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The point is, it is not theft it is copyright violation. People can keep saying otherwise as many times as they want, but that won't change the fact that, if you get prosecuted for "piracy" you will be charged with some variation on copyright violation not theft.


Your wordplay doesn't make a difference to me, obtaining something illegally is still wrong.
 
(* even the recording industries in the UK aren't stupid enough to try and enforce this against ordinary customers, but the law is the law and makers of CD rippers have to be careful how they word their adverts)
What is the law in UK? Because CD (redbook) was designed to allow one digital copy to be made. In the USA, the most stringent law is the DMCA, which says you may not "get around" digital protection. But CD allows for one, unlike DVD and later tech that does not allow any copying.
 
If they can differentiate between pirated copy and original copy of the client software, why don't they just restrict access to the server for the pirated one?

They can't tell which are pirated copies, they can only see that they sold a certain amount of copies and the amount of connections to their servers in multiple times larger than the amounts sold.
 
Then why don't you go down to the store, shoplift a pair of headphones, then if you like them go back and pay for them, or if you don't chuck them out?

This is absurd and not a correct analogy. An accurate analogy would be: make an identical copy of the headphones, try them, then return to pay for an original set if I like them, and dispose of them if I don't. In reality, you would simply test the headphones at the store first.

"Pirating" games to demo them is actually saving the developer money. Producing a proper stand-alone demonstration version costs quite a bit of time and effort. The cynical side of me feels that developers are so afraid of pirating because it allows consumers to properly test the product before buying. Imagine if retail stores banned refunds on every product as software companies do currently! I'm sure the frequency of shoplifting would increase.
 
Copying something is not stealing because there is no physical harm don. Now when you illegaly use their servers and cause the developers actual harm we can talk about this differently.

With iOS games it might be a slitghtly different story since you can say it´s cheap, why not take the risk and buy a game based on 3 screenshots. But if you look at full PC games for 60 bucks that bind the game to an acount on Steam/Origin/uPlay so you can never trade it in... hell no. Especialy if you got someone as stupid as UbiSoft creating DRM that is so restrictive that the pirated copy of a game actualy works smother than the original 60$ edition.

It´s a battle. They try to take your right in game ownership and you got to take the power back. Pay for the games that deserve it since you will never be able to resell them or bring them over to a frinds house. They are worth less than yesterdays games but sold for the same price.

If you pirate someone's intellectual property you're a thief. It's really that simple. You don't think their business model is fair? Don't buy it.
 
This is absurd and not a correct analogy. An accurate analogy would be: make an identical copy of the headphones, try them, then return to pay for an original set if I like them, and dispose of them if I don't. In reality, you would simply test the headphones at the store first.
You may wish to look up analogy. It is not an equivalency.
 
You can't steal information.

It's not "information." It's someone's work. Get out of the 19th century.

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My my aren't you quick to judge. Burn the witch have you?

Quick when it's such an easy call, yes.

"I pirate software."=Thief.

You don't think (or know if) a product is worth the price? You don't like the licensing agreement? The proper action is to either walk away and not buy it, or give the developer the feedback that they might want to offer a trial version. It's not to take something that doesn't belong to you.
 
I'm calling BS. When was the last jailbreak? There are less and less jailbroken iOS devices out there everyday, none of my iPhones are jailbroken anymore thanks to 6.0. And all the pirates are flocking to this game? Sounds like a cop out of a company who was mismanaged and didn't project cost and forecast efficiently.
 
But people have been saying that they have only been jailbreaking to customize. You don't think they have really been jailbreaking to pirate software ?

I always update to the newest iOS when it comes out, so I rejailbreak often. Every time I do I install 4 things; SBSettings, Activator, TetherMe, & FaceBreak (FaceTime over 3G). Nothing else. I don't jailbreak for piracy (though I used to, I pay for everything now) or for the themes, only those four extra functionality tweaks.
 
Yes, this is why they're bankrupting themselves by refunding everyone the full price of the game.

If they we planning on continuing, I'm sure they would shut down their servers, say that this was due to pirated versions of their app, and announce that there would be an update soon that would address this issue. Then, shortly, they'd release an update, with much fanfare, that would include some anti-piracy elements. But, refunding money doesn't sound like the publicity stunt you're suggesting that it is...

Maybe they are actually in over their heads and just threw in the towel, but regardless, I find it HIGHLY improbable that they have run into an insurmountable problem that hasn't been experienced and addressed by Apple or any other IOS developer.
 
As much as I hate people pirating things, I think this developer simply don't know how to control their online system. They may well require customers to create a log-in and set up their own payment system, or require in-app purchase for online functionalities. There are always thieves, especially for softwares. Don't blame the thieves. Blame your security system. I'm sure in Android there must be 10 times more pirates than in iOS given the difficulty in jailbreaking newer iOS devices. Then why are there some Android developers still afloat? People are cheap and they will steal your thing if it's very easy to do so. It's life.

Flat rate apps with heavy on-line features are doomed from jump. You can't run "forever" off ANY amount of money, let alone $5 a download. It's entirely likely they picked up a few hundred thousand more users than they had planned for due to piracy, but these users may have shown up through legitimate channels as well -- what then? Well, you'd have a bit more money in the pipeline to apportion new servers, but to me it seems this is an infrastructure problem they would have run into regardless.

