PARADOX (warez)

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PARADOX
Years active 1989 – present
Category quality deprotections / demo
Founder(s) Bad Boy
BlackHawk
Olivier
Stinger (Exit)
Clash
Evilgood
Website(s) http://www.paradogs.com/
(via Internet Archive)
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PARADOX (PDX) is a warez/demo group; an anonymous group of software engineers that devise ways to defeat software and video game licensing protections, a process known as cracking, which is illegal in some jurisdictions. They distribute cracks (software patches), keygens (key generators), and precracked versions of entire programs. Over the years, distribution methods have changed, starting out with physically transported floppy disks and BBS distribution. With the expansion of the internet they moved on to Usenet. Today most of their files reach the public over various peer to peer file networks.

Paradox was originally formed in late 1989 by members of the Danish group Trilogy (Bad Boy, Black Hawk, Tas, Pcsu, Qrd) and the French group M.A.D (Olivier, Stinger, The Surge, Clash, Tagada). They began by cracking Amiga software. The group died in 1991 when the most active members joined Quartex. It was reborn under the leadership of 'Maximilien' in 1993, with ex-Quartex members Black Hawk and Paragon as co-founders. Then it moved in to the Sega Genesis and SNES console scenes. They started cracking PC software in 1994. In 2002, the team recruited computer black hat, Evilgood who is alleged to be one of the most qualified crackers of the time. His identity is still unknown. Other consoles and handheld devices they have cracked include the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, and Xbox.[1][2]

Paradox has been noted to crack challenging dongle protections on many debugging and software development programs. Most recently, the team successfully found a method of bypassing activation in Windows Vista[3]. This was accomplished by emulating an OEM machine's BIOS-embedded licensing information and installing an OEM license.[4] However, with Windows Vista Service Pack 1, this crack no longer works correctly. Paradox confirm they are working on Microsoft latest operating system, Windows 7. [1]

Contents

[edit] KeyGen Graphical Interface and Design

PARADOX keygens are known for their aesthetically pleasing designs. Often these GUIs include impressive transparencies and override the Windows Minimize, Maximize, Close button bar at the top of all windows applications. They are also known for adding futuristic music reminiscent of chiptunes to most of their key generators.

Some Keygen screenshots can be seen in the website of PARADOX graphic designer 'Alien' [5].

[edit] Demoparty Awards

  • First place in the Wild Compo category at Euskal 2001 [6]
  • First place in the Amiga 64 category at Saturne 1994 [7]
  • First place at Alcatraz Pentcost 1990 [8]

[edit] Raids and Arrests

One of their members going by the alias 'Rokman' was arrested in 1990 for using stolen credit card numbers to make $1 million in long distance calls to other Paradox members for the purpose of file transfers. [9] Nearly all Quartex members in France, including Olivier, Clash and Tagada, were busted in 1991 in the Blue Box affair. Maximilien was arrested in the Nintendo copiers affair in 1993[10] and was held in preventive custody for three weeks before fleeing to Spain. Less than one year later, in 1994, the CIA caught him while on trip to Washington in a vast calling card fraud affair. [11] He was sentenced to 5 years and 7 months by a US court. Another of their members, alias 'tyson', was raided in 2001 as part of Operation Buccaneer. [12]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Paradox releases first warez for Wii
  2. ^ Paradox PS3 loader confirmed
  3. ^ Article covering crack of Windows Vista
  4. ^ Bannan, James (4 March 2007). "It's official: Pirates crack Vista at last". APC Magazine. http://apcstart.com/5512/pirate_crack_vista_oem_activation. Retrieved on 2007-03-04. 
  5. ^ :: Alien Paradox ::
  6. ^ EUSKAL 9
  7. ^ results Saturne 94
  8. ^ Alcatraz Pentcost 1990
  9. ^ Paradox member arrested in New York State - archived version of 1990 Washington Post article
  10. ^ Super Mario and the Pirates - Article in French published in 1995 by Le Nouvel Observateur
  11. ^ The ring leader - Article of Business North Carolina, April 1997, Max Louarn quoted on p.12 and p.16
  12. ^ http://parazite.greatnow.com/scenebusts72.htm

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

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