Report vBulletin Piracy

[Sinistra]

This is a real simple plugin you can add in. this little thing will make a fast and easy way to report illegal Vbulletins through your admin CP.

How to Install

Goto Admin CP -> Products & Plugins -> Plugin Manager

install the vB-piracy.xml file

Now

Goto your acmin CP -> Languages & Phrases -> Phrase Manager

Here we are going to add 2 new phrases to your board.

First phrase

Product: vBulletin
Varname: vB_Piracy_Reporting
Text: Piracy Reporting

Save that phrase

Next Phrase

Product: vBulletin
Varname: report_priacy
Text: Report vBulletin Piracy

Save Phrase

you are all done ^_^ I hope this helps you in your fight aganst Vb Pirated boards

[Logikos]

Is this just a link added to the Admincp?

[Sinistra]

Yeah I will make a form in the next release of the hackI requested it on vb.com but meh they said it would be to hard. a novice coder made it LOL

[Vizionz]

reporting piracy aint solving nothing. if vb wants to stop piracy then they need to monitor torrents and irc channels cause its never gonna stop.. ya cango to *** Staff edit, sites removed *** at anytime and search vbulletin and find plenty of stolen scripts. so stop one three more are coming up.. untill you can stop the suppliers theres no way to stop it.

me i bought my license so i dont worry but its very simple for someone to get a free webserver that supports php mysql or even run your own on your computer. grab the zip or rar from one of the file sharing sites. mask your computer and blam your running illegal forums without a problem

[chimaira]

Yeah its true Vizionz. But at least this is a step forward.. Nice hack Lord Katsuhito
Good to see

[Hellcat]

How can "normal mortals" (like me) see if it's a legal or illegal vB running on the current site in my browser?

And AFAIK the AdminCP "phones home" for getting the latest version, can't they just run automated refferer checks to get all illegal ('xept the one where those functions are edited out) installs? i.e. the refferer must come from an URL registered in ones member area on vB.com.

Man, I'm already getting nervous when setting up a (private, non public, conform to the license) test-forum on my server rather than my notbook :-/

[Vizionz]

How can "normal mortals" (like me) see if it's a legal or illegal vB running on the current site in my browser?

And AFAIK the AdminCP "phones home" for getting the latest version, can't they just run automated refferer checks to get all illegal ('xept the one where those functions are edited out) installs? i.e. the refferer must come from an URL registered in ones member area on vB.com.

Man, I'm already getting nervous when setting up a (private, non public, conform to the license) test-forum on my server rather than my notbook :-/
ya got to remember that most the people who pirate vbulletin are php coders so they just remove the coding to do anything ..

and as far as i know you cant know if there running bootleg versions . your just taking a guess like say you see a forum that some 13 year old kid is runnign or you know a friend or someone from work or school running one or told you it was bootlegged Or you ran by a site and read a thread about how they bootlegged the forum.

[GamerJunk.net]

The scripts when bootlegged are nulled and then you can use them with no license and no call to vbulletin.com

[XtremeOffroad]

Or if you suspect an illegal copy just go to vb.com to report it, After all we do go there from time to time to check on updates.

[Sinistra]

I only go there to download updates and get support on some issues. I don't always go there. This was to help those that don't go and would like to report a site fast

[Snake]

/me clicks on install

[Cole2026]

ya got to remember that most the people who pirate vbulletin are php coders so they just remove the coding to do anything ..

and as far as i know you cant know if there running bootleg versions . your just taking a guess like say you see a forum that some 13 year old kid is runnign or you know a friend or someone from work or school running one or told you it was bootlegged Or you ran by a site and read a thread about how they bootlegged the forum.

You could also look at some of the JS files in the vB Installation:

http://www.domain.com/forum/clientscript/vbulletin_global.js

Usually there is a message in the header saying "Nulled by" whatever team.

[Brad]

ya got to remember that most the people who pirate vbulletin are php coders so they just remove the coding to do anything ..

and as far as i know you cant know if there running bootleg versions . your just taking a guess like say you see a forum that some 13 year old kid is runnign or you know a friend or someone from work or school running one or told you it was bootlegged Or you ran by a site and read a thread about how they bootlegged the forum.

Removing that 'callhome' does little to nothing in the way of hiding. If you're running vBulletin without a license you can be found out, with or without a nulled version.

[Sinistra]

Removing that 'callhome' does little to nothing in the way of hiding. If you're running vBulletin without a license you can be found out, with or without a nulled version.
I would agree. they null out everything but still can be busted. and if you have people on your site that suspect your site is illegal they willl report it.

So this was my way of making it easy for me and others that don't goto Vbulletin all the time to report piracy.

[baronvonwalz]

I'm confused, what would the point of this be? If someone was running an illegal copy of vBulletin, they wouldn't install this, and they couldn't get this plugin anyways because they wouldn't have access to these forums to get it.

