Iranian Government Running A Warez Server?

from the watch-those-downloads dept

Thu, Aug 26th 2010 3:47am — Mike Masnick

Torrentfreak has a somewhat amusing article about how it appears that the Iranian government is running a (well-organized) public warez FTP server with all sorts of infringing software, complete with serial codes, cracks and keygens. As the article notes, Iran's copyright law only protects Iranian copyright holders, and Iran has not signed on to WIPO treaties on copyright that would obligate it to respect others' copyrights.

Of course, for those of you who do participate in such activities, I wouldn't be so fast to jump on an Iranian server for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that, the Iranian government has been accused in the past of trying to install malware on the computers of those accessing its servers from countries it deems enemies.

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Filed Under: copyright, iran, warez

17 Comments

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paperbag (profile), 26 Aug 2010 @ 3:58am

passworded
Read the torrentfreak updates. They passworded the FTP within moments of it going live on torrentfreak. There appears to be another public FTP linked, but I'm sure it will be passworded soon as well.

I don't get the point of this post here on techdirt, however. Is it to bash Iran? Is it to show that Iran doesn't care about anyone but itself? To relate warez with malware?

When I saw the TF article, I hadn't realized people still used the term warez also.
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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 26 Aug 2010 @ 5:08am

Re: passworded
In this case a cigar is just a cigar. It's not meant to lead you down one path or another, it's just there.

While warez is an old term, it's still commonly used.
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Pixelation, 26 Aug 2010 @ 7:06am

"I wouldn't be so fast to jump on an Iranian server for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that, the Iranian government has been accused in the past of trying to install malware on the computers of those accessing its servers from countries it deems enemies."

Whaaat? A warez server with malware? Unthinkable!
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interval (profile), 26 Aug 2010 @ 7:55am

Re: passworded
@bag: "I don't get the point of this post here on techdirt, however. Is it to bash Iran?"

Iran is in the news quite a lot lately; if you haven't heard, they've developed their own cruise missile they've dubbed "An ambassador of Death" (that alone should be enough to deride their "good will intentions"), and they've just activated a nuclear reactor, a country that gets like 80% of its income from oil exports, and has sworn to see Israel destroyed. Add the Iranian public had been rioting in the streets continuously for months earlier this year, quite a remarkable reaction in a country who's leaders say there is no real discontent. AND: that none (0%) of their population are homosexual (living in De Nile?). Sounds like a perfectly sound and functioning state to me.

Does that explain anything to you, or am I "bashing" Iran?
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2010 @ 8:05am

Iran is getting smart
Looks like Iran is finally starting to get smart after all. A country that ignores all copyright (and possibly all patents, etc. in the future) may very well skyrocket with innovation. They can very well use patents created by those outside of Iran and develop their own products, all the while shaking a finger at the WIPO saying "No, thanks." I can see other muslim nations jumping on Iran's bandwagon and trading directly with that country, thereby also increasing innovation for that country, and so on.

Perhaps the muslim community has finally found the United States' achilles heel. For decades, countries have been trying to figure out how to topple the US stranglehold on patents, copyrights, etc. with little to no success. Once more and more muslim countries start working together, they may start hiring outside help, and more and more countries will give the middle finger to the WIPO and all other ideals just to 'get back' at the US. The United Nations wouldn't agree to let the US bomb Iran simply because Iran wants to make their country a better place while sticking it to the 'man'.
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Liam (profile), 26 Aug 2010 @ 8:09am

Re: Re: passworded
I'm sure if they named the cruise missile "happy time flying dohicky" then that would make it better? a cruise missile is a cruise missile.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2010 @ 8:11am

Re:
And Iran was such an upstanding nation too!
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interval (profile), 26 Aug 2010 @ 8:44am

Re: Re: Re: passworded
"I'm sure if they named the cruise missile "happy time flying dohicky" then that would make it better?"

You're missing my point.
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gindil (profile), 26 Aug 2010 @ 9:07am

So there's finally that link to terrorism...
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2010 @ 9:11am

Re: Re: Re: passworded
Just don't say that they're the only ones that uses euphemistic names for their weapon systems. The "MX missile" was renamed as the "Peacekeeper".
My understanding is that "peacekeeper" used to refer to the larger handguns used by law enforcement.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2010 @ 9:25am

yea windows is malware
haha
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2010 @ 10:33am

Sounds about right, that would put them predictably about 11 years behind in the internet world. Wait till the find out about AYBBTU.

Warez, haven't heard that word in forever.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2010 @ 11:54am

Copyright violations?
What other excuse do we need to invade!
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nsaamiller (profile), 26 Aug 2010 @ 12:10pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: passworded
That was "PeaceMaker", not "PeaceKeeper". Think about the semantics.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2010 @ 1:48pm

Re: Re: passworded
Iran is in the news quite a lot lately; if you haven't heard, they've developed their own cruise missile they've dubbed "An ambassador of Death" (that alone should be enough to deride their "good will intentions"),

That reminds me of the motto I saw on the patch worn by members of a US military unit the other day:
"DEATH FROM ABOVE"

What does that tell you about *their* intentions?
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Aug 2010 @ 1:50pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: passworded
"PeaceMaker", as in "Rest in Peace".
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oldguy52 (profile), 27 Aug 2010 @ 5:29am

Re: Malware
The bottom line is that any group that produces malware has some type of motivation. Rootkits for Dummies identifies Chineese and Russian intellegence as original sources of rootkits but it is likely that other governments were producing them long before that. It is also naive to not believe that antivirus companies routinely attack each others products through third parties.
No highly skilled programmer is going to waste their time producing malware code unless they are somehow rewarded for it or have something to gain. Most malware originates from other than commonly alleged criminal sources.
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