Policy on piracy questions

December 10, 2006 8:49 AM

Where do I get leet warez
posted by cellphone to Etiquette/Policy at 8:49 AM (29 comments total)

They were steered clear of piracy, but leaving questions like this seem to make AskMe ok for these sorts of questions.
posted by cellphone at 8:50 AM on December 10, 2006

Down with this sort of thing.
posted by cillit bang at 9:01 AM on December 10, 2006

Careful now.

link to copyright material
posted by handee at 9:06 AM on December 10, 2006

your mom has teh leet warez, wendell.
posted by loquacious at 9:15 AM on December 10, 2006

He claims to have the serial number and is not looking for a cracked installer, but a regular, vanilla installer. How in any shape or form is this the definition of asking for "leet warez"?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:24 AM on December 10, 2006

The bar for "leet" gets lower every day.
posted by klangklangston at 9:25 AM on December 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

I am surprised there is so much sympathy for Adobe shareholders. I am glad everyone is so quick to protect them.
posted by geoff. at 9:29 AM on December 10, 2006

Down with this sort of thing.

Careful now!

IMG
posted by meehawl at 9:30 AM on December 10, 2006

Considering they have a legit serial, I don't see why they shouldn't just use BitTorrent. Would probably save them a hassle.
posted by reklaw at 9:35 AM on December 10, 2006

We'll usually remove "how can I find leet warez" questions. This did not seem to be one of them.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:39 AM on December 10, 2006

I want to know where to find hawt pr0n involving chickens.
posted by davy at 9:45 AM on December 10, 2006

Obtaining a PS serial # is a trivial matter. 1, there's an app out there called "Serial Box" that has quite a few. 2, all your Adobe serial #'s are in a regular text document called "Adobe Registration Database," that will open in any text editor, so all you need is access to one of these files to nab a serial #. (not that I'm condoning this, but hey.) CS2 is of course protected by activation, which is probably why he was after CS1, which is not.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:48 AM on December 10, 2006

Obtaining a PS serial # is a trivial matter.

But you still have to assume the original poster is lying through his teeth in order to call for a deletion. That may be the case, but you could just as easily take the poster's question and responses at face value and move on. Why not do that?
posted by mediareport at 10:01 AM on December 10, 2006

But you still have to assume the original poster is lying through his teeth in order to call for a deletion. That may be the case, but you could just as easily take the poster's question and responses at face value and move on. Why not do that?

Agreed. Prune the question for links to torrent sites and let the explanatory stuff stand. Even if "gosh, I lost/broke my install discs" is standard neo-pirate rhetoric.
posted by cortex at 10:20 AM on December 10, 2006

Considering they have a legit serial, I don't see why they shouldn't just use BitTorrent. Would probably save them a hassle.

Is that even remotely safe? I mean, isn't there a good chance of the software being Trojaned or jammed with spyware?
posted by delmoi at 10:24 AM on December 10, 2006

Obtaining a PS serial # is a trivial matter. 1, there's an app out there called "Serial Box" that has quite a few. 2, all your Adobe serial #'s are in a regular text document called "Adobe Registration Database," that will open in any text editor, so all you need is access to one of these files to nab a serial #. (not that I'm condoning this, but hey.) CS2 is of course protected by activation, which is probably why he was after CS1, which is not.

CS also uses a windows-XP like "activation" scheme where the use of serial numbers is monitored to keep people from using the same code, or (presumably) leaked codes.
posted by delmoi at 10:26 AM on December 10, 2006

I mean, isn't there a good chance of the software being Trojaned or jammed with spyware?

I'm probably either lucky or stupid, but in 20-odd years I've never picked up a virus or trojan from trying out software.

I've had exactly one virus actually infect my machine the entire time, and have never detected one in a software archive.

I've had P2P programs themselves hose my machine with spyware, I've had trojaned "codec packs" (obtained directly from an HTTP site), I've had IE get hijacked, and I've intercepted numerous viruses, worms and trojans from floppies and emails*, but never from software.

*Note, the overwhelming majority of these infected floppies and emails came from total noobs, and they in turn were most likely infected via unsecured IE, email worms, etc.
posted by loquacious at 10:36 AM on December 10, 2006

furthermore, reputable torrent community sites, and piratebay is one of those, would tend to weed out viruses if they happen, which is still next to never.
posted by shmegegge at 11:20 AM on December 10, 2006

saw a michigan license plate last week that said "1337one". alas, i did not have my camera.
posted by quonsar at 11:25 AM on December 10, 2006

CS also uses a windows-XP like "activation" scheme where the use of serial numbers is monitored to keep people from using the same code, or (presumably) leaked codes.

Incorrect, only CS2 requires activation.
posted by lovejones at 11:56 AM on December 10, 2006

Incorrect, only CS2 requires activation.

Oh. Well, we're talking about CS2 anyway...
posted by delmoi at 12:30 PM on December 10, 2006

(oops, no we're not. Sorry)
posted by delmoi at 12:30 PM on December 10, 2006

I was going to delete it but the answers last night were basically 'call adobe' which is fine
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:39 PM on December 10, 2006

It should, of course, be noted that CS2's activation can be quite easily broken, so even someone asking for CS2 may well be looking for leet warez.
posted by Justinian at 1:42 PM on December 10, 2006

And (gasp) the serial numbers for the student copies are all the same, even if you do register it.
Not that I've used quasi-legal Adobe software or anything...
posted by klangklangston at 2:14 PM on December 10, 2006

delmoi : "I mean, isn't there a good chance of the software being Trojaned or jammed with spyware?"

My experience indicates "no". Random links on sites directly to zip/arj files have a lot of trojans/spyware, but torrents with trojans/spyware stop getting seeded mighty fast, and wither out of existence.

Not saying it's perfectly safe, or anything. There is a chance. But it's a small chance, not a good chance.
posted by Bugbread at 7:48 PM on December 10, 2006

I think even if he has a serial number he could get in trouble using Bittorent for this. As he's downloading (and simultaneously uploading) he would be sharing copyrighted material. I doubt having a legal serial would satisfy anyone who was suing for him for illegal distribution of software sharing.
posted by gfrobe at 2:46 AM on December 11, 2006

Random links on sites directly to zip/arj files have a lot of trojans/spyware, but torrents with trojans/spyware stop getting seeded mighty fast, and wither out of existence.

It's a reputation network effect. Each seed is a vote in favor of the integrity of the file. Less seeded files get transmitted less, amplifying the effect of each vote against bad copies. Neat.
posted by scalefree at 7:46 PM on December 11, 2006

I guess I am either too trusting or have found myself with a damaged/missing install CD more often than most people since I find taking this question at face value to be perfectly reasonable.
posted by phearlez at 11:07 AM on December 12, 2006