

                                    _

                                   | \

                                   |  \

                                   | | \

                            __     | |\ \             __

      _____________       _/_/     | | \ \          _/_/     _____________

     |  ___________     _/_/       | |  \ \       _/_/       ___________  |

     | |              _/_/_____    | |   > >    _/_/_____               | |

     | |             /________/    | |  / /    /________/               | |

     | |                           | | / /                              | |

     | |                           | |/ /                               | |

     | |                           | | /                                | |

     | |                           |  /                                 | |

     | |                           |_/                                  | |

     | |                                                                | |

     | |      c   o   m   m   u   n   i   c   a   t   i   o   n   s     | |

     | |________________________________________________________________| |

     |____________________________________________________________________|



  ...presents...           The Gnu-Warez Kidz' Guide

                          to Pirating on the Internet

                                                         by Tarkin Darklighter

                                                         01/01/1996-#308



             __///////\ -cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc- /\\\\\\\__

               \\\\\\\/  Everything You Need Since 1986  \///////

  ___    _   _    ___     _   _    ___       _   _      ___    _   _      ___

 |___heal_the_sick___raise_the_dead___cleanse_the_lepers___cast_out_demons___|



     In the early '80s, fans of the Apple II fell in love with ASCII Express

(AE).  A seemingly simple terminal program, it contained an important feature -

a host mode.  Most people overlooked it, but not the underground file traders.

A person could call your computer and, with a simple password, have access to

all your files.  The potential of AE was soon unlocked, and some of the

earliest and simplest pirate file trading boards were created.



     After a short period of time, the sysops of AE's were tired of users'

tendency to simply download and not contribute any software (leeching).  Thus,

the AE:TAC (Total Access Control) was born.  This allowed user registration and

maintenance of upload/download ratios.  After another short period of time, the

AE file transfer system was integrated with the popular GBBS bulletin board

software, which gave board sysops the same file transfer flexibility of AE.



     Fifteen years later, the same progression is emerging again.  This time,

however, the medium is the Internet.  Pirate sites are slowly changing from

anonymous FTP sites, to IP-specific FSP sites, to telnetable BBSs.



     Anyone with local dialup access can easily obtain the latest commercial

software for their own perusal.  This is by no means supposed to be a complete

guide to obtaining pirate software over the Internet, but it is a good starting

place.



  _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/



WHAT DO I NEED?



     A computer (heh).

     A connection to the Internet.

     A terminal program capable of displaying control characters.

     A UNIX shell account and a basic knowledge of UNIX.  You must have a

          UNIX shell account to use these methods.  Most graphical interfaces

          simply don't give you the control you need.

     A site with software you want.



  _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/



HOW TO OBTAIN SITES



     There are many ways you can obtain sites.  I'll outline some of the best

methods below:



     Archie: For those of you who don't know, Archie is a utility that will

search systems on the Internet for filenames that you specify.  This can be

used to find sites.  Unfortunately, by the time the Archie servers are updated

with filenames that are typically on sites, the sites are dead.  Still, you can

gain by the use of this utility.  Common filenames to search for are listed

below:



 .apps     .appz

 .games    .gamez

 .util     .talk

 .tlk      .mac

 .pc       .ibm

 .amiga    .console

 .warez    .sitez



     Once you have found a site that has one of these filenames (or variations

thereof), FTP over to it and see if it still exists.  You can often find old

wares still on the site.  More importantly, you can find the email addresses

of people who trade site lists.



     Site list: The usual rule is that you must have something to get

something.  In other words, you usually must trade one or two good sites to get

a current list of active sites.  Alternatively, you can beg the keeper of a

list to give you a current copy (see above for obtaining email addresses).

Another good technique is to start your own list.  This is actually quite easy

to do.  Find a site and post a message asking people to send you sites in

return for a list.  Compile all the responses you receive into a list and mail

it out to all the respondents.  Also, it's a really good idea to use an

anonymous mail server (i.e., info@anon.penet.fi  <-- send email to

this address for instructions).  A typical site list looks like this (IP

addresses have been changed):



