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Pirated Android App Shames Freeloaders
MojoKid writes "A pirated version of an Android app is actually a Trojan that shames someone who installs it by sending an SMS message to all his/her contacts telling them of his/her piracy. The original app is called Walk and Text, and costs $2.10 in the Android Market. The app uses the camera on the back of a smartphone to show a user a visual of his upcoming surroundings, which will supposedly prevent the user from running into the street or across a set of train tracks. The pirated version is available from unofficial Android app markets, and once installed redirects the pirate to the legitimate app in the Android Market, while also sending the SMS message to the phone's entire contact list."
...I don't have any friends! I'm so lonely :(
Don't click the link in the summary - it posts a message to Slashdot telling everyone you tried to read the article :(
Although this is a novel and some what interesting approach to pirates, i think this approach itself depending on the implementation etc.. might effectively count as breaking the law, unless the user who install the pirated software agree to a Terms of Use Agreement that explicitly mentions such actions might be possible or as a consequence if software thinks its pirated.
Calling pirates "freeloaders" is an unnecessary ad hominem designed to turn everyone else against them without applying critical thought to the issue at hand. It's the same as calling it "theft" or "stealing". The terminology may technically apply, but in the circles in which piracy is usually discussed (such as Slashdot), saying these things quickly makes you look like a troll.
I'm disappointed in the submitter and the editor for allowing the term "freeloader" in the headline. If you wish to oppose piracy, that's your call, but do it without the use of hyperbole and emotional arguments.
There are those circles (like mine) where such messages lead to high compliments.
The app uses the camera on the back of a smartphone to show a user a visual of his upcoming surroundings
Wow! You know what else does that? Eyes.
Anyone who pays $2.10 for this should be shamed, not the pirates.
The app uses the camera on the back of a smartphone to show a user a visual of his upcoming surroundings, which will supposedly prevent the user from running into the street or across a set of train tracks.
Constantly show a safe environment. The truck or train would take care of the rest. That would certainly teach them to rely on an app instead of staying vigilant themselves.
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If you figure that a lot of carriers charge around $0.10 / text, if someone has more than 21 friends in their phone, it'll cost more in messages charges than buying the app. Some vendors charge even more per text (which is a separate rant), so this could add up FAST.
I don't have a problem with that - heck I hope the author could find a way to get paid by those messages. But I could see some litigious asshat with 700 'friends' in their phone getting pissed when they get a huge bill.
If I was the author, I'd cap it at 21 friends - has all the effects of the shaming, but closely reflects the authors own stated value of the app.
People need to realize that pirated software really is a major malware distribution channel today, and has been for several years.
Tell your nephew that 90% of the cracks or keygens she downloads will also install a Trojan sending her passwords and credit card numbers back to the botnet masters.
And this is not a "genuine advantage" marketing fluff -- it is hard reality.
Not sure how many people read through the comments on the avast! page, but something definitely smells there.
The CEO of the company that made this app sounds like a weird blend of troll and one of those king-of-nigeria scams.
* He keeps ranting about how he's going to sue avast
* He keeps shouting about how it's all a lie created by avast in order to slander his company
* He repeatedly claims that his calls to avast were blocked, even though the CEO admitted that one of his colleagues spoke to the dev.
* The only contact information for that company is found here, which you can only get to through the avast article.
* avast lists a few other red flags from this company: "checked the registration of www.incorporateapps.com and see some red-flags: semi-anonymous, no email contact, possibly eastern-european but registered in Germany, and registered through Tucows"
But yeah, something here just doesn't feel right.
That might actually be illegal, for the same reason it's illegal to set beartraps in front of your door even if somebody does break in. Somebody breaking the law does not allow you to break the law in return.
In any case, this is a much smarter business proposition. I think this is hilarious and IMHO the punishment fits the crime - you were too cheap to pay $2.10 for a piece of software you're using, so I'll make you look like a dick. But the developers would come off like assholes if somebody did get killed, somewhat defeating the purpose.
I'm all for this sort of DRM - like the Batman game that put a jump most of the way through that a pirating user couldn't perform.
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Sending unsolicited, paid SMS to the whole contact list of a person with a specially crafted trojan seems to be a more serious offence than the one-time copyright infringement of not paying for a $ 2.10 app, which actually not even qualifies as petty theft (because infringement is not theft).
Basically, the developer has created a malware/trojan version of this app and for this he might (and, in my opinion, also should) get into serious legal trouble. In other words, what a jerk...especially, if you take into account what kind of a stupid application he sells.
Damn. Your family life must be.....interesting.
You can't set traps for people even if the only way they would be harmed by it would be because they themselves are doing something illegal.
This does "harm" the person running the illegitimate app because it may cost them money to send all those messages plus any potential fallout from people thinking they are a software pirate.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
Amusing, but in the end may be very self destructive. Given that it redirects the user to buy the real app, I think most of us have a strong belief who released this. Aside from the risk of lawsuits for such deceptive software, I would expect few android users to ever trust any software from this company ever again. Heck, I'm not even an Android user, but I'm going to learn the name of the company to be sure to never install any software from them, just in case they also code for a platform that I use. If they think that releasing trojans is acceptable behavior then I don't want their software on my systems.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Since the app's precise purpose is texting, it naturally requests and receives these permissions during installation. Think of it as a third-party texting app, like Handcent SMS: it wouldn't be supercool to have to confirm every single SMS you try to send, would it?
"Citation needed."
Seriously, I work in computer support professionally and while I've seen pirated software as an infection vector, it is in the minority. By far the biggest malware distribution channel these days I see is scareware. There are popups that act like AV scanners and get people to install fake anti-malware software.
So, let's see some number please.
Android is similar in restricting apps and requiring permissions for apps to access functions like SMS.
However the app IS intended for texting and thus you will have a permissions request for SMS to use the app (even the legitimate version). This just sends out additional texts to your contacts in addition to the ones you want to send out.
It may not deprive the source from selling another copy, but not paying for your copy is stealing.
For the sake of argument, let's accept that definition and see where it leads us.
Well, why is stealing a bad thing in the first place? Is it because you get something for free? Surely not, because we all get things for free all the time. I can turn on the radio and listen to free music, then change stations when a commercial comes on. I can look at public murals that were funded by taxpayers who died before I was born. I can enjoy the benefits of those and countless other things without giving a dime to the people who created them.
I get upset when something is stolen from me, but is that because the thief has gotten something for free? No. If someone could "steal" a copy of my car, leaving the original car unharmed in my driveway, that wouldn't bother me at all. In fact, if the technology to do that existed, I believe it'd be a great leap forward for mankind.
We can also compare stealing to vandalism. If someone destroys my car, he doesn't gain anything for free, he only deprives me of the use of that property. Is destroying my car therefore not as bad as stealing it? It sure doesn't feel that way. In fact, stealing it seems marginally better, since it preserves overall utility (and there's a chance I'll get the car back).
So, I have to conclude that what makes stealing wrong is that the rightful owner is deprived of the stolen property. The benefit gained by the thief is only relevant to the extent that it comes at the owner's expense.
Now, what have we done by declaring that getting a free copy of something is "stealing"? We've created two categories of stealing: the old-fashioned kind where the owner is deprived of the stolen property, and the shiny new kind where he isn't. The first kind is wrong, since it maintains the quality that made stealing wrong in the first place. The second kind, however, is not - it's a benign, almost metaphorical type of "stealing", kind of like stealing second base. All we've accomplished with this new definition is to devalue the word.
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The really embarrassing part of all this is your contacts finding out that you actually need an app to help you not walk into lightpoles, in front of trains, etc because you can't stop texting for a single second.
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