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Where the warez are Your ticket to the underground without being a nerd by SKINJOB Software is expensive and that $3,000 fun-box you just bought is little more than a typewriter without programs. For many people, software "piracy" is a cheap and easy (albeit illegal) way to expose themselves to high-end computer applications. Piracy might be an over-dramatic metaphor, as if you had commandeered Microsoft and set Bill to sea in a dingy. You can always reassure yourself that you are really just bumrushing the show: a humble stowaway seeking passage to the promised land. Whatever your ethics, the fact is every software application, pornographic photo and almost every tune ever made is available for free somewhere on the Net. You just have to know where to go. Free porn... and more That geek in the next cubicle who always has the latest stuff and who others label a "hacker" is probably just another "warez" junkie. Illegal sites pop up all over the Net, some for a window of just a few hours, others with static addresses that are beacons of warez advocacy. Warez sites justify themselves in several ways--as a tool for learning, as a means to trying software before buying or, more dubiously, as a kind of giant electronic data warehouse for storing "backups" of software you already own. Many sites don't bother with justification and just relish the free exchange of almost anything that can be encoded in binary. Serial numbers and "hacks" of protected software are a prized part of any warez archive, along with every other guilty pleasure you can download. Nobody wants to pay for porn, or admit they did, at least. Most naughty photos and movies available at pay porn sites have been hacked loose onto free sites, and passwords for your favourite filthy XXX site are readily available. If you really want to go underground, there are "banned" texts and other mischievous information such as credit card number generators and various fake-ID creation tools.
There is more than the Web An easy way to get into the underground without a whole lot of technical knowledge is via hotline (www.hotlinesw.com to get a free "trial" version). An all-in-one alternative to the Web, it's probably the best-known tool for finding subterranean sites on the Net. Hotline has a browser program that allows users to connect to sites with large file archives, which are not accessible through regular Web search engines. This replaces the arcane FTP (file transfer protocol) for sucking files, which used a crude command line interface like the testy MS-DOS. Additionally, the hotline browser allows online chat, news and a key of online users represented by individual icons. (Most users are too busy sucking files to want to talk to you, unless of course, you happen to be using a female name.) Indeed, everything your local BBS used to do before you got bored and went to the Web is here. Some of the hotline sites really are like the old-school BBS, with exclusive membership criteria and specific themes. The real beauty of this suite of software is that, like a cheapo BBS, you can run your own Internet site from your home without a fancy Net service and via a single inexpensive modem. Thousands of available sites greatly increase the chance of finding those rare Dr. Laura photos for free. Tracking it down Using hotline, switching between sites is as easy as changing channels on your TV. And like the TV Guide, there are encapsulated descriptions of the contents for what's on at each location. Just click your mouse on the menu of available sites and you're there. First, you must select a tracker in the options for the hotline browser, which will feed your client program with the latest info for a group of related sites. Then you're flying. (Hint: the default trackers supplied in the browser package only lead to shareware archives.) Finding a tracker to suit your particular interest might take a little detective work, but you might want to start at the Tracker-Tracker (http://www. tracker-tracker.com). Another one is www.troutmask.com. Some are hailing hotline as a rebirth of the BBS, a small village away from the rushing hubbub of the Web, where limited graphics and low traffic are assets. Here, there are few enough participants to know at least a tidbit about them other than their "wacky" handle and personalized icon. Whether it's virtual communities, CB radio cum samizdat, or straight-up deviance, you might find where you want to go today. |