File sharing & the law

What is the law regarding the sharing of copyright protected software?

By downloading and using commercial software you haven't paid for, you are breaking the law. It is as simple as that. To use retail software legally you must first purchase a license for it.

Incidentally, all software, retail or freeware, is copyright protected material - from the moment of its conception, software is protected by federal copyright law and hence cannot be legally reproduced without first obtaining permission from the author. Clearly if a piece of software has been released as freeware by its author, you are entitled to download and use it. That said, unless it has been designated as 'open source', you cannot modify and re-release it.

In the United States the use and distribution of computer software is governed by title 17 of the copyright act, which states that the author is granted exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute his or her creation. Anyone who violates the author's exclusive rights by making their work available to the public by whatever means, for free or in exchange for payment, is breaking the law, and if caught, can be prosecuted by imprisonment or fine.

But I'm allowed to duplicate my software if I've purchased it legitimately, right?

You are legally entitled to produce a single copy for backup purposes only, but no more than this. The software can only be installed and used on a single computer if you wish to remain within the confines of the law. This aspect of the copyright act is covered in section 117.

What exactly are the penalties for distributing copyright protected software?

The first thing which is likely to happen if you are caught is that any profits made from distributing the software and/or the equipment used to make duplications will be confiscated. You are also liable for compensating the author of the copyright protected work for any losses they may have sustained up to the value of $100,000 per title. In a worst case scenario you could be forced to pay a fine anywhere up to $250,000 or be ordered to serve a prison sentence of up to 5 years.

Doesn't the law state that I'm permitted to evaluate software for up to 24 hours if I delete it afterwards?

No, this is a myth circulated by file sharing webmasters who believe they can deflect liability for serving copyright protected software to the public. This nonsense is often written into disclaimers which must be agreed to before permitting visitors to enter a site, but doesn't provide any legal protection whatsoever.

Even if you delete the software having 'test driven' it, and subsequently purchase a legitimate copy, you could still face prosecution for infringing copyright laws as defined in section 501(a) of the copyright act.

Using and distributing abandonware is OK though, isn't it?

Nope, I'm afraid not. 'Expired copyright' software doesn't exist - the same rules which apply to 'liberated' commercial software also apply to abandonware - the law doesn't differentiate between the two forms of piracy.

The people who run abandonware sites get away with distributing old software titles simply because the software producers are no longer making any money out of them and so are reluctant to press charges. Fighting piracy is an expensive business; if there are no financial gains to be made from having these sites shut down, there is little incentive to do so.

No piece of computer software on the planet has been around long enough for its copyright to have expired. Any work created after 1978 is protected under section 302 of the US copyright act for the duration of the author's life plus an additional fifty years, or for seventy years following the creation of the software under European law.

I can't be prosecuted for merely linking to commercial software stored on other people's servers, which I personally did not upload, can I?

Yes, you could. You can be held accountable for doing anything contributing to the violation of copyright laws. This includes linking to files via direct download pages, facilitating engagement in criminal acts by way of advice, writing tutorials etc, posting eDonkey hash codes on web forums and so on. Prosecuting people for committing relatively modest misdemeanours such as these was at one time totally unheard of. In more recent times, however, now that anti-piracy groups are determined to make examples of anyone from 12 year old girls sharing a handful of files to career pirates, it is becoming much more common.

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Windows updates made easy

If you are running Windows XP and are at all concerned about the security of your computer you will be well aware of how important it is to install all the critical updates made available by Microsoft. Every few months a new flaw is discovered in the code, which if not patched quickly could result in a malicious hacker gaining access to your system and wreaking havoc. One major bug which was unearthed recently meant that you could have your entire c: drive wiped out if you were unlucky enough to click on a specially formed URL. All I can say is ouch!

Normally you would plug the holes with these band aids in an incremental fashion as and when they are released using either Window's auto-update feature or by downloading the patches to your hard drive via the Windows download catalogue to be installed later. Nonetheless, every so often Microsoft gathers together all the patches they've released up until a specific cut off date and combines them into what is known as a service pack. These are single, self-contained files that can be downloaded free of charge from the Microsoft home page and installed in the same way as any other executable program.