FTP          DIRECTORY                                     SCORE    SPEED

~~~          ~~~~~~~~~~                                    ~~~~~~   ~~~~~~

198.80.x.x   /incoming/"^[[K^[[A^[[K"/".GnuWarez"/         [4/10]   [5/10]

199.222.x.x  /incoming/cursci/"^[[K^[[A^[[K^I "/"P8^H^H"/  [6/10]   [8/10]

etc...



Legend:

FTP  - The IP address to use

DIRECTORY - The directory where the warez are located (more detailed

            instructions are contained later in this file)

SCORE - Rating in terms of the quality and quantity of the warez

SPEED - A rating of the file transfer speed of the site



     IRC: Just like real life, it's all about who you know.  Once you're in the

loop and are actively trading sites, you may be invited to participate in live

IRC chats.  Or you can look for channels such as #warez and #pcwarez if you're

good at begging.



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COMMON FORMATS OF SITES



     FTP: I'm assuming you know at least a little about FTP, so I'm certainly

not going to write a manual on it.  However, I will reveal how to maneuver

through seemingly impassable directories.  There are only three rules you

need to know:



1. The ls switches are essential.  It's extremely important that you are able

to see a directory name.  The best way to see the entire name is to use the

command 'ls -aFl' (without the quotes).  This will display all files in a

directory.  Read the online ftp help for a complete description of ls switches.



2. How to use quotation marks?  Quotation marks are invaluable tools when

navigating in FTP.  If you encounter a filename or directory with a space in

it, you must use quotes or the client will become confused.  For example,

suppose you came across the following directory:



drwxr-xr-x   9 ftp  killer   512 Aug 16 21:51 StickyBear ABC



     If you wanted to change to this directory, you must type 'cd "StickyBear

ABC"', else it will not work.  It's also necessary with some control characters

(see next section).  It's really much easier just to put the quotation mark at

the beginning of each cd command.  Incidentally, only the first quotation mark

is necessary.



3. Control characters and the magic Control-V are important.  Control

characters are a common method to keep out the casual browser.  They are

embedded in directory names, and will cause your screen to clear or do any

number of confusing things.  To get around this, you MUST have a terminal

program that allows you to turn on the display of control characters.  You can

then type the directory name (complete with control characters) and get to the

desired files.  For example, let's say you come across a directory called

"WarezORama^H^H^H^H^H".  If you didn't have your "Show Control Characters"

option checked, you would just see a directory named "Warez".  Hardly useful.

 But, if you can see the full directory name, you simply have to type 'cd

"WarezORama^H^H^H^H^H"'.



     If you encounter any control characters that suspend your FTP job or

disconnect you, all you have to do is use the character ^V.  For example, let's

say a directory is called '.^Z^I^P^P^O'.  If you were to type 'cd

".^Z^I^P^P^O"', your FTP session would immediately be suspended after hitting

Control-Z.  You can circumvent this by immediately preceding all problematic

control characters with a Control-V.  To get into the '.^Z^I^P^P^O' directory,

you would simply type 'cd ".^V^Z^I^P^P^V^O"'.  Generally, you will only have to

preceed Control-D, Control-O, Control-R, and Control-Z with Control-V.  Your

FTP client may vary.



     For practice, let's use one of our earlier examples:



198.80.x.x   /incoming/"^[[K^[[A^[[K"/".GnuWarez "/         [4/10]   [5/10]



     To use this site, you would type:



ftp 198.80.x.x  (an actual site would have numbers in place of the x's).

cd /incoming/"^[[K^[[A^[[K"/".GnuWarez"/

ls -aFl



     A list of files and directories should follow.



     FSP: FSP is simply another utility (similar to FTP) for transferring

files.  The commands are very much the same as for FTP.  Read the online manual

for specific instructions.  FSP gives a sysop tighter control over a site since

he can limit connections to specific IP addresses.  This means that you have to

register (usually involves sending some k00l warez) before you can use the

private section of the site.  You also must have a dedicated IP address, since

it will do you no good to register an IP address you may not have every time

you log on to your provider.



     Telnet: Telnet is yet another Internet utility that allows you to connect

to a remote computer system.  This is becoming very popular, since it allows

BBS's to have connections on the Internet.  It looks just like you are calling

over telco lines, except you have extremely fast transfer rates.  This allows a

sysop the same level of control as a typical BBS (upload/download ratio,

message boards, and user validation).



