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iWork '09 Torrent Carrying OS X Trojan

paanta said:
I'm sure that all the people complaining about piracy don't have a single pirated song in their music library and spent $40K to fill up their iPods. They're not running a hackintosh. They've never violated the DMCA by modifying hardware illegally. They've never shown a DVD to a large group of people. They've never sung Happy Birthday to You in public.

I suspect that most people in the USA violate copyright laws daily, in some form or another.

Not saying piracy isn't "wrong", but saying it's the same as stealing a car? Feh.

Let he who is without sin...
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Those are some strange examples my friend.
Software theft especially via the likes of Torrent is immoral and illegal.
And to quote the Bible as some kind of justification or placebo is plain wrong.
This is black and white law...no grey area here.
Pointing the finger at others and other instances of theft does not negate the act.
 
oldwatery said:
Those are some strange examples my friend.
Software theft especially via the likes of Torrent is immoral and illegal.
And to quote the Bible as some kind of justification or placebo is plain wrong.
This is black and white law...no grey area here.
Pointing the finger at others and other instances of theft does not negate the act.
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Well said.
 
I see a lot of talk about the ethics of piracy and stealing... I'd like to point out that there is a significant difference.

If you go into a store and steal a CD, you are depriving the store of their revenue they could be receiving from that item.

If you are downloading a CD that you think is too expensive and would never have bought because of that anyways, that's piracy. You are not depriving anyone of a sale or revenue as you weren't even considering purchasing it, but you are using something that does not belong to you. It's not legal and it doesn't make it any more right, but there is a difference. People saying that it drives up the prices are not accurate as it does not effect the revenue. Raising the price to make up for pirates doesn't make sense because it doesn't cost them a dime for the copies pirates get in their hands.

Rather than resorting to piracy for something that's too expensive for you, you can resort to OpenSource. Something I do advocate for.
 
ViViDboarder said:
If you go into a store and steal a CD, you are depriving the store of their revenue they could be receiving from that item.

If you are downloading a CD that you think is too expensive and would never have bought because of that anyways, that's piracy.
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So, it's OK to "steal" things that aren't worth buying?

I think that there's a lot of gray here - "would never have bought"? I assume, of course, that everyone has deleted the software and music that they pirated, after determining that it wasn't worth buying. Certainly, if it wasn't worth buying you don't want it wasting space on your Apple.

I bet that a lot of the pirates here would in fact have purchased some software if they hadn't been able to steal it.

And yes, I'll use the word "steal". Intellectual Property (IP) is property. If you take it without compensation to the owner, that is theft. It's a meaningless distinction morally/ethically as to whether you steal a $1000 program on a DVD with a tangible value of about 25 cents, or whether you steal the same bits by downloading them. In both cases, someone is deprived of $1000 for their efforts in creating something that you obviously want.

The laws/language need to recognize that 0's and 1's are property - not something intangible.
 
Thank you guys at MacRumors for posting this. If it wasn't for you, all the bad people out there would be in deep trouble with this Trojan.

I, for one, appreciate the time you took to look out for the people who don't care about anyone else.
 
island said:
I, for one, appreciate the time you took to look out for the people who don't care about anyone else.
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Perhaps we're looking out for the poor, innocent website owners who have been hammered by the denial-of-service attacks orchestrated using these infected machines.
 
ayasinsk said:
Securemac.com has just released a free removal tool for the iWork 09 trojan. I just downloaded and tried it my self and it removed the trojan just fine. Here is the link: http://macscan.securemac.com/files/iWorkServicesTrojanRemovalTool.dmg
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So you admit to stealing iWorks :eek:
What, you can't afford $79?

And how very public spirited of securemac to aid in this illegal action.
You both obviously use and like Apple products, so your actions are puzzling to say the least.
 
WildCowboy said:
Perhaps we're looking out for the poor, innocent website owners who have been hammered by the denial-of-service attacks orchestrated using these infected machines.
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I think the people who created this thing would be attacking the places telling you how to remove it, don't you think?
 
What is "Denial of Services"?

Also, to remove the virus, just download the iWork removal tool from this bittorrent site... hehehehehe
 
Stop being holier than thou

Joelg88 said:
Who ever got there Mac infected with this trojan deserves it. Heck if you need a Office Suite but don't want to pay download NeoOffice.
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Let's try a different example other than music/software...

What are your opinions of people buying prescription drugs from websites, knowing they come from 'iffy' countries outside of the US?

If those people end up getting sick, because the medicine ended up actually being fake, should they not receive help from the 'real' medical community? Are you going to tell them that it is their fault for getting sick, therefore they are on their own to fix it? They should have paid the $80 for the 'real' drugs.

That is what is going on here. These people look to MR as a trusted source of all things Mac. There maybe other websites where they could look for solutions, but saying 'they get what they deserve' is not the right approach either.

If you went to a doctor with an STD (virus/trojan... I had to use the STD example), would you like it if the doctor only treated you if you got it from your spouse? If you were unmarried, then you are SOL?? They are coming to you for help and you are telling them to go get married. That doesn't solve the problem that they currently have.

These people are not looking for your opinion of the best free Office Suite. They, for whatever reason, have the trojan installed and are asking how to get rid of it.
 
