Inside the Shadow Internet

Paladin144 writes "Wired has a report about the mysterious 'pirate networks' that obtain new movies, music & games before they are released and spread them throughout the net. It's not as simple as putting a movie on LimeWire. These people are highly organized and very paranoid about secrecy. They maintain a hidden network of top-level FTP sites that get the best files first and allow them to trickle down the pyramid and into many a slashdotter's sweaty little fingers."

Comments

I thought it was generally known

[saskboy]

These people talk and probably spend a better part of the day or night on IRChat and do so because they have no more social life, than the average /.er.

God bless them

Re:I thought it was generally known

[Veamon]

some like to defeat copy protection, most like the social circles and ego they've got from being first to release or having the best stuff to offer.
Dude #1: So dude, what you do this weekend? I went out and got some ass, drank some beers, and got more ass...
Dude #2: I stayed at home all weekend and spent the whole time cracking Winzip 9.0...
Dude #1: Whoa...teach me....


Who cares about these people? They get a boost in their social circles?? The only friends they have are online...jeez...

The Rules

[da3dAlus]

The first rule of the shadow internet is, you do not talk about the shadow internet.
The second rule of the shadow internet is, you DO NOT talk about the shadow internet. ...

Re:The Rules

[ceejayoz]

The third rule of the shadow internet is, if you talk about the shadow internet, a 14 year old pimply faced nerd threatens you with a supposed 350 pound hitman with a glock.

yes, ther is nothing like

[geekoid]

spending hours and hours developing contacts so you can get a copy of a movie filmed from inside a theater.

yeah, that'll hurt the industry.

Secret society...

[Create an Account]

I think I just read about these guys in The Da Vinci Code.

Busted!

[dj245]

In April, federal agents interrogated Frank and impounded all his computer equipment. So far, no charges have been filed. "But the Feds had no idea about Half-Life," he boasts. "I was never connected to that shit. If they found out, I'd be in jail."

So the pirate the feds arrested, interrogated, and impounded in April, but didn't file charges yet against, is the Half-life guy. That narrows it down quite a bit.

this is old news

[Anonymous Coward]

we read this the week before it was published.

Secret?

[age of reason]

"These people are highly organized and very paranoid about secrecy."


That`s why they made Wired.

Re:Let me guess...

[cammoblammo]

When I was 13 I still wasn't even allowed to use the phone without asking. Didn't matter, my ZX81 wouldn't even talk to the Dataset, let alone a telephone.

Re:Well..

[JohnsonWax]

So, have you done it again?

Yours truly,
Undercover FBI Dude

Re:Wannabes

[Rolo Tomasi]

I don't get that. Wouldn't it be better if they sent an average looking hitman, so he would be less conspicuous? I mean, why does he have to be heavy or strong when has a gun? So he could kill the journalist "even better" or what? Doesn't make any sense.

Hell, if I ever wanted to take out a hit on someone, I'd hire a midget with a knife. Nobody would expect that. Even if the victim gets warned, nobody would take it seriously. "Dude, look out for a midget with a knife!" "Riiiight."

The Shadow Internet

[dr_dank]

The Shadow Internet is just like the real internet, except we all have goatees.

Re:Well..

[bigberk]

i'd love to see today's kids pull off something underground. "Hey let's set up an elite MSN chat room and trade WMV files!" ... "yah! wow this will be just like in the movie hackers!" ... "hold on let me turn up some techno... "send me over the_swan_episode_3.wmv!" ... "hey is that filename Unicode? iTunes is havin problems adding it to the playlist" ... "This is the MSN Passport police, we have forwarded your logs to the MPAA"

Re:Excellent overview of the pirate network

[Anonymous Coward]

Crudely drawn graph.

Re:Let me guess...

[Goldberg's Pants]

I had some friends who were a ways up in the rankings on the Amiga. When FAST, the Federation Against Software Theft (look them up on Google, they did some hilarious print ads) were busting people locally, these two friends panicked. One buried his disks in his back garden. The other, worried they'd come calling and find his 600 or so disks... Kindly bought them round my house to hide them.

I didn't mind. Gave me time to go through them all:)

Oh, and said friend who buried the disks in his garden was also into phreaking, and buried all that stuff too.

Ah, those were the days...

Re:Well..

[Lord_Dweomer]

Please, allow me to rephrase and condense the parent's post that somehow got modded +4 interesting.

"I used to be 1337! No really, I got caught, so I'm really cool, right guys?"

Re:Let me guess...

[teeker]

Yeah but did you have an Amiga 1000 in a suitcase that you could use from in a car while dialing out via alligator clips to a neighborhood SAC point?

10 geek cool points to anybody who remembers QSD's Telenet NUI...now those were the days...

(Cause I never heard of any of those kinds of things).

Re:Let me guess...

[EnronHaliburton2004]

Back then, you called long distance to the BBS of interest.

And let me tell you, using a 300bps modem really was like walking to school in the snow, uphill, both ways...

Re:Let me guess...

[WoodenRobot]

I remember one thing that FAST tried to discourage piracy that really deserves 10 out of 10 for ingenuity. They claimed that pirate software wouldn't run properly on your Amiga, and would cause it to malfunction slightly. This would cause odd power surges through the Amiga's huge power supply (the Brick), and this would produce big electromagnetic fields that would GIVE YOU CANCER.

I can't wait for the **AA to try that one.