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OS X torrents are illegal and should not be used


Master Chief
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We all know, or at least you should know this by now, that downloading torrent files of OS X is illegal. This forum also don't want you to talk about torrents (see forum rules) but what you might have missed is this:

 

You should never download any of these torrent files as your download is being tracked and stored for a period of six months (up to 12 months).

 

If you plan to install OS X on non-Apple hardware, do so with an original version of OS X retail only - but even this may be illegal in your country. No, this is not a joke, nor "scare tactics", but you should be made aware of the possible legal troubles (me being a proud parent of four). That's all.

 

Note that all downloads/update checks from the Apple servers are being tracked (trust me they are) and that one day insanelymac.com might be forced to hand over your user data (I would if I was Apple) giving them all the "John Doe's" they need.

 

Did I say that your ISP is storing your data for 6 to 12 months, and that Apple might get a free ride since Apple has a solid connection with the music industry?

 

The Swedish parliament wants a conviction, even before the court case has started (because Sweden is being compared with Russia). That doesn't sound good. Oh, and some people here might actually be old enough to remember what happened to: Napster, KaZaH and Grokster - they all eventually payed millions and millions of dollars. Remember?

 

Additional reading info for P2P fans: "Research by Raynor Vliegendhart of the Tribler P2P team at Delft University of Technology has shown that BitTorrent is more vulnerable to a global collapse than anyone has ever predicted.... That's bad news for legal torrents!

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Apple know what's going on, they have all along. I'm guessing they don't care to much as most people who do this stuff either already own one or more Macs (like me) or plan on one day purchasing the one that suits them when it comes along.

 

They also can't be too unhappy with it going on as they have thousands of hardware beta testers out there solving all of their potential compatibility issues and they don't have to shell out a cent. They collect your system info every time you do an update so they can track where the OSX86 community is upto in relation to their own hardware ideas.

 

Lastly, for most of us this is a bit of fun, it's not like we're making millions out of our home made Mac's, and a fair proportion of us also buy the original install DVD's as well (I certainly did when Leopard came out, and will do so when Snow Leopard is released).

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Apple know what's going on, they have all along. I'm guessing they don't care to much as most people who do this stuff either already own one or more Macs (like me) or plan on one day purchasing the one that suits them when it comes along.

 

They also can't be too unhappy with it going on as they have thousands of hardware beta testers out there solving all of their potential compatibility issues and they don't have to shell out a cent. They collect your system info every time you do an update so they can track where the OSX86 community is upto in relation to their own hardware ideas.

 

Lastly, for most of us this is a bit of fun, it's not like we're making millions out of our home made Mac's, and a fair proportion of us also buy the original install DVD's as well (I certainly did when Leopard came out, and will do so when Snow Leopard is released).

 

I agree with you, the only winner with the OSX86 world is Apple and they know it, look at how the market share has been increased for Apple :D

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This is how I perceive what is going on in the world lately. The world is going into a depression, fast. Governments are trying to save us by bailouts and stimulus packages but they are not taking hold quick enough to save us, why? Local governments are losing money so they look to us, the citizens for that money, so they have a more strict tolerance for petty crimes. Not only that but big businesses are looking to us for profit and if we aren't voluntarily giving it up for their products they look to the pirating community for that money through legal action. With both these forces in hand and the fact that MOST people break the law, people will be running out of money quicker and then throwing the world under the financial bus.

 

This makes me sick to my stomach seeing companies do this, I liked it when companies just tried to rip us off through their prices, not through legal BS.

 

My advice to everyone out there is to be paranoid, do your research and find out if what you do is illegal or not because 6 - 12 months in who knows who will be coming for your money or life.

 

This has been a wonderful forum for many to learn and grow about what it takes to see an OS work on "non-compatible" hardware and also give those who don't quite have the money a chance to feel what Mac OS X is like.

 

Good luck to everyone in the coming months this year will be quite the interesting one.

