MethLabs Shuts out PeerGuardian 186
Lost&Confused writes to tell us Slyck News is reporting that most of Methlabs.org administration and development staff have been forced out of their own website. For the time being PeerGuardian is being hosted on sourceforge. However, users are advised to stop using the Methlabs.org and Blocklist.org hosted blocklists in favor of the Bluetack list until they can sort things out.
How.... (Score:1)
Re:How.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Basically, the guys who were in charge of administering the money and servers slowly took over. Now they're claiming ownership of everything.
Re:How.... (Score:2)
And without hearing from both sides, who's to say that they aren't correct?
News To Me (Score:4, Insightful)
"UPDATE: William Erwin, now confirmed as the hijacker, has posted news on Methlabs.org, claiming the hijacking news is false and stems from a revolt by former team members.
However, after speaking to the Methlabs team and various connected members of the community, P2Pnet, SuprNova and Slyck can all confirm that the original story that the domain has been hijacked is genuine."
The reporter has "heard from both sides", and said that the Methlabs team is correct. That's what real reporters do: they find all the sides of a story, decide which version is the most correct, and tell the story. They don't just report "he said / she said", which reduces the reporter and the publication to puny PR outlets for anyone with a version of the story, no matter how self-serving.
That's not to say the reporter's version is the most correct, or even correct at all. But that's what separates good reporters from bad ones: their skill at finding the most accurate story version. And then telling it so readers get the most accurate version of the story in our heads. Good journalists back up their judgements with representative quotes and descriptions of evidence to bolster the reader's confidence in their version. Really good journalists make good judgements and back it up, earning the ongoing confidence of their readers.
We still all need to take any story from where it comes. Which is why it helps to read some reporters for a long time, to understand their track record, their blind spots, biases, vested interests, and insights. We've watched "journalism" turn into a farce precisely because we no longer expect the journalist to use good judgement in reporting, highlighting what they find to be true. We expect journalists to be "objective" to the extent that the journalist disappears, acting only as a stenographer for whoever gets access to them as a channel for that interested party. Which is worse than useless.
This reporter, on this little story, in a little tech backwater, is exercising exactly the professionalism that most of the people in their industry wouldn't recognize if it faced them across an interview desk.
Re:News To Me (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:News To Me (Score:2)
Definitions of reporter [google.com] on the Web:
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn [princeton.edu]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporter [wikipedia.org]
Definitions of journalist [google.com] on the Web:
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn [princeton.edu]
Re:Doc... (Score:2)
Then there are "sources", which can be primary (in the events), secondary (interacted with primary), or tertiary+ (records or consumers/repeaters of records of the story). Sources can be humans, or even machines - the
Re:News To Me (Score:2)
Re:Reporting vs. Editorializing (Score:2)
Re:How.... (Score:1, Informative)
As for fire the guy...they aren't a business or anything. Maybe you should read up a little more on the situation.
Re:How.... (Score:2)
Hard to get good help these days, I guess.
Re:How.... (Score:2)
Re:How.... (Score:2)
Re:How.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How.... (Score:2, Interesting)
(Background: cerberius, a.k.a. William Erwin, is the one who they claim "hijacked" methlabs.org. Cerberius, eremini, fox, and Gambit2011 were claimed to be on one side, with the rest of the devs, and the "owner", on the other. Gambit2011 posted to take himself off that list.)
(reference URL: http:// [slyck.com]
Methlabs front page ... (Score:2)
I really like the first sentence, saying some member revolted against the whole P2P community...
Either the poster is really trying to cover his back, or he is rally in the middle of something...
"Methlabs Update
September 16th, 2005 by Administrator
Dear Methlabs and P2P Community,
Recently, we had several former staff members revolt against the entire P2P community as a whole. They tried to sabatoge Methlabs and attempt
Re:Methlabs front page ... (Score:3, Insightful)
"Please don't look for the software or support anywhere else, because even though they might be legit, I won't be able to control those other sites."
N.
Re: (Score:2)
Now we know where Michael Sims is (Score:2, Funny)
One of those things about the open source crowd... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:One of those things about the open source crowd (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone have advice on keeping this from happening again, to us or other OSS groups?
Re:One of those things about the open source crowd (Score:5, Informative)
Give all assets that you want to protect to the LLC.
