The Pirates Manifesto, 10

Pirate's Manifesto X - Released on August 9 1994 - My gawd how time flies.... we are already at the TENTH issue of the Pirate's Manifesto and I am still humbled by how many disk magazines and group newsletters have adopted these into their publications... Glad you guys are enjoying em ! TODAYS TOPIC : ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Clark Development Declares War on Pirates and all other misguided creatures that have helped to make PCBoard 15.1 the choice BBS software of the pirate underworld... ITEMS TO READ : ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a. Unedited copy of FILES.RLS taken directly off Salt Air BBS ( the WHQ of PC Board ) b. Unedited CHAT with one of the anonymous sysops on Salt Air. PRELUDE : It's all pretty funny when you think about it. Ever since Chicken over in Switzerland found a way to decompile PPE files the pirates and weekend hackers have been REGISTERING and altering every damn PPE file they could get their hands on. Naturally enough, some well meaning PD sysops thought all these hacked PPE files were new warez and so they uploaded them to SALT AIR BBS, the HQ for PCBoard As you can imagine this went over like a ton of shit with the boyz at Clark Development who were shocked at just how many hacked and pirate originated PPE files were floating around. Gadzoooks thought Clark.. this means those nasty pirates must all be using our software to run their pirate bulletin boards... DOH ! Suddenly a scary thought came into Clarks head... we must ban all sight of these pirated PPE files or else our lamo sysops who pay us big bucks for our BBS software might go and join forces with the pirate guys to get free PPE's or worst still, maybe free copies of PC Board 15.2 Beta's hahaaahhaha So on July 22nd Clark Development put the following POLICY into place and advised all the humble and meek sysops who have access to their board of this significant change in their policy. The following is the UNEDITED TEXT that was placed on Salt Air : ----* CLARKS DECLARATION OF WAR BEGINS *------- In an attempt to control pirate-oriented uploads to this system, the following file guidelines have been implemented. This policy is effective as of July 21, 1994. 1) All file uploads will be forced private. After review, they will be moved to the appropriate file areas on the board. 2) Archive files containing references to piracy, or pirate activity in ANY file contained within the archive will be deleted, and a message left to the individual who uploaded the file. Some of the more common references include: Lamerz or Lamers; PWA (Pirates With Attitude); Electronic Rats, etc.. After 2 warnings for violation of these guide- lines, the user account's upload privilege will be suspended. For a first suspension (after two warnings) the suspension period is 6 months. A second suspension is permanent. 3) File descriptions in mixed upper/lower case letters, such as "iNTeRZoNe" are also associated with piracy/pirate activity and will not be permitted on this system. 4) Logon Matrix-type utilities are typically associated with pirates/pirate activity. While they may be used on non-pirate boards, the reason they were initially developed was to promote piracy/pirate activity. They are not permitted on this system. 5) Freeware files must include source code or valid contact information for the author. Shareware files must include valid contact information for the author. No program that provides an alias for the author name will be permitted. 6) Any upload of commercial software, cracked software, registration- number/key file generators, personal/private registration keys, personal/private serial numbers, or registration defeat instructions will result in immediate and permanent suspension of the user account's upload privilege. Third party authors with support conferences on Salt Air may arrange to have the ability to post files that are immediately available for download if the files are uploaded within their own conference. It requires that uploads be disabled within that conference to anyone but the author, and people specifically authorized by the author. If you are a third party author who wishes to implement this in your conference, please leave a message to Scott Carpenter on the Salt Air BBS, and include a list of the individuals who would be authorized to upload in your conference. Please note: If you authorize public uploads within a support conference, you are responsible for all public uploads in that area. An upload that violates the above-listed guidelines may result in the removing of ALL public upload ability in that specific conference. --* END OF THE CLARK POLICY TEXT *--- HALF-TIME CONCLUSIONS : ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Actually, their policy is pretty funny and almost hilarious to the point of being racist..... Please note in particular the manner by which CLARK will identify which files are those originating from pirate sources.... it is beyond ridiculous... almost like some total lamer attempting to describe how to spot a pirate. DOH... pirates wRiTe LiKe ThIs AlL tHe TiMe.... DoH! Gee I wonder when will Clark start asking for photographs of all the users on their BBS so they can spot the ones with patches on the eye and parrots on their phucking shoulders...... FOOLS ! I thought this change in policy was pretty funny so I signed onto Salt Air as Yankel, the guy who writes the CHATBOX program ( Yes I hacked his account, don't blame him ) and got the sysop into Chat mode to discuss this. The following is a capture buffer of that conversation : A CHAT WITH THE SYSOP OF SALT AIR BBS - the plot is exposed... