=en%20target=nw) google cache, but the paknic site has a new address (http://www.paknic.com/agreement/).....hmmmm. What's up with the site cache date on google? 1969? Read this link to see the other activities he was involved in (http://www.worldlii.org/int/cases/GENDND/2001/194 .html). Lastly, see this page advertising paknic (http://www.farnaam.com/info.asp?companyId=1155) and notice the name and address.
Off with his head!
You should really look into an RSS reader.
I use RSS for almost all of my newsreading.
I don't use it for two things, though - DiaryLand diaries (which a few of my friends have) and Slashdot.
Diaryland doesn't support RSS at all, which is kinda lame.
Slashdot's RSS was useless for a long time, it lacked any description in article entries. I see it's finally fixed - I'd not noticed before, so I will be giving it a test-go again soon.
It still lets me "miss" news, since there is such a high turnover yet still only 10 RSS entries. It also can't show me comments (which I read on quite a lot of articles).
FWIW I use Thunderbird.
I was expecting the excitement of the guy who tracked down the scammer on ebay selling fake Apple laptops. I think slashdot covered the story, where a group in a mailing list set out sentries for when the delivery guy showed up, it was inside a cafe, etc.
After that story, this one was rather anti-climactic.
Award winning hair styling and hair coloring, 100% natural hair extensions, pictures and photos of perms, glamorous updos, bridal hair updos, prom updos, perms, body waves, for men and women. Framesi, Bio Ionic, Wella, Paul Mitchell, Matrix, Clairol, Rusk, Shades Q., and more.
Interesting point, but mine remains - how can you opt-out of receiving unsolicited high-velocity pellets from guns wielded by 8-year-olds and/or criminals? =)
In general, the way to prove that you are the author of a computer program under United States copyright law is to have registered the copyright by depositing two copies of the source code (at least the first 25 and last 25 pages) along with 30 USD at the Copyright Office. It's best to do this as soon as possible after you first publish the work, as you can recover a much greater award of damages if you do this before the alleged infringer starts doing what he does best and then carry the copyright registration certificate into court with you.
There is a slight moral difference between charging for access to a pirate WAR3Z site for stolen software, and fraudulently selling stolen software as your own product.
Correct. More precisely, distributing fresh copies of a program without permission from the copyright owner is copyright infringement; distributing fresh copies of a program without permission from the copyright owner and claiming that you are the author is copyright infringement plus plagiarism, and plagiarism is a form of fraud.
Yes site is open again for business.Anyone got anything to say.Nigel you lose
Site is open again for business
The approach is interesting, of course. If I had registered the copyright on a program (like mksoft claims it did), I'd spit out something so the viewers of the page can check it. Asking people to prove them wrong is convenient for them. Though I think that Nigel would be able to prove his ownership easily since he should have the (commented) source code, preferably with the CVS history.
Didn't mksoft claim earlier that they're based in Portland? So how come their company info states they reside in Dubai?
If they automate the process and regularly copy the content, it would be more fun if you configured your webserver to provide "customized" content to the site that's copying the content. In which case I'd see it as an opportunity not a problem... Bwahahaha... Bwahahahahahahahahah!
;).
You may wish to get some legal advice on the method you choose, but I'm sure there's potential for much legal fun
You can often find people copying content if you insert unique phrases/references into your content and then later search for those. You could refer to nonexistent people as part of a joke or quip in editorial-style stuff - e.g. "My [Aunt/fictitious relative] [unique name here] could do it with her [fictitious SF appendage] tied behind her [whatever]".
It helps if you make your content more interesting and unique compared to the usual corporate-ese which hardly anyone reads willingly.
Often there really isn't much difference when you compare one corporate site with another. In fact, I recall seeing that some sites are apparently done by the same people and they use the same corporate-BS for them all - same bullshit paragraph after paragraph. Quite ironic, given the typical claims in the BS...
Lets say that you buy a new computer.
Windows XP comes installed on it, and you get no install CDs (well, ones that won't format your HDD automatically and reinstall it). You get a crappy 'starter' CD key or some other gimmick designed not to work with any other version of Windows XP.
Yet, you payed full price for it.
This is what makes big corporations different from small companies. Small companies need your business to stay afloat and show some kind of profit for their effort.
Big companies don't need your business. In fact, you need THEIR products most of the time, and they know it. They abuse their position of power to jerk you around.
Here's an example. I had a dead mobo/CPU and didn't know which part was bad, and had access to no comparable parts to do some troubleshooting with. So..I took it to some different computer shops.
CompUSA wanted $150 just for testing, and would need to keep it for a week.
Several smaller computer places I went to didn't try to get me to hand it over to them. They asked me troubleshooting questions (basics I had already tried, but they were trying to helP), and when they saw I had done them already, they offered to test the setup using their parts. I paid $20 to have the CPU and motherboard tested with 'known good' parts and if possible, diagnostic sotware. I got my system back the next day.
Another example.
I go to buy a case. Naturally, I check CompUSA first. All they had are cheap-ass thin-sharp alumnium cases that weighed less than a paperweight sans powersupply.
I go to a few smaller shops, and find that they have good, sturdy cases for similar prices. That and they were willing to sell me the case I wanted WITHOUT the power supply, when CompUSA would just tell me 'sorry'.
You can say all you want about how you can take your business somewhere else if one company is jerking you around, but I think that its way lamer to pirate a piece of software sold for a reasonable price rather than one sold at an unjustifiably high price just because people require it.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
Ahh my favorite piece of information...I moved the mouse over their info@company.com (I won't mention the company name)...but in the lower left hand corner of IE (I use IE at work) it said info@mycompany.com.....I went into the source code and found it...talk about smoking gun. Not that it mattered, the site was identical minus some colors and a swap of images...the text (custom text) was word for word the same.
The CEO of their company said the site was similiar, but loosely similar. I don't care that they took it down - I personally wanted to sue because of his non-chalant comments. He should have said "we are very sorry, please don't sue, we are firing our web designers today"
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.