P2P vs. The Clones 289
smash writes "Rebranding software then loading it with spyware and adware (or just selling it for profit) has become a recent trend with oversea individuals trying to make a few bucks. We all remember the KaZaA Gold, don't we? Shareaza, which recently went open source under the GPL, has been subject to a similar type of theft by a company going by the name RockSoft Development. Surprisingly enough, their software labelled as 'Go Music' hasn't been pulled from C|Net's Download.com after more than a week."
Hahaha.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hahaha.... (Score:3, Interesting)
A big company like MS could never get away with this, but I wonder if one could build a Linux distro
Re:Hahaha.... (Score:3, Informative)
In this context, "pirate" refers to a roaming stealer of ships as much as "mouse" refers to a furry animal. When you start closing your "windows" to stop the draft coming through your monitor, you can start getting incensed by the use of the word "pirate."
Re:Hahaha.... (Score:3, Funny)
Hahaha.... Hahahahaha! (Score:4, Funny)
Hahahahaha
That is all.
Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:4, Insightful)
I've noticed this happening more and more as I am called upon to uninstall this kind of garbage from my friends' computers; "Uhh, this looks rather like Gnucleus; you could have just gotten that for free, without the spyware, you know...."
The idea is that adding spyware to open-source projects circumvents the "You can't take this software and sell it" restriction of the licenses because it's not being sold. It's just adding spyware to. And in some cases, the source code isn't even modified, so there is no need to redistribute the modified source code as per the license. It's just open-source software bundled with spyware in an installer.
The problem in using a license such as the GPL, and giving people essentially unlimited rights to incorporate your code into their software is that you'll end up with situations like this, and most critically, have absolutely no recourse against them so long as they are following the letter of the agreement.
(In this particular case, I don't know if they're following it or not. I don't see them providing the source code for download, so they may be in violation if they have modified it. But I may just have missed the link, and I'm not about to install their spyware fest on my box to see if it comes with source code or some such.)
The solution, unfortunately, would seem to be to add more restrictions to the licenses, similar to how the you-cannot-sell-this-software-for-more-than-the-c
Because at that point, once you can clearly show that the company pulling this crap is in violation of your license, you can start using the DMCA as your friend, and issuing takedown notices to their ISP. Do you think for a minute that C|Net would still have the files available for download if they'd been told that they are an illegal distribution of copyrighted material? Doubtful.
That's funny; I didn't see that clause (Score:3, Informative)
The solution, unfortunately, would seem to be to add more restrictions to the licenses, similar to how the you-cannot-sell-this-software-for-more-than-the-co st-of-copying-and-the-media clause works.
What clause? Gnucleus, Shareaza, and eMule are licensed under the GNU General Public License. This license lets a redistributor sell copies or digital deliveries of a covered program provided that the source code is either included or available at cost.
They HAVE modified it (Score:2, Insightful)
gnucleus, gtk-gnutella, etc are covered by the GPL. So modifying the program itself means they MUST release the source code at no additional charge.
They aren't actually doing anything wrong by charging a price for this software either. Technically, they could justify it for their "enhancements" to the
Re:They HAVE modified it (Score:2)
No. They have released an installer which installs spyware, and coincidentally also installs UNMODIFIED p2p software. GPL does not address this issue. And really, does it make a difference? Realisticly, no one is going to sue tham.
Re:They HAVE modified it (Score:2, Interesting)
However, the point isn't whether or not you can sue them, it's whether or not you can force download.com to delist them with a DMCA takedown notice. And to do that, all you need is evidence that the scumbags aren't following every
Re:They HAVE modified it (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:2, Insightful)
Users are supposed to not be stupid. They should shop around, check out the market. If they do that, they will find that the software is available for free, and they don't need to pay for it, or even download a re-branded form of it. Caveat emptor!
Stupid users are always going to end up with spyware on
Re:Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:5, Informative)
A) include the source with sold binary, or
B) make it available seperately at additional cost.
It is just this additional cost that is limited to reasonable compensation.
Re:Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:3, Informative)
From the GPL: "1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.
You may charge a fee for the physical act of t
Re:Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:2)
SPAMMER: "My time is very valuble. This is going to cost you big..."