Eventually there will come a time when it becomes necessary to make a fresh installation of your Windows operating system. This is the perfect opportunity to merge the service packs with your Windows installation files so that your operating system will be fully patched the first time you boot into Windows. This technique is known as 'slipstreaming' and the process, you'll be pleased to hear, is as simple as copying a few short commands into your run box.

In the following example I'll use service pack 1 to demonstrate the procedure. First of all, move the service pack to the root of your c: drive and create a new folder, again in the root of the c: drive, called SP1 - using this default arrangement will allow you to follow my directions exactly so there is no margin for error. You will now need to extract the contents of SP1 to this new folder. To do this, press your start button, select 'run' from the menu and type the following command into the dialog box...

C:\XPSP1_EN_X86.EXE -U -X:C:\XP1

Now create the folder C:\XP and copy the contents of your Windows XP installation CD to it. The next step is to combine the two folders together like so...

C:\XP1\UPDATE\UPDATE.EXE -S:C:\XP

Once the XP1 files have been integrated with your Windows XP installation files you can proceed to re-install Windows using a DOS boot disk. You will find more information on how to go about this in my Ghost tutorial. Of utmost importance at this stage is to note down your serial number. You will be asked to enter this close to the end of the installation procedure - if you don't know what it is you will have to reboot to get access to it. Doing this obviously requires you to retrace your steps from the beginning, something I'm sure you'll want to avoid.

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Operation Buccaneer fallout continues

On 26th March, Sean Michael Breen, leader of prolific piracy group Razor 1911, will begin serving a 50 month prison sentence following his conviction for the crime of copyright infringement. It is thought that during his reign as the head honcho of the oldest internet piracy group, Breen was responsible for cracking and distributing half a million dollars worth of software. He is the last in a long line of prominent 'scene' members to suffer the backlash of Operation Buccaneer, the mother of all anti-piracy initiatives coordinated by US Customs and the Department of Justice.

Formed in October 1985 by three Norwegians, Razor 1911 initially focused their attention on releasing demos and cracking games for the *cough* Speccy was better *cough* Commodore 64.

As technology evolved, so did they; in 1988 the group adopted the legendary Amiga platform and the demos and cracked games continued to gush into the computing underworld in epic proportions.

Another technology shift in the early 90s sparked the group's transition to the PC scene where they specialised in the release of game rips, and later full CD images. Until recently they could be considered a runaway bootleg software-releasing juggernaut.

Of all those prosecuted as a consequence of the 14 month sting, Breen received the longest sentence, largely due to his involvement in a separate scam pertaining to the fraudulent acquisition of hardware. By impersonating the owner of a legitimate trading account, Breen was able to order over $690,000 worth of goods from Cisco Systems and have them delivered to the premises of a fictitious company. He may now regret flogging this computer kit on the grey market at knock-down prices bearing in mind that part of his recompense will entail reimbursing Cisco Systems for the full amount on his release from prison!

Breen was rumbled for his foremost transgression, the illegal distribution of retail software, on discovery that he had been posing as a reviewer for a non-existent online games magazine so as to procure pre-release titles.

A recent Game Spot article covering the outcome of Breen's trial asserts that he was convicted for illegally selling and distributing software, while other online news sites make no mention of money changing hands, at least where the software was concerned. This appears to be more of an assumption made on Game Spot's part than an undisputable fact, one likely to have arisen from the difficulty many people in the gaming industry have with believing that anyone would jeopardize their personal freedom to distribute software without garnering material gain.

Razor 1911 have always, at least in their release (aka nfo) 'broadcasts', urged end users to support software authors by buying their products. Nevertheless, whether or not they adhered to their own advice remains a hotly debated topic. Despite publicly condemning "those who would profit from the scene", namely ISO News in particular, Razor 1911 are known to have, in their early days, gladly accepted payment for access to their BBS sites and DAT tapes as well as selling group merchandise including t-shirts, so who knows what the truth is? It would seem odd to many that anyone would insist on upholding the scene 'code of conduct' while at the same time ripping off Cisco Systems for the tidy sum of $690,000. The plot thickens...

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