Urban Terror Code Stolen

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Posted by timothy on Tuesday August 20, 2013 @01:23AM from the et-tu-b1nary-th1ef? dept.

New submitter herbalt writes "The code of the free FPS game Urban Terror (a standalone game based on a Quake 3 mod), has been stolen. The development team, Frozen Sand, at first stated their Git Repository had been hacked, but later issued an announcement stating the perpetrator of the leak was a member of the development team. Frozen Sand also states they have found chat logs indicating there had been 'a plot to get B1naryTh1ef to steal the code so they could sell Urban Terror under a different name on Steam.'"

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Well what do you know.... by metrix007 · 2013-08-20 01:24 · Score: 4, Insightful

I had thought it was open source all this time. Huh.

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1. Re:Well what do you know.... by RobertLTux · 2013-08-20 01:28 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  the CODE for the game could be open source but the ASSETS could not be. Plus its very skanky to jack somebodies code and then sell (for profit) the same game and not credit the original authors.
  
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2. Re:Well what do you know.... by TWiTfan · 2013-08-20 01:39 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  This all sounds a lot like a publicity stunt, to garner attention for the game, to me.
  
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3. Re:Well what do you know.... by kthreadd · 2013-08-20 02:09 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  And what if they don't want to open source their assets?
  They don't have to. No one is forcing them to do that.
  
  Your "desire" to see them "succeed" sounds eerily similar to blackmail: "That's some nice source code there, you should probably just make it open source, it'd be a real shame if something were to happen to it."
  If you cannot fundamentally respect their rights to license their work as they see fit - even if you don't agree with their choices - then you have exactly zero standing to complain when somebody else disregards your wishes as to how source code YOU wrote will be released and licensed. If you don't agree with someone's choice to not open source their assets, you do not automatically gain the right to take a copy. Don't like their license? Do without, or write your own open source alternative.
  I cannot wait to see the day when thugs who feel they have the right to take anything they want at any time they please are shunned out of any civilized company - as they should be.
  I think it's better for them and for all other software developers to produce free software. I don't understand how you can think that's blackmail, it's not like I'm in a position to make them do anything.
4. Re:Well what do you know.... by AlreadyStarted · 2013-08-20 04:23 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Trying to sell something that can be got for free is unlikely to be highly profitable.
  Bottled Water.
5. Re:Well what do you know.... by Khyber · 2013-08-20 04:47 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  "Stealing the source to sell the game on Steam? In what world does anyone think that they could get away with that? Even major corporations aren't that stupid. It's literally the dumbest idea I've ever heard."
  Never heard of Zynga, I see.
  
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6. Re:Well what do you know.... by drkim · 2013-08-20 08:10 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Trying to sell something that can be got for free is unlikely to be highly profitable.
  Tanning Salons?
Re:Stolen? Steam? by MickyTheIdiot · 2013-08-20 01:33 · Score: 2, Insightful

MPAA officially changed the definition of "stolen."
Re:Stolen or copied by Nukenbar · 2013-08-20 01:37 · Score: 4, Insightful

Until someone comes up with a single word that means "copied against the will of the code's owner", people will use the word stolen. Get over it.
Re:Stolen? Steam? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-20 01:42 · Score: 2, Insightful

It's wrong to prevent anyone from copy code. It's unethical. Instead you should share the code with anyone, preferably under an FSF approved free software license.
No, it's not "wrong" or unethical to prevent anyone from copying code. Free software licenses require copyrights. Asserting that the owner of source code has no right to control copying of their work via copyright carries with it the assertion that the terms of ALL software licenses - even those 'approved by the FSF' - may be safely disregarded at will.
If you really want to go down that road, then you have no basis to complain when a company takes your GPLv3 code and does whatever they want with it, and contributes nothing back to the community. After all - if you would assert your right to take a copy and do whatever you want with it, they can do the same thing: and they have a MUCH bigger legal team.
The real story by b1naryth1ef · 2013-08-20 06:32 · Score: 5, Insightful

Mildly hilarious to see this here. In fact, I did not steal the source code, nor leak it. I've already made an official statement (which you can read at the bottom of http://playurt.com/index.php?mod=news&action=view&id=7 that post). If you're really stupid enough to listen to anything Frozen Sand posts on their home page (with the only evidence being "screenshots", and the post being locked to responses) you don't have much going for you. I'm not going to go into the legal implications of what Frozen Sand has done (because I'm still processing documentation with my lawyer) but to say the least, they're in a wee bit of trouble. This basically boils down to FS trying to harassing and defame me after I quit.