Re:Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:3, Informative)
To counter the rest of your argument, its unclear as to how far the GPL extends, but some people read it to say that if you distribute GPL source inside your _product_ the product must be licenced under the GPL. This is because the definition of a Derivative Work is kind of hazey as far as software is concerned. It sounds like these people
Re:Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:2)
Re:Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:2)
I never said anything about a judge ordering anything under copyright law, what I said was the the developers could demand that the Go Music people comply with the license, or the Go Music people would have to deal with copyright law, which is no fun at all. Maybe I wasn't clear about that in my original post, if I was I apolo
Or do like Red Hat does... (Score:2)
That way, when someone gets a Red Hat distro, they know it's "official", if the law has been followed.
Yes, yes, that's a big "if". But it's a start: you can have the GPL and still restrict what others can pass off as an "official" version.
The next step, of course, is to have a trusted source sign the aggregate and important components thereof. That has the advantage tha
Re:Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Restricting Free (as in speech) Software (Score:4, Informative)
You're quite correct. Many people do not understand the GPL. There is no problem at all selling GPLd software for whatever price you like, and you don't even have to be the author. This is a fact.
this just in from SCO (Score:5, Funny)
Re:this just in from SCO (Score:2)
The line between malware/spyware/crapware and regular software is often very thin, hence probably impossible to define in lawman's terms.
Hence the impossibility to enforce these kind of things.
Re:this just in from SCO (Score:2)
Ah, but if these people don't provide the source to Go Music, we can go after that. The spyware's presence just ticks people off enough to do this.
That gives me an idea (Score:5, Funny)
Internet accelerator
Bandwidth optimizer
Password manager (Gator, the industry standard)
HotBar
and many other goodies you would have never got off some open source site.
Re:That gives me an idea (Score:5, Funny)
Re:That gives me an idea (Score:2)
I am so underwhelmed...
Kazaa gold? (Score:4, Interesting)
#1 problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Damn them all to hell!
This being
Re:#1 problem (Score:2)
No. This is Slashdot. We don't have friends, and family doesn't invite us over anymore.
Re:#1 problem (Score:3, Funny)
They've been nothing but good for my consulting business. Buhahaha.
Download.com is pay to list now.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Download.com is pay to list now.... (Score:2)
Ok, I don't think scrupleless is even a word. Do you mean "having less scruples" by that word? If so, are you saying that now have more scruples through the double negative? I'm honestly not trying to be a Nazi here, I'm just trying to figure out what you attempting to say. Some people must understand because you've already been modded insightful.
Re:Download.com is pay to list now.... (Score:2)
Now please excuse me I have to flush my memory of that word. I have thought it too many times and it's causing problems.
Re:Download.com is pay to list now.... (Score:2)
How is repacking a GPL'd program theft? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:How is repacking a GPL'd program theft? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How is repacking a GPL'd program theft? (Score:2)
Wait, thats what this whole article is about! The spyware stuff is just icing on the cake ("Not only are these people infringing on a GPLd program's copyright, they're even infecting users with spyware!")
Fake user opinions on CNET (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Fake user opinions on CNET (Score:4, Interesting)
""Virus Infected Shareaza Ripoff" Included malware: 1. Win32:Trojan-gen. {Other} 2. New.Net spyware 3. Search Toolbar adware "
Re:Fake user opinions on CNET (Score:2)
And I suggest that everyone here do a "Katie.Com" on this program and give it the comments that it deserves.
Release the hounds!!
Re:Fake user opinions on CNET (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Fake user opinions on CNET (Score:2)
Re:Fake user opinions on CNET (Score:2)
75% popular my donkey! (Score:5, Interesting)
Some might call this 'astroturf', but I reckon that even blind freddy could see that this grass is brown!
Re:75% popular my donkey! (Score:2)
theft or copyright infringement. (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, so When you steal something from a record label, it's copyright infringement, but when you steal GPL software, it's actually theft?
Re:theft or copyright infringement. (Score:5, Funny)
Welcome to slashdot newcomer! Please follow the following guidelines when posting in order of importance
Re:theft or copyright infringement. (Score:2)
Funniest damn thing I've seen all day...
Five coolness points! SPEND THEM WISELY.
Re:theft or copyright infringement. (Score:3, Interesting)
It's the difference between photocopying a book, and plagiarizing one.
All statistics are from here [outofmyass.com].
