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Multiple Android piracy sites seized by US law enforcement
A number of Android-based piracy websites have reportedly been seized as part of a joint venture involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, multiple US attorneys’ offices as well as Dutch and French law enforcement officials. A statement released by the DOJ notes that this is the first time that domains involving mobile phone app marketplaces have been seized.
Domains now in the custody of the federal government include appplanet.net, appbucket.net and snappzmarket.com. Users visiting these destinations are now shown a seizure banner that indicates what has happened and further reminding visitors that willful copyright infringement is a federal crime with stiff penalties for those found guilty.
“Software apps have become an increasingly essential part of our nation’s economy and creative culture, and the Criminal Division is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to protect the creators of these apps and other forms of intellectual property from those who seek to steal it,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the DOJ’s Criminal Division.
Authorities were able to download thousands of copies of popular mobile apps during the investigation. The notice highlights the fact that servers storing apps sold through third party marketplaces were often hosted in other countries. In these situations, officials worked with international partners to obtain evidence stored on the servers. In the US alone, nine search warrants were issued across six different districts as part of the operation.
This of course is good news for developers as each pirated copy of an app they created is money out of their pocket. These extra funds could potentially be rolled back into the same project and result in a more innovative product for the end-user.
User Comments: 44
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But aren't you [they] depriving the author of money?
Of course it is! You can see these whiners above KNOW they are in the wrong, that's why they can only quibble about semantics & syntax, the legal & moral arguments are already lost.
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slamscaper said:
Downloading a cracked application, or bypassing the protection in some way, is NOT the same as stealing money right out of the developer(s) pocket. In other words, piracy is not the same as larceny.
I don't condone piracy in the least, because I believe the developers should be paid for their hard work. However, this attitude that some people have about copyright infringement is frightening. They simply want to crucify anyone that obtains a retail program for free, which is ridiculous.
You can argue about this all you want, but that doesn't change the fact that you cannot prove that a person would have paid for the program had he or she not been able to acquire it for free. Therefore, you cannot prove that the developer loses money each time their app is pirated.
This means that prosecuting pirates after the fact is not entirely just. Instead, all the effort should be spent on preventing piracy in the first place.
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Downloading a cracked application, or bypassing the protection in some way, is NOT the same as stealing money right out of the developer(s) pocket. In other words, piracy is not the same as larceny.
There it is again! The only defence is quibbling over which words to use!
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1 person liked this |
Give it up. There is no amount of discussion that is going to change the thieves viewpoint. They have it in their head that its ok to steal. I just have the satisfaction that it all comes around. Eventually those that do wrong by others will be wronged in return. I used to be like these idjits. I never had any problem coping music or movies. Hell I used to pay 5 bucks a burnt copy per movie. It wasnt untill I had to deal with Identety Theft that the full ramifications of what I had been doing came to light.
@slam
Its easy to prove the lose in revenue. Its simple logic. Instead of BUYING a copy of whatever copyrighted material, they download it for free. Right there is when the ppl who own the rights lose money. It isnt even a guessing game whether or not the person would have paid for it. They CHOOSE to steal instead of BUY.
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@Zoltan
Give it up. There is no amount of discussion that is going to change the thieves viewpoint.
I expect you're right. Irritating tho....
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What I really believe is instead of going through and trying to stop all the pirating sites
they should look more into stopping the reverse engineering of android/iOS apps
you know how easy it is to reverse an android app back to editable, COMPILABLE, code? you literally drag the apk installer file onto an exe and wait 30 seconds
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marinkvasina said:
Just because you wouldn't buy them, it does not mean you should be able to download it for free and use them.This is not the case. We were discussing how they are losing money.
They aren't, whoever thinks otherwise is just greedy.
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This is not the case. We were discussing how they are losing money.
They aren't, whoever thinks otherwise is just greedy.
Put yourself in their shoes: You're a developer, and release an app for a few pounds / dollars / camels / rupees or whatever.
Take a moment to think about it. Wouldn't you feel cheated if people wouldn't even pay that for it?
