this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
101 points (83.9% liked)

Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

54627 readers
540 users here now

⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.

Rules • Full Version

1. Posts must be related to the discussion of digital piracy

2. Don't request invites, trade, sell, or self-promote

3. Don't request or link to specific pirated titles, including DMs

4. Don't submit low-quality posts, be entitled, or harass others



Loot, Pillage, & Plunder

📜 c/Piracy Wiki (Community Edition):


💰 Please help cover server costs.

Ko-Fi Liberapay
Ko-fi Liberapay

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I understand that sharing video, photos, documents etc. is relatively safe because the data is not executed in the processor as instructions. How come people are willing to download and install pirated software though? How can one be confident that it does not contain malicious addons? Are people just don't know the risks? Or are there protection mechanisms that I am missing? I mean since the software is usually cracked there is not much use in comparing checksums with the originals, is it?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also, I would consider some legitimate licenced software more of a malware than a cracked one. If your software forces always-online license, comes with annoying startup processes, nagging ad screens, etc, it's malware. And if there's a cracked version without those things, I'll take the cracked version any day.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I agree with the sentiment, but coin miners and ransomware are of course a lot more obtrusive to the average user's experience than the malware you'd associate with most proprietary licensed software. I can see why people are less willing to risk it.