Every other post.
Well, I was manually adding the porn sites that had been surfed with the proxy to a ban filter.
Then it hit me. 99% of all sites visited with the proxy was porn. Over 7,000 requests to one particular porn topsite alone. Alot of it of Iranian/Persian origin.
To add insult to injury, a commentator claimed that he would completely disreguard my situation, despite this last plea, and keep abusing the service.
So whats the point of keeping it up?
Proxy is down. Permanently.
I went to purchase a copy of GTA:San Andreas today, which for those who aren’t aware is a very popular sequel in a series of blockbuster video games.
Electronic Boutique informed me that the shipment would arrive later that day. FutureShop on the other hand was more fun. The sales rep. was lying through his teeth! So I called up Futureshop with Skype to try to get him to say the same things again… and he did.
Unfortunately, the recording portion failed – only my voice was recorded, not that of the other person speaking.
But a few quotes:
GTA:San Andreas [for] PC was pushed back by XBox to tomorrow [June 8th]. The June 7th release date is the American release.
To which I replied that in the Canadian flyer, the release date was stated as June 7th. And of course, the true release date is June 7th: Its a simultaneous North American release.
That’s not to mention the fact that Microsoft/Xbox has no effect on the sales of the PC version. They aren’t the publishers. And you don’t seriously think that the other parties would miss out on THE day to sell their game now would they?
GTA:San Andreas is due out for tomorrow, not today….if you see any other stores selling it before then its illegal.
I told him about how it was advertised in PC Gamer and other publications as being a June 7th release. He just continued the same spiel.
But it isn’t his fault, because when I talked to the managers about this posing as an employee of Take-Two Interactive, they informed me that they were informed via email that the release date was to be tomorrow for Canada as well. This is a case of misinformation; one on the part of the higher-ups at FutureShop. A dissapointing one at that. Despite this, the FutureShop webstore also still claims that the product is available today.
So I was looking in my logs today. There was a new, and somewhat busy, referrer. Turns out that someone was using my Proxy service to host an explicit image on their blog.
This was rather frustrating, as I’ve made it quite clear that I don’t want this to be used to surf porn. Bandwidth is quite precious, and I don’t wish it to be wasted on some picture from a bunch of chicks from “LipstickLesbo”.
When I checked the logs, it turned out that that the porn site was visited multiple times through the proxy at different occasions (768 requests). Not to mention the other requests for “Japanese wh0res” and so forth.
I’m really tempted to take the proxy down…
DVDDecrypter was the main tool used to remove protection off of DVDs, so that their contents could be stored onto computers. They were served a “Take-Down” notice; essentially a “if you don’t do this, we will sue your ass off until you’re broke” threat.
This is unfortunate, as I used that application (plus AutoGK) to get my DVDs to be watchable onto my PDA for my travels; and as a means to store movies onto my computer for quick access. In essence: to use property I bought for legitimate uses.
The beauty is that no actual copyright infringements were involved. It was the threat of possible future copyright infringements that sparked the legal barrage. Kind of a crazy world when lawsuits are not dictated by rights/wrongs, but a sort of Orwellian “pre-crime” system of shutting down entire technologies that could possibly lead to something being right/wrong.
The Announcement:
Hello world,
I”ve got some good news and some bad news.Let’s start with the good…. (tumble weed passes by)Ok, and now onto the bad: DVD Decrypter 3.5.4.0 is the last version you”ll ever see.We hoped this day would never come, but it has, and I can promise you, nobody is more gutted about it than I am.
What started as a bit of fun, putting a GUI around some existing code, turned into something that I can only describe as ‘part of me’ – yes, I know that’s sad 😉 As I”ve recently been made aware (by a letter, hand delivered to my door, last Tuesday), due to some law that was changed back in October 2003, circumventing copy protection isn”t allowed.
Ok so it has taken a while (almost 2 years), but eventually “a certain company” has decided they don”t like what I”m doing (circumventing their protection) and have come at me like a pack of wolves. I”ve no choice but to cease everything to do with DVD Decrypter.I realise this is going to be one of those “that sucks – fight them!” kinda things, but at the end of the day, it”s my life and I”m not about to throw it all away (before it has even really started) attempting to fight a battle I can”t possibly win.
If 321 Studios can”t do it with millions, what chance do I have with £50?! As I”m sure most of you have already noticed, the site has been down for a few days. That surprised me as much as the next person (slight breakdown in communication), or I would have issued this statement on it directly.
So anyway, from this point forward, I”m no longer permitted to provide any sort of assistance with anything that helps people infringe the rights of “a certain company”.That means, no more emails, no more forum posts, no PM”s, no nothing! END OF STORY.The domain name will be transferred over to the company by the end of the week (9th June, according to the undertakings I have to sign) so don”t email it thinking “Oh, I”ll just ask LIGHTNING UK! for support on this”. You”ll not be getting the intended recipient and could be landing yourself in sh1t!
With 3.5.4.0 being the last version, it makes sense for everyone to disable the “check for new versions” feature, as obviously there won”t be any. Of course what I really mean is that you should all stop using the program out of respect for the company’s rights.
Anyone hosting DVD Decrypter is advised to cease doing so immediately. I”ve the feeling they won”t stop with just me. I”m having to contact anyone I know of that is (at the very least, the “mirror” sites), and tell them to stop. Copies of those emails must also be sent to the solicitors so they can check I”m doing everything I”m supposed to. If I don’t, I die.
It is of course down to the owners of those sites to react how they want to. It”s not my job to force you to do anything you don”t want to, I”m just giving you some friendly advice. Maybe it”s just me, but I see this as a bit of an “end of an era”. I realise there are other tools, but there”s no telling how much longer they”ll last, and not only that, mine was the oldest! I”ve met loads of great people over the years and I want to take this opportunity to wish them every success for the future – yes DDBT peeps, that includes you lot! : “(I hope you”ve all enjoyed my contribution to the DVD scene and maybe I”ll see ya around sometime.
LIGHTNING UK!
(Author of the once “Ultimate DVD Ripper”, DVD Decrypter)
I’ve come up with the basic outline and script for the Piracy Film. Now onto the research!