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marinkvasina said:
What you do not understand aswell, and I belive most pirates are like this.
Lets say I download a few songs for free, I didn't do it because I can get it for free.
I did it because I can't afford it.
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@Marin
So what. We are all poor. Either budget your money better or just do without. You are trying to use the "I cant afford it" defence. Unfortunatly that would work with say the theft of food. Obviously you have enough money to afford your PC, the rent where you live, food for yourself, and electricity to run it all. Youre not homeless obviously. So your defence falls flat on its face. How about saying this instead....Im to cheap to pay for something I can get for free off the internet. Atleast it would be honest.
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marinkvasina said:
@op above
No, I'm young,younger than you think. I'm still with my parents like 99% of people @my age. My parents don't have the extra funds to afford thousands of songs which I have to listen to on youtube....
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@ marin
Do you NEED to listen to those music? Do you HAVE to listen to those music? Is your life depended on it? Obviously not. The key point is downloading music/apps/etc without paying the author is plainly wrong. You cannot excuse yourself no matter what you say.
Let be honest. I download apps/music/games/videos for free quite frequently. I know what I'm doing is wrong but I don't have money but I really WANT to have those things. In other words, I'm wrong for downloading those things but I do it because I can. I don't have any excuses whatsoever. I don't understand why so many people who downloads make up all these excuse and play with words to make their actions seem closer to light. It's like stealing a 78,000 dollar car and then saying that you steal it because you can't afford it.
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marinkvasina said:
When did I said that Im making excuses?
I'm saying what I do and why I do it. I obviously should not be allowed fun because I live in a poor country where a college degree gives you a small amount of money to get you through the month.
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@Marin
Youre missing the point. You dont really need to download those apps/songs/movies. You CAN do without them. Youre life isnt going to implode if you dont have that app/song/movie. Just because you want it doesnt mean you NEED it. Try reading a book. Or calling a family member. Do other things instead of piracy. Thats all that they are saying.
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Darth Shiv said:
But aren't you [they] depriving the author of money?Yes they are depriving. Depriving of money does not make it stealing. It's like calling someone who accidently killed someone through negligence a murderer.
Never did I say piracy should be condoned. Just let's call a spade a spade and not whoop up some ridiculous feeding frenzy.
It is also ridiculous to say that every pirated copy of a DVD is $30 lost (in this example I'm saying $30 is the list price) because if people COULD NOT PIRATE a large portion of people would NOT have bought it anyway. You are trying to make your sales projections look unrealistically large.
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Depriving of money does not make it stealing. It's like calling someone who accidently killed someone through negligence a murderer.
Of course depriving someone of money which is rightfully theirs is stealing (unless you're literally just quibbling over syntax & semantics, rather than reality).
And no, it isn't logically equivalent to calling an accidental killer a murderer, those two situations are distinguished by motivation, whereas a pirate knows they are doing wrong.
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Darth Shiv said:Of course depriving someone of money which is rightfully theirs is stealing (unless you're literally just quibbling over syntax & semantics, rather than reality).
And no, it isn't logically equivalent to calling an accidental killer a murderer, those two situations are distinguished by motivation, whereas a pirate knows they are doing wrong.
What if the pirate has no money? You can't say they have in their possession money that doesn't belong to them. It is a completely illogical argument. You have not TAKEN something. So it is not stealing.
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1 person liked this |What if the pirate has no money? You can't say they have in their possession money that doesn't belong to them. It is a completely illogical argument. You have not TAKEN something. So it is not stealing.
I say again "Of course depriving someone of money which is rightfully theirs is stealing (unless you're literally just quibbling over syntax & semantics, rather than reality)" - can't you understand basic English?
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Doctor John said:
You have not TAKEN something. So it is not stealing.It doesn't MATTER whether you use the word stealing - it's still wrong as it still means the person that put the work in to producing the pirated item isn't rewarded for their time and expertise! (as I think Zoltan was saying, although a bit more forcefully
).
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