Re:theft or copyright infringement. (Score:2)
Re:theft or copyright infringement. (Score:2)
What's To Stop... (Score:2)
If the license violation was detected, would anyone have the resources to enforce the license? E.g., if someone in Shanghai pulls this off, who's the FSF going to sue?
Perhaps this has already happened. Anyone know?
Re:What's To Stop... (Score:2)
Re:What's To Stop... (Score:2)
Well, if I compiled the code with the same C compiler as you (or even not, I imagine many compilers roll out loops in the same way into machine code), there would be a big chunk of the binary that was exactly the same. That would be one giveaway...I believe this happened with some open source sound app a couple of years ago, perhaps someone remembers the details?
Open source software on eBay (Score:5, Interesting)
I work on the Audacity sound editor [sourceforge.net], a free software project that is being re-branded and sold on eBay under names like LuxuriousitySound [audacityteam.org]. Most of the sellers try to conceal the app's identity, and of course they don't mention that it's free and open-source. The same vendors are also selling rebranded versions of Open Office and GIMP. We get a lot of messages from angry users who find out that they payed $15 for software that's free for everybody.
The vendors are obeying the GPL, so they aren't guilty of copyright infringement. They're careful not to use the software's real name, so of course they aren't guilty of misusing our trademarks. They might be in violation of deceptive advertising laws, or eBay's own "Brand Name Misuse Policy," but eBay hasn't yet acted on any of the buyers' complaints.
Re:Open source software on eBay (Score:3, Insightful)
Audacity is distributed under the GPL - therefore anyone can take the code and distribute the application providing they make the code accessible - and of course, the GPL allows it to be sold for a fee.
Sounds like a perfectly legal, profitable, albeit arguably immoral, business model. Guess thats a potential drawback to using the GPL.
Re:Open source software on eBay (Score:2, Funny)
A: "Sounds like a[n]... arguably immoral, business model."
Dork.
Not only open source (Score:4, Interesting)
Selling NOAA data for $100 a year [terrafin.com]
Re:Open source software on eBay (Score:3, Insightful)
Who buys software from a company with adverts so badly spelt, with english so bad as to be incomprehensible in places? Who can't type "free photo editor" into googl
Re:Open source software on eBay (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Open source software on eBay (Score:2)
Thanks For Working on Audacity! (Score:2)
This eBay thing is just temporary
Re:Open source software on eBay (Score:2)
Re:SFW? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:SFW? (Score:2)
Re:SFW? (Score:2)
original KaZaA had spyware, right? (Score:3, Insightful)
Doesn't the original KaZaA client have it's own spyware? I don't see a reason to cry over someone robbing a company of spyware revenue in favor of their own spyware revenue. Now, if someone robs the client to remove the spyware altogether (like KaZaA Lite supposedly did), I'm all for that.
Re:original KaZaA had spyware, right? (Score:5, Informative)
Kazaa came bundled with a client for BDE [brilliantdigital.com] which was used to sell your spare cpu cycles to someone else. Basically like a huge distributed computing project, that the end user had absolutely no idea about.. I believe this single act kick-started the whole anti-adware/spyware movement.
I'd recommend using KazaaLite K++, which has removed all of the extra FUD. Although, good luck finding a legitimate download. 98% of the files on Kazaa are fakes, planted by the RIAA to dissuade you from downloading music. In the end, it is not going to matter what client you use, if all of the files on the network are bogus.
Re:original KaZaA had spyware, right? (Score:2)
maybe it is just a trusted set of users, sharing a
A similar approach exists w
Let's Call Spyware "Fraud" and Be Done With It (Score:5, Insightful)
Before the F/OSS community gets all hot and bothered about changing licensing language (ignoring how they might enforce any language) maybe the best course is to go after spyware using the fraud laws.
Re:Let's Call Spyware "Fraud" and Be Done With It (Score:2)
Yeah, that'll work...
So? (Score:3, Insightful)
Spyware? Where? (Score:5, Funny)
"It is totally free from spyware, adware and other similar stuff."
"And the best thing about this program is that it has been thoroughly checked and built so it is free from spyware , adware , pop up ads etc."
See?!
Dude, check out the astroturfs (Score:3, Interesting)
Three different users actually say "This must be the best Thing in the world. Now my life is excelent!"
