Warez scene
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The Warez scene, often referred to as The Scene (often capitalized) is a term of self-reference used by a community that specializes in the underground distribution of illegal pirated content, typically software but increasingly including movies and music.[1][2] There is a certain amount of crossover between the cracking and reverse engineering communities and this one, as the former cannot operate without the latter. The expression "the scene" had been in continual use in English for a long time before software even existed. Some members of software communities use it to refer to the software-related groups listed above. [citation needed]
The Scene has no central leadership, location, or other conventional distinguishing marks of existence, but some general guidelines apply globally, considering the historical usage of the term and the history of the communities the term has been used to represent. These guidelines include a rigid set of rules that warez groups (grps) must follow in releasing and managing software.[3] First appearing around the time of BBSes, The Scene primarily relates to a community of people dealing with and distributing computer software, ASCII art or other media content for which special skills are required. Today, The Scene generally relates to any underground computer culture which contains elements from the above that are not of the mainstream.
History
The Warez scene started emerging in 1970s used by predecessors of cracking and reverse engineering groups, their work made public on privately run BBSes.[4] The first BBSes were located in the USA, but similar boards started appearing in the UK, Australia and mainland Europe. At the time setting up a machine capable of distributing data was not a trivial matter and required a certain amount of technical skill. The reason it was usually done was for the technical challenge. The BBS systems typically hosted several megabytes of material. The best boards had multiple phone lines and up to one hundred megabytes of storage space, which was very expensive at the time.[5] Releases were mostly games and later applications.
As the world of software development evolved to counter the distribution of material and as the software and hardware needed for distribution became readily available to anyone, The Scene adapted to the changes and turned from simple distribution to actual cracking of the protections and non-commercial reverse engineering.[4] As many groups of people who wanted to do this emerged, a requirement for promotion of individual groups became evident, which prompted the evolution of the Artscene, which specialized in the creation of graphical art associated with individual groups.[6] The groups would promote their abilities with ever more sophisticated and advanced software, graphical art and later also music (Demoscene).[7]
The subcommunities (artscene, demoscene, etc), which had nothing inherently illegal with them, eventually branched off. Also, the programs containing the group promotional material, that is coding/graphical/musical presentations evolved to become separate programs distributed through The Scene and were nicknamed Intros and later Cracktros.
The demoscene grew especially strong in Scandinavia, where annual gatherings are hosted even today.[8]
Crackers and reverse engineers
The core element of The Scene since its beginning. This part of The Scene community specializes in the creation of software cracks and keygens. The challenge of cracking and reverse engineering complicated software is what makes it such an attraction.[9]
See also
References
- ^ Stiernstedt, Jenny (2009-04-27). "Antipiratbyrån jagar globalt piratnätverk" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
- ^ "What is the scene?". Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- ^ "The Scene Rules". Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- ^ a b "The History of the Warez Scene (unfinished)". Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- ^ McCandless, David (April 1997). "Warez Wars". Wired. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- ^ "scene history". Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- ^ The BBS Documentary - MOVIE
- ^ "ASSEMBLY Summer '08 - Finland's largest computer festival in Helsinki". 2008.
- ^
Craig, Paul; Ron, Mark (2005). "Chapter 4: Cracking". In Burnett, Mark (ed.). Software Piracy Exposed - Secrets from the Dark Side Revealed. Publisher: Andrew Williams, Page Layout and Art: Patricia Lupien, Acquisitions Editor: Jaime Quigley, Copy Editor: Judy Eby, Technical Editor: Mark Burnett, Indexer: Nara Wood, Cover Designer: Michael Kavish. United States of America: Syngress Publishing. p. 63. doi:10.1016/B978-193226698-6/50029-5. ISBN 1-93226-698-4.
For many, it is the challenge of the game; trying to defeat technology designed specifically to stop them. For others, there is a significant financial incentive involved. Many black market counterfeiting operations employ crackers to remove copy protection from software titles, thereby allowing the material to be copied and sold. Cracking is taken very seriously, and is the most respected role in the warez group scene.
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