Pirated Software..
 

I found a vB that has been pirated. IO reported the site. How long before it will be shut down?

There is no way of knowing an install is a pirate install. Jelsoft will investigate it and take the nessecary course of action if its required.

What if they are missing the Authrnticate.php , my piraters delete that file.

Bewsdies I absolutlety know the its pirated because the admin told me he bought it from vb.org this summer and two things contradict that.

You cant buy a vb from vb.org.
And if he bought it this summer, why would he have v3.0.6

um, if he bought it this summer he could upgrade ;)

and whats vbs ?

all you can do is report to jelsoft, i don't know the link, but I'm sure someone does.

there are Lots of pirated scripts on the net. it's hard I'm sure to track them all

Well you said you reported it, and that's all you can do. Jelsoft will have to take control from here.

I knbow that. I was just asking how long did it typically take for them to take action?..

Why do you care? Seriously, this is Jelsoft's business, not yours.

As someone said previously, it all depends on where the server is located and how much evidence there is I'm assuming. There's no possible way we can tell you how long it will take...

Why do I care?

If everyone else has to pay at least $165 for their vb, why should someone else get it free?

Thats why I care.

Jelsoft takes all piracy reports very seriously, and they appreciate all reports as they don't enjoy their software being stolen either. :)

Ahh yes.

Sure, and you dont have some illegal mp3's on your PC? I've payed a thousands of Euros for my Musiccollection...

Your are just a denunciant, nothing else. Perhaps you want to take some avantage from this b!tchmove.

I've paied for my vb, too. But i never would make some other guys so hard RL-Trouble just because i paied and the other one not.

My concern is that it seems he is more concerned at how quickly this guy gets shut down rather than the fact that vBulletin's profits get undercut. The software is pirated and will be regardless of how fast vBulletin moves.

I just sense ulterior motives.

Same here.... Sounds like he's mad at the person or something.

Well there's nothing we can do. If the board he is mentioning is pirated Jelsoft will take the proper measures, and that's all that matters. :)

I see vb on the newsgroups all the time. To bad all they let you do is submit URL's

Pardon my ignorance but how does one tell if vb has been pirated? What are some "red flags" or "signs" that this has occurred?

There are some signs that a borad might be using pirated software, but only Jelsoft can know for sure.

I would assume seeing it posted on a newsgroup for anyone in the world to download would be a good sign.

If its missing an authenticate.php

How do you figure that? Tons of people remove their entire install folder :)

HR3rdGen, email piracy@vbulletin.com if you have other information that doesn't fit the standard URL field.

And as a lot of other people said, there's no definite way for you to know if a board has a license or not.

Precisely, I remove all /any dir of file that is not needed for vBulletin to operate call my paranoid but over the years after all the exploits I have learned its the least we can do to protect ourselves.

Its just one way...

like the good old days in the DDR, shame about ya.

ok, please, another flaming thread about piracy and other things...

1- if you found a pirated board, alert Jelsoft here: piracy@vbulletin.com
2- if this board is REALLY pirated, you will not be aware of any action taken by Jelsoft because it's not of your business how the follow up is made.

3- details you can think of related to a pirated board MAY not be what makes it pirated... 50% of the piracy reports are false because people think they know everything...
a: if you don't see the copyright in the footer, it MAY means that the guy paid the Branding Free version, so if you report this board for that, you're just bothering the company...
b: if you see missing files from the core directory, it MAY just mean that the guy cleaning the directories... the /install/ directory can be removed completely btw.
c: evidence of missing or modified content doesn't mean you face a pirated board... most of the time it's a modified board only... take care!
d: the guy said he bought the license at vb.org... we all use this denomination, instead of vbulletin, we use vb ...

oh, and btw, NEVER play the Net COP... if you think you face a pirated board, NEVER do the investigation yourself, never question the site owner on his legality... you have no right for this, and you always do worst than what you think you are doing.

remember that there is thousands of vBulletin boards around... if you visit a board that look suspicious and you do a report just for that, you make trouble... this is what i think over come here.

the files you talk about are "nullified" versions of the script... i can tell you that 2 hours after the last vb 3.5.2 release, there was already 3 different pirated versions of it on the P2P networks... this is common, some license owners are buying licenses only to be able to release them on the nullified market...

btw, this is so easy to find nulled boards... the tag related to the action can be found easily from any Jelsoft guy - or anybody that is aware of it...

If you suspect a board of using pirated software, always report. Jelsoft can very quickly see if it is a true or false report. If false (board is licensed) nobody will ever hear about it. If it is pirated, actions wil be taken.

Better to report 1 to many, then let one slip.