"This is a great program, works well and easy My roommate and I both use this program and we think it's stupendous! Would recommend this to anyone"
"I'm using only best well-tested soft, and here it is."
"The speed is shocking"
"It id very-very-very and one million more times very NICE stuff i ever had"
The entire happy part of the user base seem to apply bad punctuation and similar spalling erors
Star Wars: Episode 2 (Score:2)
Padawan 2 Padawan VS The Clones!
Yeah! (Score:2)
What are you gonna do? (Score:3, Insightful)
We can sit here and laugh at people who downloaded this stupid, stupid program. Heck, if one of us did it I think we would all laugh and laugh.
But this sad problem is the same problem that every new computer user has. No matter if you use Windows or Linux or Mac or / all new users have a tough time learning which program they need to accomplish a specific task. Hell, I spend more time telling people what program to use, more than actually fixing something.
Do you family and friends a favor. Since we all know the OSS versions of these programs, why not just post a list of what you use in your daily life so they can just look it up? Seems the easiest way to prevent non-computer people from getting screwed is for geeks to post their program list. Now that OSS has come around, I'm sure more of us can actually do that!
Similar shenanigans....... (Score:3, Interesting)
Mind you, when somebody can't even look [google.com] for [google.com] the [ask.com] site probably deserves to be scammed.
Irony? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Irony? (Score:2)
Ironic (Score:2, Insightful)
Flame away.
One mispronounciation (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:One mispronounciation (Score:2)
anyone know of a license? (Score:2)
I know this doesn't fit into the model most open source champions prefer...but inflexibility is the mother of nothing, so here goes (no flames please).
Is there a license that is essentially open source (i.e. you can take this source, do what you want with it, use the program, go nuts etc) but restricts redistribution (i.e all redistributions have to be approved by the project leader).
I know it's not 100% the spirit of open source...however since the two features that everyone touts as being the main b
Re:anyone know of a license? (Score:2)
Another one (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.download.com/Music-Master/3000-2196_4-1 0306583.html?tag=stbc.gp [download.com]
The negative review are stacking up for Go Music, let's add some to Music Master too.
WTF is an "oversea individual"? (Score:2)
???
Re:WTF is an "oversea individual"? (Score:2)
the submitter seems to have ineptly reworded somthing from one of the sources PacketFour [packetfour.com]:
The use of "oversea", aside fr
Happens with Websites too... (Score:3, Informative)
Maybe they have spyware laden versions of the BitTorrent client and who knows if they just steal listings from suprnova.org or link there directly...
What can I say (Score:3, Interesting)
P2P file sharing is full of such scams, because people are gullable. Apparently file sharing, to them, is illegal, unless you pay a monthly fee for access to the files, and then it is legal? Internet Pirates with a business plan, who'dathunkit?
Once he wises up, I'll have to uninstall the malware from his system for him.
Re:Best P2P client? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Best P2P client? (Score:2, Interesting)
http://www.nongnu.org/giftcurs/ [nongnu.org]
http://apollon.sourceforge.net/files.html/ [sourceforge.net]
Re:download.com sucks... (Score:3, Informative)
SnapFiles [snapfiles.com]
NeoThermic
Re:Ironic (Score:2)
Re:Could somebody fill me in? (Score:4, Informative)
Back in days of yore, Kazaa was given away for free for people to download to connect to the fast track netword. Then someone came along and modded the program, and created kazaa-lite. This gave users many added benefits, and made getting files easier. But, the changes were freely available, and then a company took those changes, renamed them, "gave" them away on a website that required your email address, and they bundled a ton of spyware crap in (not that the regular Kazaa didn't already start out with enough of that as it was.
If you want to see the evil that is Kazaa Gold, it still exists, and can be found here [kazaagold.com]... just don't download it =) forms of Kazaa Lite can still be found if anyone must use the Fast Track network... =) hope this helped.
Re:Could somebody fill me in? (Score:2)
Re:simple answer (Score:2)
Re:Smartfox has been doing this for sometime (Score:2)
No, rebranding is pretty much totally cool (though I personally detest anyone who would practice it without crediting the parent). There are not any monetary restrictions on it - no money needs change hands, blah dee blah, as far as I know.
Go Music has not complied with GPL licensing
rules. No offer for the source code is made, no GPL is included with the program distribution. Possibly other st