Distribute ownership of the LLC among ALL memebers, and require license changes/ownership changes/policy changes/domain changes, etc, either unanimous consent or a 2/3 (maybe 3/4) vote.
Fundamentally, the purpose of a business 'shell', in any small organization, is to put your assets in one place so that no one can legally mismanage them.
If, for example, methlabs.org had been the property of methlabs, LLC, and the administrator tried to boot you off, you could send an e-mail to your registrar from the 'director' of the LLC, indicating that the administrator was not acting in the interest of the LLC. You send them the *signed* (can be signed electronically, using the US gov't standard, which is a bit silly \ \ ) LLC articles of incorporation, showing either that the administrator member had no right to do that, OR that he wasn't a member of the LLC.
Then they hand you the 'keys' to the castle, so to speak.
Re:One of those things about the open source crowd (Score:2, Informative)
The difference between a corporation (Inc.) and limited liability company (LLC) is subtle but important. A corporation is a perpetual entity, so if a founding member dies, no problem. But if a founding member of an LLC dies, that pretty much ends the
Re:One of those things about the open source crowd (Score:2)
For example, this state revenue document, in Illinois, refers to Limited Liability Corporation on page 13: http://www.revenue.state.il.us/LegalInformation/up ia2005.pdf [state.il.us]
IIRC, depending on the state, you can define what happens to the LLC when a member dies in the articles o
Re:One of those things about the open source crowd (Score:2)
Re:One of those things about the open source crowd (Score:3, Informative)
I've done this many times.
You'll have to find/pay a registered agent unless you can find an address/phone number in state. This is usually under a hundred dollars per year.
Re:One of those things about the open source crowd (Score:2)
Re:One of those things about the open source crowd (Score:2)
Re:One of those things about the open source crowd (Score:5, Interesting)
1. Form the LLC anyways. Use the name, MethLabs LLC
File a cybersquatting request. Even if you loose, its not a bad way to go. If you can show you started the project, you'll be in *really* good shape, I think. As far as I know, if you have a business name, you are virtually guaranteed the domain name. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Emphasize that its a *security* site. ICANN generally frowns on people trying to subvert security software.
2. Trademark the term "Peerguardian". This costs about ~$400. You may have to take a collection for this. Then, you can pretty reliably prevent him from using that term on methlabs.org.
A trademark will help you achieve number 1, above, and virtually guarantees number 3, below.
3. Sue in small claims court. Make sure to sue in *his* state, but not necessarily his jurisdiction. Even if you don't get the domain back, claim the maximum (usually $3000) in damage. The loss of your projects domain name is easily worth much, much more, but $3000 should be fairly easy to start up again with (pays Domain fees hosting fees LLC fees, etc. .
Small claims court usually only takes a day of work, and the filing fees are pretty small, too. Even if he doesn't pay, you can enter a judgement against him, have the pleasure of actually employing a creditor FOR you (not against
Plus, small claims judges are big on practical issues. They don't like to see people get screwed, and generally side with the abused party.
What an asshole! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:What an asshole! (Score:2)
"Need a fix? Come to Methlabs.org and search out your local lab! We even offer a subscriber service to alert you when your preferred meth labs have been raided by the police!"
Re:What an asshole! (Score:2)
Dude, methlabs.google.com [slashdot.org] is so last week.
Re:What an asshole! (Score:2, Insightful)
(just being paranoid)
Re:What an asshole! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What an asshole! (Score:5, Interesting)
But didn't he realize that the developers would have backup copies of the site and just set up a new site elsewhere?
I've seen this thing happen with small companies. They recruit a couple of software architects to get the core software written. Once they get the software developed they give the architects the boot, and hire cheap graduates to do any customisation.
Hijacked! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hijacked! (Score:3, Funny)
Hmm (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Hmm (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Interesting)
UPDATE: William Erwin, now confirmed as the hijacker, has posted news on Methlabs.org, claiming the hijacking news is false and stems from a revolt by former team members.
However, after speaking to the Methlabs team and various connected members of the community, P2Pnet, SuprNova and Slyck can all confirm that the original story that the domain has been hijacked is genuine.
