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TEXT_137.txt
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1997-05-27
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73 lines
Warez on Usenet are basically gifts - testimony
to the power and stature of the giver. Files are
posted for all to download, free. Just fire up
your newsreader, point it at an appropriate
forum, and a list like a home-shopping catalog
of the latest software spills down your screen.
There is no pressure, but if you download and
you like the vibe, you are expected to join the
community and contribute uploads whenever
possible.
On the freewheeling IRC chat forums, warez are
no longer gifts - they're trade goods. The
rewards are greater, but you've got to work for
them. The IRC channels are 24-hour stock
exchanges cum street markets: FreeWarez,
Warez96, Warez4Free, WarezSitez, WarezAppz,
and WarezGamez. There are private channels,
hidden areas, and invite-only piracy parties. And
there are no free lunches - every piece of
software has to be paid for, in software. The
more recent the application, the higher its value.
The ultimate bartering tools are zero-day warez
- software released by a commercial house in
the last 24 hours, cracked if necessary and
uploaded. The prizes for good zero-day warez
vary; you may get instant download status on a
particular server, logins and passwords for
exclusive FTP sites, or admission to the ranks of
a powerful cartel like the Inner Circle.
"Zero-day sites are very Èlite stuff," explains
paid-up Èlitist TAG. "People can get access only
if they can move a few hundred Mbytes a day.
Most are invite only. The average IRC warez
trader doesn't get that kind of access unless he
puts a lot of effort into it." Zero-day warez
trading is a fraught business; competition
between groups often leads to malpractice. "You
get a lot of first releases with bad cracks," says
TAG, "just so someone can say they released
first. Then two days later, you get a working
crack. We get most of our freshest stuff from
private FTP and courier drop sites."
If your software collection is more mundane,
you can trade one piece directly for another. But
with so many unpoliced egos in one place, this
can be risky. People will often welsh on deals,
allowing you to pass them a file and then
disappearing into the ether. Cunning traders will
barter with "trojans" - zipped-up files of gunk,
realistic enough to carry out half the
transaction. In extreme cases, someone may feed
you a virus.
A step down from zero-day warez are drop sites,
where fresh cracks can be found for the cost of
a download. Some drop sites run on the trader's
own machine; others piggyback on government or
corporate mainframes, shareware mirrors, and
university networks. Often they're only in
existence for 24 hours, or on weekends when the
sysops are at home.
Wherever you end up, you'll be struck by the
extreme politesse and measured courtesy, united
by a common language. "Greets m8. Have appz,
gamez and crackz on 129.102.1.3. Looking for
Pshop 4.0 beta. L8ter." "Have 1.5 gigs of warez
on anonymous T1. Upload for leech access. /msg
me for more info. No lamers."