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How is pirating software a thing? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 1 year ago by alexg_k@discuss.tchncs.de to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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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?

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[-] 7Sea_Sailor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago

Could you elaborate how pirating games is "safer" than pirating software? Both are executables that could run whatever code they wish on your system, and since pirated games are so desirable, in my experience they are far more often spread around bundled with malware than software is. Oftentimes, you'll find people take legitimate repacks, add malware, then share the repack under the same repackers name.

[-] wolfshadowheart@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

I think their idea is that if you know a specific repacker like an athletic woman, compared to downloading softwares that could be uploaded by any elitists trying to fuck with you.

In practice both are the same, but the reputation of the athletic woman makes her more trustworthy.

However outside of that specific repacker I actually agree with you, it's exactly the same lol.

[-] alexg_k@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 year ago

Interesting. If there are reputable packers / crackers, why do they not uses GPG to sign the software? That way, no one can manipulate and reupload the software.