PeerGuardian users are advised to stop using the Methlabs.org and Blocklist.org hosted blocklists in favor
Re:Hmm (Score:2, Informative)
http://bluetack.co.uk/config/sources.txt [bluetack.co.uk]
PG,http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/ads-trackers-a nd-bad-pr0n.txt,Ad [bluetack.co.uk] Trackers,0,Ads Ad-Trackers and Bad Porn
PG,http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/level1.txt,Lev el [bluetack.co.uk] 1,0,Level 1 Basic Blocklist
PG,http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/level2.txt,Lev el [bluetack.co.uk] 2 Corp,0,Level 2 Corporate Ranges
PG,http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/bogon.txt,Bogo n [bluetack.co.uk] Ranges,0,Bogon Addresses List
PG,http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/dshield.txt,DS hield [bluetack.co.uk] Recommended,0,DShield Blockl
Dupe! (Score:5, Interesting)
Not really. But it sounds almost exactly the same as what Michael Sims, the Slashdot editor, did to the Censorware Project [sethf.com].
Expecting a bitchslap in 5... 4... 3...
Consider the jihad (Score:5, Funny)
In Sacred Jihad,
jihadi_31337
Ironically... (Score:5, Funny)
A group of like-minded people pool their resources within an abandoned house to create something and inevitably one of them puts a padlock on the formerly abandoned house to keep it all for himself.
Re:Ironically... (Score:2)
Re:Ironically... (Score:2)
Product Explanation? (Score:1)
Re:Product Explanation? (Score:5, Informative)
PeerGuardian and PeerGuardian 2 are free and open source software firewalls capable of blocking incoming and outgoing IP addresses. The application uses a blocklist of IP addresses to filter the computers of several organisations, including the RIAA and MPAA while using filesharing networks such as FastTrack and BitTorrent. The system is also capable of blocking advertising, spyware, government and educational ranges, depending upon user preferences.
Re:Product Explanation? (Score:2, Interesting)
And besides - Isn't poor secuirity at least a little better than no security?
Re:Product Explanation? (Score:2)
No security and no need for it is better than depending on poor security. I don't know about him, but one reason I avoid P2P is because it's too risky.
Re:Product Explanation? (Score:2)
Re:Product Explanation? (Score:2)
Malware I might accept, but why the comment about the RIAA or the MPAA? I have no problem with them. They have no need to snoop my computer, and I have no need to be interested in their products.
Re:Product Explanation? (Score:2)
I only run Windows to play games.
Tell me, do you honestly need peerguardian? Do you and your mates download illegal content and need to be protected from the *IAA? If so maybe you should consider dedicating a few more % of your CPU to erasing your ISP's logs.
Sneaker net works great for me.
Re:Product Explanation? (Score:2)
What is "real" security? Security is not a fixed state, it's a set of layers and processes. PG is one layer and it +is+ effective.
The 3rd party companies have names and IP spaces...
Does PeerGuardian really work? (Score:2)
Re:Does PeerGuardian really work? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Does PeerGuardian really work? (Score:3, Insightful)
Indeed, I loaded the safepeer plugin for azureus a few days ago (correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it uses the peerguardian list) and the console is just FULL of blocked connections. I was a little shocked at the number.
However, looking through the logs, I wonder if it's being overly aggressive. It seems like it's blocking, for instance, all government addresses, and lots of 'private customer' addresses at major ISPs. Perhaps I'm just misunderstanding the classification categories?
I don't actually
Re:Does PeerGuardian really work? (Score:4, Informative)
Oh well. We'll recover.
Re:Does PeerGuardian really work? (Score:2)
Or do you mean they're just aiming to reduce the usability of the network, without regard to whether the nodes they're 'jamming' are engaged in distributing legally redistributable files or not?
Re:Does PeerGuardian really work? (Score:2)
Still suspect this block list is a bit overly aggressive though, I think I'm filtering around 75% of the address-space.
A question... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm reluctant to update my lists using either source at the moment until it's cleared up. The plan for me is to keep the status quo until told otherwise from a reputable source.
I have a problem though; I have two main computers I use regularly and one of them was last updated on the 11th of September, the other on the 14th of September. The $64,000 question is:
Which of my computers, if any, are using reputable blocklists?
I don't know when this coup was started and thus I don't know at what stage we were supposed to stop trusting the auto-updating. I've already turned off my auto-updating for PG2 on both computers but I'd like some info on whether my current lists have been 'tainted.' By the sounds of it, this was a bit of a 'slow mutiny' so I'm somewhat paranoid that the lists may have been compromised far earlier than say, a week ago and thus this is all null and void. Needless to say, we just don't know at the moment.
Any info from some reputable PG2 personnel (I've seen you guys post here before, PS - love your work! I donate!) would go a very, very long way.
Re:A question... (Score:5, Informative)
Bluetack may go a bit overkill on who they block on their lists, but they are generally trusted by the community. We'd rather users setup PeerGuardian to use our competitors lists than use possibly unsafe lists from a compromised server.
We setup instructions [sf.net] to switch to the Bluetack lists if anyone is interested.
Re:A question... (Score:3, Interesting)
Are you 100% certain that a September 09 backup is safe?
Update on the Methlabs.org site (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=913 [slyck.com]
Methlabs Update
September 16th, 2005 by Administrator
"Dear Methlabs and P2P Community,
Recently, we had several former staff members revolt against the entire P2P community as a whole. They tried to sabatoge Methlabs and attempted to wipe the Methlabs server of all its data.
Unfortunately, they gained access to site backups. In doing so, your passwords may have been compromised, although they are MD5 encrypted. We would like to you login to the Methlabs forums (http://methlabs.org/forums/ [methlabs.org]) and change your password. We sincerely apologize for this issue. As of right now, the Methlabs site is back online, although forum posts from the past month have been lost.
Since all the data was stolen by former staff members, YOU MAY RECIEVE FAKE EMAILS that look like they are from Methlabs. If they do not come from the Methlabs.org domain and from our email servers, DO NOT BELIEVE THEM.
We assure you that Methlabs development will continue, and ALL OFFICIAL PROGRAMS MUST be downloaded directly from Methlabs.org . Assume that all other sites contain spyware or malicious code which may not be directly trusted.
To update everyone on the current situation, there has been some news going around the Internet of a revolt which happened in Methlabs. This is hearsay. The current real news is that PeerGuardian development and Blocklist development is on schedule, and Blocklist should be out of Beta within the next week or so.
Please spread the word that Methlabs.org is ALIVE and DO NOT believe or TRUST any emails that do not come directly from Methlabs.org and our mail servers. These emails are from disgruntled staff members trying to hurt the P2P community as a whole.
We apoligize for the current situation. Please visit http://methlabs.org/ [methlabs.org] for OFFICIAL updates, and help us spread the word!
- The Methlabs Team"
Re:Update on the Methlabs.org site (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, that's a really believable line. The site has obviously been hijacked.
Re:Update on the Methlabs.org site (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Update on the Methlabs.org site (Score:5, Funny)
Really? Hey guys, I think I got one, but I'm not sure this one isn't for real:
Dear Sir:
I have been requested by the Methlabs and P2P Company to contact you for assistance in resolving a matter. The Methlabs and P2P Company has recently concluded a revolution where several high ranking members of the Company attempted to wipe the company servers of data and abscond with funds totalling $400 gazillion dollars. It is of uptmost concern to us that these funds not find their way into the hands of revolutionaries and so we ask your assistance.
You assistance is requested as a non-Methlabs member to assist the Methlabs and P2P Company, and also the Peerguardian Community, in moving these funds out of Methlabs. If the funds can be transferred to your name, in your United States account, then you can forward the funds as directed by the Methlabs and P2P Company. In exchange for your accomodating services, the Methlabs and P2P Company would agree to allow you to retain 10%, or US$4 million of this amount.
However, to be a legitimate transferee of these moneys according to ICANN law, you must presently be a depositor of at least US$100,000 in a Nigerian bank which is regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
If it will be possible for you to assist us, we would be most grateful. We suggest that you meet with us in person on the forums, and that during your visit I introduce you to the representatives of the Methlabs and P2P Company, as well as with certain officials of the PeerGuardian community.
Please call me at your earliest convenience at [Phone Number]. Time is of the essence in this matter; very quickly the revolutionaries will realize that the server backup was intact and will attempt to transfer it to another domain.
Yours truly, etc.
Did other members get an email like this? (Score:4, Insightful)
The majority of the Methlabs.org administration and development team have been forced out of their website following a series of threats and incidents. The member of the group that had been trusted to handle the finances and servers slowly managed to take over each individual part of the web site's assets, eventually claiming control over the entire group and locking out the majority of staff.
The organisation's founders, Tim Leonard and Ken McKelland, as well as the majority of the organisation's staff and developers (including the main developer of the PeerGuardian2 application, Cory Nelson and the staff members responsible for auditing the PeerGuardian Blocklists) have all been forcibly removed from the servers that were funded from donations given to the organisation by happy users, and from text advertising placed on the websites forum and project pages.
The money, which was to have been used to help fund the development and hosting costs of the group is now unavailable, stolen by the one who was trusted to keep it.
Development of PeerGuardian will resume, and the website will temporarily move to http://peerguardian.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net] until a new domain is registered and a new server found. The intention of the group is to register a non-profit organisation to handle the development of Methlabs applications and to promote open source projects that aid both security, privacy and peer-to-peer technologies, in order to prevent a repeat of this incident.
The team wish all their users the best through this difficult time, but promise that development will continue. Please visit http://peerguardian.sf.net/ [sf.net] for news as we make progress. All other sites, including http://methlabs.org/ [methlabs.org] and http://blocklist.org/ [blocklist.org] are under control of the rogue member and should not be trusted for safe updates to our applications or lists.
A new build of PeerGuardian will be released soon to reflect these changes. Until then we ask you to continue using Beta 6a but with caution as the update servers are no longer under our control.
All staff are available in irc.freenode.net, channel #methlabs if you wish to chat.
Thanks, The Methlabs Staff (looking for a new home) -----
Adam Hoier, Cory Nelson, Eric Mayuk, Fox Lowe, James Shanelec, Joseph Farthing, Ken McKelland, Steffen Tuzar, Tim Leonard
aka
braindancer, D3F, fox, FuRiOuS1, JFM, KuKIE, method, phrosty, r00ted"
Re:Update on the Methlabs.org site (Score:3, Insightful)
"To update everyone on the current situation, there has been some news going around the Internet of a revolt which happened in Methlabs. This is hearsay."
Say what? Was there a revolt or wasn't there? The other side's story isn't self-contradictory.
"We assure you that Methlabs development will continue, and ALL OFFICIAL P
Re:Update on the Methlabs.org site (Score:2)
Nor is this. It's not very well written, I'll grant you, but I think it's clear enough that what it's saying is basically "some of them left and then revolted against the rest of us. You have probably heard that I revolted against everyone else, and I deny that."
Sources for who to trust and not to trust in this. (Score:2, Insightful)
Officially, according to the founders of the community, their lead article writer, almost all senior administrators and the software developer of PeerGuardian 2... methlabs.org was hijacked.
peerguardian.sourceforge.net IS trustworthy.
(it's where the developers, founders, etc. are saying to
"login ... and change your password" = danger (Score:5, Insightful)
Without knowing any details, it's hard to know which party in this situation is the malicious one (possibly both). But this message on the methlabs.org blog [methlabs.org] is causing the Lost-In-Space-Robot in my head to wave its arms madly [wikipedia.org]:
If the webmaster is telling the truth, this is an innocuous request. [Of course, sufficiently strong passwords will survive precomputed hash attacks [passcracking.com], and it's still pretty hard to brute-force MD5 hashes (even given recent weaknesses).] However, if the webmaster is malicious, this is no different than a PayPal phishing scam: "Come visit our website (the legitimacy of which is, at best, in doubt) and enter your old password on a Web form. Go ahead, enter a new one, too. Thanks."
The right thing to do in this case, where you have multiple parties which may all be malicious and some of which may have your passwords, in plaintext or hashed format, is probably to stop using those passwords immediately. If you use that forum password elsewhere, change it elsewhere. As for methlabs.org, the safest course of action is probably to wait and see who the good guys are before typing any passwords in, old or new.
Attack of the PeerGuardian Robots (Score:5, Funny)
We are here to protect you
We are here to protect you from the terrible secret of PeerGuardian
Do not trust the Methlabs Robot. He is malfunctioning
Do not trust the Sourceforge robot. He is inferior.
Re:Attack of the PeerGuardian Robots (Score:2)
-
Re:Attack of the PeerGuardian Robots (Score:2)
Report immediately to the clone activation center for replacement activation.
Thank you. The computer is your friend.
Nice biased summary (Score:1)
Re:Nice biased summary (Score:2)
Re:Nice biased summary (Score:2)
Re:Nice biased summary (Score:2)
Too Bad... Sooo Sad...Another CDDB (Score:2)
Many of the mistakes can be put down to them assuming whois.sc IP location is current, when in fact much of it's historical.
I was getting frustrated trying to get a couple of updates done, but there are 100's of mislabelled/ named IP ranges yet to be addressed. It's now obvious why nothing was being done.
