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January's Toast to Tech Evil
comforteagle writes "In this month's mocking toast To Evil! Danny O'Brien laments the holiday habit of trying to hide one's evilness from Father Christmas, but finds those evil tech companies can't help being who they are. 'I'm really hoping that in their next batch of cinema adverts, the MPAA addresses this, and shows a grumbling adware developer instead of a Hollywood set-painter. The piracy issue, it affects us all: the construction guy, the lighting guy. And me, the guy who installed all that crap on your mum's computer. And also an awful lot of Los Angeles-based cocaine dealers. Why doesn't anyone think of them?'"
Two wrongs do not a right make. EVERY crime has a victim - most have many. In this example:
it depends on what was stolen (do insurance companies come into it? do they have to pay out?), if the buyer was hurt in the theft (health insurance now, plus one less spot available in over-busy hospitals), etc. etc.
Posting corrupted/nonsense files disguised as copyrighted media wastes bandwidth that we all share, and makes it that much more difficult for the authorities to track down the real pirates. Posting spyware-infected media files does all of the above, plus provides examples of how to do it to more vicious crackers.
The logic of Overpeer - "we'll hurt them cause they're hurting us, and maybe if they're hurt enough they'll stop" - is the same ass-idiot logic that justifies all retributive crimes, from the genocides in Rwanda, to the violence in Iseal, to the terrorist attacks on the US (depending on whether you believe that religion is the source of the hate or just a convenient way to recruit dumbfucks ready to kill themselves). It didn't stop the killing in Rwanda (which is now spilling into the Congo), it didn't end the violence in Isreal (which has finally petered out only because of a natural-selection "regime change"), and there are more terrorists now than ever (and the body count climbs and climbs). It will not stop pirates. Overpeer is not part of any solution, they are simply sanctioned criminals.
Who to complain to? Your congressman would be a nice start. The FBI would be another interesting choice. You don't need to incriminate yourself to report a crime. If the FBI asks how you got an Overpeer-infected file by doing something legal, just tell them that you were doing their damn job - as they seem too busy, you did your patriotic duty to collect evidence for them. The fifth is your friend.
It's hard to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys.