illegal copy in use .. where to post?
 

.. or better:

Who do i need to inform about illegal vbb usage ?

I think there is a email address for this. Try piracy@jelsoft.com or just email one of the admins.

Chris

piracy@vbulletin.com, or e-mail/PM one of the mods.

thanks..

i use a regestered vB but what are things that happen if you get caught without a licence?

I do believe you are asked to shut it down and if you do not then they goto your provider and let them know what you have done. In some cases I am sure you might lose your space where you are hosted. I know as a host myself if I learned that any of my clients were using pirated software on their site I would shut them down immediatley and they would not get their money back. I do not understand and perhaps never will why people know something they are doing is wrong yet they do it anyways. Blows my mind. Suck it up and pay the money!

My qustion is how do you find out unless the person Post(s) a message saying they illegaly have it? Cause it could be useful for me cause I see a ton of boards.

It really is NOT worth using an illegal version!!! Only $160 for life, it isn't that much for what you are getting, I don't understand why either...

The easiest way is to log into the admin CP. If it shows you the latest version of vBulletin, it's not pirated. If it doesn't show the latest version anywhere, they're using a hacked version. Also if they have no hacks, it's possible they're using a pirated version (of course not definitely, but most vB boards seem to be hacked).

Strange logic there?? I'm not using the latest version of vB (because I have many hacks) but I'm fully licensed thank you!

The only way to do it is to email vBulletin. They have a list of everyone who owns a license, so it's just a matter of checking if you are on the list or not.

It's not good to post it on the forums. For example what if someone thought that everyone not using the latest version must be using a pirated version. Then came onto the forums and said hey he's a pirate. I would not be best pleased to say the least!

he didnt say if ur using the latest version
Look this is ur admin CP
Control Panel (Version 2.2.4) | Latest version of vBulletin available is 2.2.4. | Go to your Forums Home Page
The Second bit in there is what he means

I reported 3 illegal boards several months ago but they are still online ... :rolleyes:

It is my experience that nothing is done.

Something is always done. However these things take time and hosting companies are not always as cooperative as they could be. If it's been several months and the board is still online, send another report to piracy@vbulletin.com as a reminder.

I'll rephrase. It is my experience that not enough is done. :)

I know it can seem that way but unless and until the world powers grant Jelsoft the title of 'Benevolent Dictator' then we'll just have to be patient. ;)

I granted them those powers already. I even included a magic wand and crystal ball.

So you call this, for example, nothing?
http://rhymerainers.deluxfi.com/board/
And this is just one out of many many boards that get shut down daily. :)
The people that deal with this have many sites on their list, more than you can imagine, and sometimes they give higher priority for bigger sites, and things like that.
Just because a site you reported wasn't nuked, doesn't mean nothing is being done. :)

First, I do believe I rephrased my words to include “not enough” instead of nothing. At any rate, the link you provided doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. That notification appears to be from vB staff to the website operator. Why would the website operators shut down the site and post that letter to the public? How else could that appear, because vB couldn’t shut down the site and make that letter appear? It also wouldn’t make any sense for the hosting company (site owner) to post that because the letter is to a site operator, not owner. I may be wrong, but something is a bit strange about that. Scare tactic?

That site I linked to used to had an illegal board. Jelsoft was notified about it, and sent him the legal letter. He removed the board and put up the letter for whatever reason (which doesn't really matter). :)

I agree.

For those of you who believe not enough is being done - what *exactly* do you recommend Jelsoft do? I'm sure they would be open to constructive suggestions.

It would be nice to get a personalized response saying "yup, that's a pirated board" at least :)

You?ve got that right. In fact, even a reply that they acknowledge your report would be nice. I will submit other suggestions, but we should start with the basics as described above.

Actually the response I've gotten is that Jelsoft doesn't confirm the existence of pirate boards because of privacy issues. In this lawsuit-happy age, I can certainly understand their restraint.

Well, I’m more talking about the acknowledgment of reports, not confirmations of which board was operating illegally and which was not. Maybe they could have an online submission form. The form could have fields for the suspected sites address, why the reporter thinks it’s using pirated software, etc. Similar to submitting a help or trouble ticket like some hosting companies use. The reporter could then view the status of the report. The status doesn’t have to include the confirmation of piracy, but at least three basic stages. The stages could be received, investigating, and completed. This way the reporter knows something is being done about it. This would also eliminate vB staff from receiving or investigating numerous reports about the same sites.

Avenger gets my vote :)

Couldnt have said it any better myself.

That's a very good suggestion Avenger. Perhaps after the Jelsoft team gets vB 3 released, they'll consider revamping the piracy report system in this manner.

Thanks for the kudos guys. :)

It would definitely take some coding, but could be integrated directly into the member area. Maybe even add something to check the URL field for dupe submissions. At any rate, I?m all for 3.0?s release first. lol

i know the guy that owned this board:
http://rhymerainers.deluxfi.com/board/
Lol... he bragged about his being betta than mine... no wonder he registered at my board instead :) lol

Wouldn't it help if you had to enter your licence info during the installation process?If it failed then the VB would terminate installation or something?I dunno, lol.I suck at suggestions.:D :laugh: :ermm: :ogre:

They'd still hack it so that step wouldn't be necessary.

Won't be hard to take that code out, nemesis, every person with a little PHP understanding could do that.
There was another suggestion, that the program will contact the Jelsoft server to get the database schema, but that won't help either.

You know, piracy can never be totally stopped. For example, Microsoft said that their activation system for XP will stop piracy, but nothing changed.

that's so true, because Microsoft stupidly put the file that tells XP it's activation out in the open and undecrpted, meaning anyone that knows where it is can easily take the copy and give it to there friends if s/he wants.

kind of the same with vB, anyone that could get there hands on it, can start cracking it and take out the call home function...vB sould try encripting there code better to make the hackers think what they are doing, plus if they do take it out, the board won't work :D

basicly, have in all the PHP files to check for codeing in each other files and also check the codeing in the DB...then in the DB, if it can't find any codeing, it'll just delete all MySQL info, and that'll piss off the hacker ;)

removed
removed

[URLs removed as per piracy posting guidelines - Steve]

Please don't post the URLs of suspected pirate boards. Instead, send them to piracy@vbulletin.com. Thanks!

I guess you guys are already at peace with this, but I'll say it for the ones that aren't.

If someone wants to pirate something hard enough, it does not matter at all what kind of features you implement to stop them... There is always someone smarter.

I'd rather have it like today, where Jelsoft is (hopefully ;)) spending their time developing new and better software for the ones that pay for it, than trying to stop the inevitable.

One thing that might work would be to not give anyone access to the code (hosting it for us), but I know for sure that I and a helluva lot of others would drop the boards in the blink of an eye.

Hell, even that would probably not be good enough... :/

Encrypting will work, but it will severely limit the number of people that use it. I can't afford $2400(or however much) for the Zend Engine.

Chris