If the blocklist isn't going to be updated regularly and w
the problem with "news" sites (Score:2, Interesting)
...is that we really don't know who to believe, especially since nobody has bothered to the things journalists do. Like go out and interview people, corroborate stories, and so on.
We get:
"However, after speaking to the Methlabs team and various connected members of the community, P2Pnet, SuprNova and Slyck can all confirm that the original story that the domain has been hijacked is genuine"
So "Slyck News" is claiming they've done so- but they haven't given any names, quotes, or details as to how the
Sue (Score:5, Insightful)
MPAA/RIAA (Score:3, Interesting)
context plz (Score:3, Insightful)
Now that they're divided (Score:2)
Not so secure (Score:2)
Re:I've got a better idea (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I've got a better idea (Score:2)
Re:I've got a better idea (Score:2)
Re:I've got a better idea (Score:4, Informative)
Also, I don't know how you can believe that blacklists are useless. I'm down to only about a spam a day, despite my current primary e-mail address being listed all over the internet for years now. Obviously, your choice of blacklists is important, and using other metrics as well helps.
Besides that, the forces at work in P2P spam are completely different than that of e-mail spam. I can vouch for the PeerGuardian blacklist being extremely effective at blocking probably 99% of P2P spam, and making that last 1% look far less legitimate, and far less likely to be selected.
Re:I've got a better idea (Score:2)
If PeerGuardian doesn't block spam, just connections to you via IP ranges, I'm interested in an open source e-mail client independent solution (i.e. like a proxy?) for spam blocking via common blacklists. Anyone know such a product?
Re:I've got a better idea (Score:2)
OK, as you and others have pointed out, I was totally ignorant about PeerGuardian. mea culpa; I should have RTFA more carefully.
As far as email blacklists go, though, I can show you to set them up so that even your one spam a day is gone. :-) Seriously, performance metrics for spam filtering of any kind are hard to get right. I've never seen a blacklist where the false-positive rate was acceptably low and the filtering on hard spam was usefully high, but I'd love to find out I was wrong about that too.
Re:I've got a better idea (Score:2)
bl.spamcop.net
cn.rbl.cluecentral.net
korea.services.net
sbl.spamhaus.org
l1.spews.dnsbl.sorbs.net
Those lists cover the majority of the spam I recieve.
Re:No honour amongst theives. (Score:2)
But it bothers me that you cite ethics. Ethics is not synonymous with the law. The whole notion of "intellectual property" in modern economies could be argued as unethical. The law, generally, conveniences tho
Re:No honour amongst theives. (Score:4, Interesting)
And, no, you don't get a specific vote on copyright law. You didn't get a specific vote on a bunch of things. You live in a republic, not a democracy. The last TRUE democracy was ancient Greece, where they voted on near everything, and things didn't turn out so well for them
My point (and I really don't see why it was labelled 'off topic'... even 'flamebait' might have been more accurate) was that P2P communities are rife with people that just want their free stuff, and they don't give a damn who they hurt. So, it should be NO surprise that one of them turned against the PeerGuardian developers. William wanted his free stuff - where 'stuff' here meant the methlabs.org site - and he didn't give a damn who he hurt.
No surprise whatsoever.
If one wants to deal only with ethical people, don't create programs that will attract a highly disproportionate amount of unethical people.
Re:No honour amongst theives. (Score:2)
Then just call it 'rape' - it's certainly a shorter word than 'theft' (so you don't have to type an extra character) and just as appropriate.
When will these statements go away from /.? The 2 notions, as they are most often referred to, are not mutually exclusive - you can have a democratic republic.
Re:No honour amongst theives. (Score:2)
Likewise, just ebcause copyright infringement is illegal, does
Re:No honour amongst theives. (Score:2)
And, frankly, the 'sabotage' that PeerGuardian is trying to work around is the sabotage caused by the copyright holders (or their agents) to try and make P2P less effective in the illegal distribution of copyright materials. So, frankly, they don't score "ethics" points at all.
So... perhaps a decent analogy is worth
Re:No honour amongst theives. (Score:2)
btw i reject your simplistic idea that people who use P2P to commit copyright infringement are not also capable of honest and ethical behaviour. (besides, they may admit that their actions are illegal, but have decided they are not immo
Re:Seems both sides are accusing the other. (Score:2)