[Sinistra]

you have to have a valid copy of vB to even download from this site.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

It is a hack for owners of a valid license to easily report a suspected board from their ACP.

[cOuNtErFiET]

Cole2026 wouldn't you have to have FTP access or cpanel to see the files? since most of the info is commented out of the actual file?

[gulldarek]

vBulletin should be pre-compiled (for example with Zend compiler) and the only way to add hacks should be extended plugin system.

[Symen_4ab]

vBulletin should be pre-compiled (for example with Zend compiler) and the only way to add hacks should be extended plugin system.

Hey, and what about my own custom personal little mods to the code ?

Don't want to have to look in the manual to see where this ?+/&?" hook is located :)

I bought my license, so I want to be able to read the code and make modifications to it.

[gulldarek]

There are many applications that are distributed "as it is". I'm just thinking about the ways to hide vB code. Nothing serious :p

[Reeve of shinra]

The general consensus was that we did not want an encoded version. I like being able to see and tweak the code. Its part of the reason why I enjoy my liscence but anyway..

what they need to do is crack down harder on the people that are giving the software up on the first place. They have to be more easilly identified.

[Sinistra]

The general consensus was that we did not want an encoded version. I like being able to see and tweak the code. Its part of the reason why I enjoy my liscence but anyway..

what they need to do is crack down harder on the people that are giving the software up on the first place. They have to be more easilly identified.

Yes I would have to agree. When I ran a IPB before it went to a piad service. I use to do hack installs for people. the sit policy was to check and see if the licence was valid. The only 2 ways to check is in the code where the IPB licence number is or an IPS check via the browser. and when I knew how to do the check on the bwoser I knew it was a pirated version because instead of a product number I would get

"This script has been pirated by WYDZ" or something like that in the script.

There is also an easy way to fix the copyright ov a Vb all you got to do is delete it and say its another board syste that LOOKS like vB.

They don't have any real copyright protection against people pirating the boards.
let alone the man power to report and stop all of the pirated versions. I recent'y reported a site to vB and IPB about this one site.

Had free downloads of IPB and all its flagship componets such as the blog and gallery.

Also had vB 3.5.3 AND all the 3.5 hacks from this site on the board. So someone with a Valid licence is giving all this stuff away for free. its vB.com and vB.org need to find a way to hide say a call home fetuer in the code so they can find out who is giving out this info and free stuff

[gulldarek]

You can't fully protect open source code. You can only put different functions that will "call home" in many places, but it's not secure enough.

Ps. Open source != GPL :p

[itorrents]

reporting piracy aint solving nothing. if vb wants to stop piracy then they need to monitor torrents and irc channels cause its never gonna stop.. ya cango to *** Staff edit, sites removed *** at anytime and search vbulletin and find plenty of stolen scripts. so stop one three more are coming up.. untill you can stop the suppliers theres no way to stop it.

me i bought my license so i dont worry but its very simple for someone to get a free webserver that supports php mysql or even run your own on your computer. grab the zip or rar from one of the file sharing sites. mask your computer and blam your running illegal forums without a problem

I run a torrent site, dunno why torrents and warez always seem to go hand in hand but whatever...I bought my copy, and I recomend the same to everyone I talk to! I know plenty of peeps, including personal friends running "nulled" copies of vb3 who have been caught and had to switch to IVPB :D so ya! somebody is doing something right.

[unknowngiver]

Nice mod
but IMO this hardly works
i know sites that are running illigal pirated vbulletins..the admins TOLD ME that they r running illigal ones and i reported it to vbulleitn staff and nothing happened, i reported it about 3 times and the sites are still up and running

[bouncer18]

good intentions... but this is a little behind the times

[boatdesign]

Removing that 'callhome' does little to nothing in the way of hiding. If you're running vBulletin without a license you can be found out, with or without a nulled version.Not to be contrary, but it must do something... I'm sure the callhomes weren't added just to slowdown the homepage of the admin control panel a little bit :tired:

--yes I'm feeling grumpy because I just finished my taxes after working all day on them

[Wheels]

Nice mod
but IMO this hardly works
i know sites that are running illigal pirated vbulletins..the admins TOLD ME that they r running illigal ones and i reported it to vbulleitn staff and nothing happened, i reported it about 3 times and the sites are still up and running

Sometimes when a site is still up, they could've been offered to purchase a legal license or located on a server that's in a country that doesn't respect copyright laws. The sad thing is if even vB was $10 or even $1, it would still be pirated like crazy.

[tokenyank]

Hey, and what about my own custom personal little mods to the code ?

Don't want to have to look in the manual to see where this ?+/&?" hook is located :)

I bought my license, so I want to be able to read the code and make modifications to it.
Not to mention that Zend and Ioncube can be broken now!

So, all those devs that paid $$$$'s for Zend or $$$'s for Ioncube because of the encryption might as well saved their pennies and used base64 instead!