Devs, if you want to have on-line features, you have to support them through in-app purchases. That's how this model works. Subscriptions, currency, "activate on-line play," however you like, but you do need something. It is much more difficult -- and traceable -- to pirate in-app authentication than it is to pirate a binary. What's more, it's perfectly acceptable to copy app binaries between i-devices within the same house -- if these devices are actually used by different primary account holders, in app purchases can get a buy from both of them off the same app download. At this point, piracy is just an alternate distribution vector for the same paid app.

I won't go so far as to say "don't blame the thieves," but this is an obvious case of a developer not really thinking through their strategy. But they should be able to regroup and re-release this app without too much trouble.
 
I'm no game programmer but let me help them out.
Feel free to use the below code without giving me an ounce of credit!


[logon]
Check appleid.user vs paid.database
if appleid.user in paid.database

allow on

else

kick off with pirate.message

[end logon]

It's not that hard to implement, is it?
Or maybe piracy is a nice excuse for not having the infrastructure actually needed.
 
A simple way for most game developers around this is to have it free for a limited time ie you need to set up an account in app and after 7-14 days if you like the game an in app purchase is required to continue playing if not you cant play followed by say after a further 14 of your account being inactive it's deleted from the sever. This allows a try before u buy approached of course you now need to block things like iapfree and iapcracker but these have been proven to be easy to block in recent games. Lastly I do feel for the developer and no the measures should not be required, if you have a great idea you deserve to be rewarded for it. But and there is always a but piracy will always exist such as thieves will always exist. That's life it's how we deal with it that makes the difference and yes I check all my apps against the latest jailbroken devices to ensure the iap crackers arnt one step ahead and if they are a mandatory update is required to continue using my apps
 
As much as I hate people pirating things, I think this developer simply don't know how to control their online system. They may well require customers to create a log-in and set up their own payment system, or require in-app purchase for online functionalities. There are always thieves, especially for softwares. Don't blame the thieves. Blame your security system. I'm sure in Android there must be 10 times more pirates than in iOS given the difficulty in jailbreaking newer iOS devices. Then why are there some Android developers still afloat? People are cheap and they will steal your thing if it's very easy to do so. It's life.

Are you joking?!?
"Don't blame the thieves. Blame your security system." !?!?!?!?
God, I hope you are joking.

Here's a sensible way to think of it:
Blame the thieves. Blame them a lot! Those bastards are stealing, which drives some games and developers out-of-business. Also blame the security system--a little bit--because it could always be better. But the vast bulk of the blame belongs to the pirates.

The
 
I always update to the newest iOS when it comes out, so I rejailbreak often. Every time I do I install 4 things; SBSettings, Activator, TetherMe, & FaceBreak (FaceTime over 3G). Nothing else. I don't jailbreak for piracy (though I used to, I pay for everything now) or for the themes, only those four extra functionality tweaks.

I don't think all people who jailbreak do it to pirate although I believe a majority of people who jailbreak do pirate (They originally jailbreak for other reasons then pirating but end up pirating).
 
Can't something be done to keep non paying users from contacting the server? Many console games can do this, why not IOS?

That's a good question.
It's not easy to answer.
Perhaps a solution lies in keeping track of purchases. A purchasing API linked to iCloud / iTunes accounts could be used to verify that a game was payed for before allowing the person to play and use resources on the server.

This is something that developer's need to build into there games from the beginning. They shouldn't have to roll their own. It should be part of the Apple eco-system.

This reminds me of the in app purchases piracy that occurred a while ago because a bunch of developers were not checking verification tokens from the in-app purchasing api. A hacker exploited it and they lost money.

Piracy could be the single biggest threat to the iTunes eco-system. I'm sure Apple will step up and protect it. They simply have to.:apple:
 
Are you joking?!?
"Don't blame the thieves. Blame your security system." !?!?!?!?
God, I hope you are joking.
Not just "security system", "too-small server setup". There is definitely a question here as to what really happened. What if this game had gone completely viral like Angry Birds? What would they do when the server crashed with 2 million legal players?

We don't know what the precise problem is. But the dev's reaction is very odd, regardless. Pulling the game, refunding money? Weird.
 
i pirate games, and if i like them i'll buy them. if i dont i delete the game.
Talk about a sense of entitlement. Did you even read the story? The pirated copies cost the developers money not just in lost revenue from sales but bandwidth on their servers.

You have no excuse to pirate. Some games offer a "lite" or "free" version and you can always read the reviews and watch the review videos before you purchase.

In most cases, you are risking less money than an average meal at a takeout restaurant.

Do you expect to eat for free at a local fast food joint and then only pay if you like it?
:rolleyes:
 
pfft

There is no way to tell who purchased an app legitimately. Apple does not share this information with developers.

Yes Pirated versions can be detected and limited serverside, has nothing to do with Apple and privacy rights. Please do not misinform to get your anti-piracy agenda across.. People like you are worse than the pirates, spreading misinformation to suit your own ideologies..

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Complete and total BS, used to rationalize theft.

No actually hes right, software piracy in the way described does not lead to profit loss. Once the program is written its written.. that's it... future updates are not charged for, they are provided free as such. A pirate will pirate no matter what, he never intended on spending any money. the developer would have never saw his l00t otherwise

This is a clever marketing trick, Gameloft games are the most pirated out there for iOS and Android, and they are not crying bankrupt.

Basically what happened here is the company put up way too much initial startup, they overshot themselves. so in the end blame piracy... From what i can tell this is the ONLY case of a software co. failing and blaming it on piracy.. it just doesn't happen that way.

Im sure half the lying *******s here have pirated something, none of you have downloaded an mp3?.. if you did, thats THEFT you ****in hypocrites

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