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SYSOP : How you doing... YANKEL : Not too baggy... just was reading that FILES.RLS that was posted YANKEL : on the board. Glad you guys are cracking down on those damn pir8s SYSOP : Yah it was long overdue ;) They even tried to upload a cracked SYSOP : of your ChatBox 3.0. You just had released it and already they SYSOP : were trying to upload a registration key for it. YANKEL : I know. I am depressed. I was going to kill myself. Seems like YANKEL : no protection I can invent will stop those scum ! SYSOP : Well don't worry we are taking measures in hand to bring an end SYSOP : to the theft of our product and the theft of all those programs SYSOP : written by brilliant authors such as yourself. YANKEL : Thanks... I am blushing hehehehehe. So what you gonna do ? SYSOP : We took all the phone numbers we found in the pirated PPE and SYSOP : and PCB Utililities and gave them to two summer students that SYSOP : we hired. They are calling up all those bulletin boards and SYSOP : writing down the serial numbers of the bulletin boards if they SYSOP : running our software. If the serial numbers don't jive we are SYSOP : sending the cops to take those systems down. I don't care if SYSOP : they have only PD on their boards. If their advertisements are SYSOP : in stolen or pirated software designed to run on PCB than their SYSOP : going to be going out of business ! YANKEL : Good plan. But what about those pirate dudes that mask their YANKEL : serial numbers with programs that overwrite the PCB serial YANKEL : number ??????????? SYSOP : Their toast. Our licensing does not permit legitimate owners SYSOP : to deface or alter the serial number. They are in violation of SYSOP : their licensing agreement. They will be forced to remove the SYSOP : software from their system and repurchase a new copy if they SYSOP : did not keep a copy with their serial number on it. YANKEL : Good plan. I see you guys have things pretty well covered. And YANKEL : so you hired students just to call bulletin boards all summer. YANKEL : Shit you should have called me ! That would have been a great way YANKEL : to pick up a few bucks this summer. < ANDY (10) ENTERS THE CHANNEL > SYSOP : Wait a sec... < CHANNEL MADE PRIVATE > < ANDY (10) REMOVED FROM PRIVATE CHANNEL > YANKEL : Hahahhahahhahaha that's hilarious ahhahahhahaha SYSOP : LAMER ahahhha. Owns a 3 node copy and thinks he owns this place YANKEL : So where were we.. oh yah the students SYSOP : Hey they even get to travel. When we take some of these guys to SYSOP : court these students will be the ones who have to go to court to SYSOP : give evidence that the owner of that phone number and bulletin SYSOP : board had software that did not belong to them and was not SYSOP : registered with our company. YANKEL : Shit! Travel and spending days on BBSes. What a tough life. This YANKEL : must be costing you guys quite a few bucks SYSOP : Not as much as we are losing in credibility with the software SYSOP : developers who support PCB with all those brilliant utils and SYSOP : game doors they write for us. Also you got to look at how many SYSOP : of these pirate bulletin boards are running our software. It is SYSOP : INSANE. There are thousands of pirated PCB bulletin boards out SYSOP : there. We are losing credibility and money. It had to be stopped YANKEL : Welp I am glad to see that things are under control and in good YANKEL : hands. I will be able to sleep better knowing you guys are taking YANKEL : this stuff real seriously. SYSOP : Ha. We know we will never be able to stop it. But at least the SYSOP : pirates will know we are serious about taking them down ! Maybe SYSOP : they will all go rushing to pirate Galacticom HAHAHAHA YANKEL : Please not on an empty stomach ! SYSOP : Yah.. you got that right. Did you see their latest version ? What SYSOP : a pile of crud. They need to spend a few days phoning their own SYSOP : bulletin board to see just how awkward and clumsy it is. Frankly I SYSOP : get totally lost when I call one of them YANKEL : Hehhehehe got that right. So have your two students caught any YANKEL : of those big time pirates yet ? SYSOP : Can't say much about that. They work in another wing of the offices SYSOP : and report to Michael. But I know they have been putting in long SYSOP : days and nights in this little project. YANKEL : Hehhehhehe... well hopefully they are not using their time leeching YANKEL : files off all those pirate boards for themselves... SYSOP : Not likely. Ok. I got to run. Anything else I can help you with YANKEL : Nah, just wanted to say hi and see how things were going. Time to YANKEL : get back to working on this PCB 15.2 Beta I picked up. SYSOP : Hmmmmmm I don't remember you being on the Beta list ?????????? YANKEL : Oh gee... this must be a pirated copy hehehhehe just joking.. bye! -------* END OF CHAT BUFFER *--------- THE CONCLUSION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well I for one will not lose any sleep over these antics by CLARK Development. But I do find it hilarious when you sit back and see just how foolish some folks are and to what lengths they will go to keep the almighty dollars rolling along. My theory is that Clark would have been better off spending the money they are wasting on two students, their phone calls and their travel to REDUCE THE PRICE OF PC BOARD ! Next to Galacticomm it is one of the most overpriced pieces of software on the market. But hey, what the hell would I know about such things as marketing. Draw your own conclusions about how the pirate community must handle this change in policy at Clark Development. As for me I am just going to ignore them and laugh at how stupid they were for putting it all into a file called 'FILES.RLS' PS : If anyone doubts this information or its accuracy, than I suggest they call Salt Air BBS and download FILES.RLS direct from the source. Til Next time...... Yours truly - TC - ( you know i never give away my handle in these things ) And yes I am back again on Mirage. It turns out they caught the guy who was passing around that file listing and user list of those people who were in the private kiddie porn conference and my good name was cleared. So you can reach me on Mirage or on Assasins Guild if you want autographs or want me to sign some multimillion dollar book deals. Last minute greets to Chicken of Switzerland. If they gave a prize to the pirate/coder/hacker of the Year, you would have my vote. Your PPLD was the single most important file that was released in 1994 - Believe it !