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If you want to avoid sending Apple info then just don't use Software Update, use the Apple Downloads site instead and manually download your updates, or even better, use a mirror site. Also, from system info, Apple can certainly tell that we are OSx86 users, but AFAIK, unlike Microsoft's WGA, Apple can't really tell whether the copy of OS X is legit or not.

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I would argue against this for multiple reasons:

1) Apple is not the RIAA. How many software-related lawsuits do you hear about against individuals? I cannot think of one. Adobe and Microsoft don't sue individuals for pirating their software (Microsoft software is actually cheaper to buy via the pirate-then-buy method than it is via retail shelves) and Apple won't sue individuals either.

2) Lawsuits against individuals are a PR nightmare and Apple is a very PR-oriented company. They won't risk their reputation going after individuals who download OSx86 distributions for an amount of money that is essentially pocket change to them.

3) Suing a company like Psystar for making money on hackintoshes is completely different than suing individuals. In all honesty, by downloading an OSx86 distribution, how much has Apple lost? Perhaps $2000 for a machine? That won't even cover one of their lawyers. Psystar has the potential to steal serious business from them and subsequently has been sued. (Psystar should be sued by netkas anyway for stealing his PC-EFI).

4) How many people on OSx86 are Americans? While there certainly are a large number of US Citizens on these forums there is also a very large number of people hailing from other countries. The US legal system hardly has jurisdiction in these countries and Apple would have to jump through a fair number of hoops just to "catch" said individuals for a relatively puny amount of money.

5) The previous reasons mentioned.

 

Apple is the clear winner here. Instead of focusing resources on suing people who can give them basically nothing in return they are using those resources to further their business (cough RIAA cough). They can sit back and watch all of the open source development happen here and use that work in their own products. Insanelymac is hardly a secret. Apple can use Google just as well as anyone. I know someone who works for Apple who runs a Hackintosh.

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Oh no, Apple has my IP. What ever will they do with those numbers? One option is to spend millions of dollars and possibly years in court like the RIAA did just to get the legal power to have ISP's give user info to them. The other option is to do nothing with those numbers.

 

I can totally see courts siding with Apple and giving them that kind of power, after all, breaking a questionable license agreement is highly illegal and similair to distributing hundreds of thousands of pirated files.

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If you plan to install OS X on non-Apple hardware, do so with an original version of OS X retail only - but even this may be illegal in your country.

 

I invoke "Software Update ..." on my dual 1.0 GHz G4. That's where I do all of my testing.

 

I will neither confirm, nor deny, that an update is subsequently installed on something other than that G4.

 

Heck, it could be a G5, or an Intel Mac.

 

Right?

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Can I just say, honestly, do we need other members using blatantly false scare tactics here?

 

Seriously, the amount it would cost for apple to hunt you down and fight you in court is not worth the $130 license to them. Grow up, kiddies, it's real world time.

 

EDIT: And if you're trying to scare people, at least spell right. OS X torrents are illigal eh? Illigal. Hmm. :rolleyes:

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Can I just say, honestly, do we need other members using blatantly false scare tactics here?

Just be reasonable; there is nothing "blatantly false" here.

 

Seriously, the amount it would cost for apple to hunt you down and fight you in court is not worth the $130 license to them. Grow up, kiddies, it's real world time.

I know that reading between the lines is difficult, or that it is impossibble for some to follow a link and start reading because Apple Computer Inc is part of this since 2005 already! Oh you didn't know? Well in that case I'm sorry that you didn't get the invitation, but I just did.

 

EDIT: And if you're trying to scare people, at least spell right. OS X torrents are illigal eh? Illigal. Hmm. :(

First of all, I am not trying to scare people. However, the newcomers and 15 year old kids here should be made aware of possible legal troubles, because that's what you get for being a stupid kid.

 

Oh, and about that typo; Yes I am human and made a typo. So what? Care to visit my office to see how slow this forum actually is? Just don't blame the messenger. In other words: I was unable to fix it.

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