  _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/



DIRECTORY STRUCTURE ON SITES



     The following example is a typical directory you will see on a pirate

site:



-rw-r--r--   1 ftp  killer    30 Aug  5 19:38 ** Another gNuWarez site.

-rw-r--r--   1 ftp  killer    30 Aug  5 19:39 ** Site Op - sOOpurChUnK

drwxr-xr-x  19 ftp  killer  1024 Aug 23 22:49 .appz

drwxr-xr-x   2 ftp  killer   512 Aug 16 21:53 .cracks...etc

drwxr-xr-x  11 ftp  killer   512 Aug 18 19:19 .gamez

drwxr-xr-x   4 ftp  killer   512 Aug 13 17:42 .irc

drwxr-xr-x   9 ftp  killer   512 Aug 16 21:51 .oldappz

drwxr-xr-x  52 ftp  killer  2560 Aug 23 10:07 .oldgamez

drwxr-xr-x   7 ftp  killer  1024 Aug 23 06:15 .oldreq

drwxr-xr-x  22 ftp  killer  1024 Aug 23 15:43 .req

drwxr-xr-x   2 ftp  killer   512 Aug 23 05:11 .talk

drwxr-xr-x   7 ftp  killer  1024 Aug 22 06:44 .users

-rw-r--r--   1 ftp  killer     0 Aug 16 13:55 bout 30 megs free now



     The subdirectories are used as follows:

.appz - put all applications in here

.cracks - contains patches to defeat copy protection

.gamez - put all games in here

.irc - usually contains IRC hacks, such as bots, etc.

.oldxxx - contains old software upped by request

.talk - any miscellaneous comments

.req - requests for files

.users - put your alias in here to show that you've visited the site



  _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/



RULES ON SITES



     I know this is a pointless section, since most of you will totally

disregard it.  Still, I feel an obligation to pass on a few rules of etiquette:



1.  Don't be a deleter.  There are those out there who get a perverse thrill

out of deleting files just for the hell of it.  Don't do this.



2.  Don't be an artist.  Don't go around making directories or filenames in

k-k00l ANSI colors just because you can.  And don't use control characters to

screw up directory listings.  After all, how many times can 500 CTRL-G's be

entertaining?



3.  Follow the upload rules.  I think somebody already wrote a file on this,

but I'll go ahead and paraphrase:



     Put files in the right directory.  If it's a Win 95 app, put it in the

Win 95 Apps directory.



     Use QUOTE APPE.  Do not use MKDIR to make comments or requests!  This

makes you look like a complete idiot!  Read the online manual for proper

syntax.



     After uploading, make a zero-length file saying something similar to:

"MK VIII done.  Upped by Bill Gates."  This will let everyone know that the

upload is complete.



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WHERE ARE WE GOING FROM HERE?



     Since history already seems to be repeating itself, I will make the

following prediction based on what happened to the Apple II underground:

anonymous pirate sites will soon disappear (or at least they will greatly

diminish).  Advancing technology soon eliminated AE's, and it will do the same

thing for underground FTP sites.  As the cost of ISDN and other direct

connections diminish, more and more BBS's will be directly connected to the

Internet.  This will allow people to use Telnet to connect to them.



     What sysop will bother to constantly upload software to an anonymous site

only to have it immediately deleted?  It's much easier to control access on a

user-by-user basis.  In this manner, he can enforce download ratios, have

message boards, etc.



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A FINAL WORD



     I'm not responsible for how you use this information.  If you're stupid

enough to pirate software and get caught, it's your own fault.  Also, I don't

trade sites or files.  I've got little enough time as it is!



     Any comments are more than welcome.  I can be reached on DRU.



     "Yes I eat cow, I am not proud." 

          -Nirvana, "Mr. Mustache"

     .-.                             _   _                             .-.

    /   \           .-.             ((___))             .-.           /   \

   /     \         /   \       .-.  [ x x ]  .-.       /   \         /     \

 -/-------\-------/-----\-----/---\--\   /--/---\-----/-----\-------/-------\-

 /         \     /       \   /     `-(' ')-'     \   /       \     /         \

  WORLDWIDE \   /         `-'         (U)         `-'         \   / WORLDWIDE

             `-'                     .ooM                      `-'     _

      Oooo                                                            / )   __

 /)(\ (   \           Copyright (c)1996 cDc communications.          /  (  /  \

 \__/  )  / All rights reserved.  Award-winning CULT OF THE DEAD COW \   ) \)(/

       (_/     is published by cDc communications, P.O. Box 53011,    oooO  _

  oooO         Lubbock, TX, 79453, US of A.  Edited by Swamp Ratte'.  __   ( \

 /   ) /)(\                                                          /  \  )  \

 \  (  \__/        Save yourself!  Go outside!  Do something!        \)(/ (   /

  \_)                      "THE COW WALKS AMONGST US"                     Oooo