Macman08 said:
If you went to a doctor with an STD (virus/trojan... I had to use the STD example), would you like it if the doctor only treated you if you got it from your spouse? If you were unmarried, then you are SOL?? They are coming to you for help and you are telling them to go get married. That doesn't solve the problem that they currently have.
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I agree with part of your statement. But shouldn't the Doctor also try to prevent the behavior from happening again? If someone gets an STD from infidelity, then they should be told they could have prevented this by taking certain precautions.

So if you have downloaded pirated software, there are consequences. Also, advice is being given to prevent it from happening again.

just my 2 cents
 
betaboy78 said:
I agree with part of your statement. But shouldn't the Doctor also try to prevent the behavior from happening again? If someone gets an STD from infidelity, then they should be told they could have prevented this by taking certain precautions.

So if you have downloaded pirated software, there are consequences. Also, advice is being given to prevent it from happening again.
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I agree. I just don't like the 'all or nothing' stance some people are taking.

Go ahead and highlight the consequences of using pirated software (this is what you can get), tell them there are free alternatives out there (tell them some names to search for), but then finish the post with a positive (tell them how to fix their issue).

But there is nothing to stop a trojan like this from happening on a cool 'freeware-of-the-week' program. People need to know that there are friendly/helpful websites (like this one) out there that they can come to for help... especially in the 'SwitchToAMac' era.
 
Macman08 said:
But there is nothing to stop a trojan like this from happening on a cool 'freeware-of-the-week' program. People need to know that there are friendly/helpful websites (like this one) out there that they can come to for help... especially in the 'SwitchToAMac' era.
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I seriously doubt many objectors would have the same attitude if the trojan came from some legitimately distributed freeware or payware.
 
The funny thing is that the user who has posted the torrent with the trojan on piratebay has the username "applel" and has just this torrent available. So it could be really Apple, I mean who would do such thing, and for Apple as a statistc it ain't bad, since the trojans job was to send data and info, which is only good for statistics!
 
There's a lot of people slamming MacRumors for posting this on Page 1, which is ridiculous. The reason given is usually along the lines of "you shouldn't help bad people that download software for free"

Do you think that anyone who uses torrent sites isn't savvy enough to get this news elsewhere? It's literally all over the place. I checked out this torrent today on the site I get music from and in the comments there was a confirmation that copy didn't contain the trojan - that comment was posted a full hour before the story hit MacRumors. Not saying MacRumors was late or anything, but come on, people using private torrent sites communicate with each other, and they do it quickly.

The people MacRumors is looking out for are the people who possibly got this trojan and don't know a torrent from a waterfall.

In this instance, I applaud MacRumors' stance on this issue. It's the right one. A good percentage of the people here are not tinkerers - just look through the help forums and you'll find the level of expertise is low for many people, so having this story on the front page can only help them.

And to all you babies out there - why isn't it enough for you to know that you pay for your software and you're doing the right thing? Why do you also wish for the demise of the Macs belonging to people that you'll never meet? It's completely illogical.
 
I think a lot of posters are broadening this issue to silly ends....doctors and drugs...etc.
This is about people getting nailed for stealing iWorks.
While it might be very positive and nice of MR et al to be helping these folk it does not take away from the fact that they got burned for stealing.
It's not right or nice and does not deserve sympathy from a community that cares about Apple and it's health and success.
I do not wish harm on anyone for any reason and I don't think most of the posters who condemn this action do either, but I also have zero compassion for these perps.
 
oldwatery said:
I think a lot of posters are broadening this issue to silly ends....doctors and drugs...etc.
This is about people getting nailed for stealing iWorks.
While it might be very positive and nice of MR et al to be helping these folk it does not take away from the fact that they got burned for stealing.
It's not right or nice and does not deserve sympathy from a community that cares about Apple and it's health and success.
I do not wish harm on anyone for any reason and I don't think most of the posters who condemn this action do either, but I also have zero compassion for these perps.
Click to expand...

Just wanted to point out that piracy and stealing are not the same things.
 
Just cowboy up!

If you have to make an excuse to feel better about stealing software, you are just trying to numb your good common sense. In deed let he who is without sin cast the first stone.... but Scripture also says if you see your brother about to fall, do you not warn him? bah humbug... if you are using software that sells at any price and you did not pay for it or get it gifted... you stole it! Call stealing by any other name it is still theft.

I think it was clever of whomever to put a poison pill in the download.... Lord God, why not just download clean software from the Apple site.??
 
oldwatery said:
You are kidding right?
Or you're a lawyer :rolleyes:
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Technically he is right. If you don't pay for it, and it wasn't a gift, it's stealing. It also says so in the Bible but that's something to learn on your own.

Keep in mind those are not my beliefs; I am just a atheist and a criminal.
 
TheSpaz said:
What is "Denial of Services"?
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Where you flood a client an addresses that doesn't exist and it keeps trying to connect to them and then overflows.

I always assumed DoS attacks were related to Windows though...was an old tool gamers used to prevent others from playing - DoS attack on the port that the online game used and they'd be able to do nothing web related until the port was closed or the DoS timed out eventually.

Oh, DoS attacks are highly illegal too and if caught, you can expect the full force of the "web" law. Course, being caught is hard especially when you can trigger attacks by methods like this.
 
iworks is only $80!!!!

I feel no simpathy for people who torrent it and got something on their computer. Seriously, $80???????????????? with a purchase of a mac -$30.

I'm happy i buy all my apps.
 
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