Skyhigh 16 Pirate BBS - Behind the screen
BBS - Bullentin Board Systems - Boards and so on...
These are words that doesn't really mean much to me. Sure I have a vague feeling of what they are, but that's also about it!
I think that I'm not the only one. So when I found this article in a computer magazine I decided to share it with the rest of you. So let me make it perfectly clear that all I have done is to translate it into Eng lish. Nevertheless I find it to be very exciting. Ok let's go!!
PIRATE BBS - BEHIND THE SCREEN
'Ordinary' pirates has gradually lost some of the mys ticism connected to them, and many computer owners has pirate copies in their diskboxes. Copies which are bought through mailorders from a pirate. What the fewest knows something about are the Bullentin Board Systems around the world. Here is not alluded to official and legal boards, but to the pirates own BBS systems. Here you can download the newest games via modem; and both crackers & hackers uses these boards for distribution and communication.
GLOBAL PIRATE BOARD LIST
The programmes of the pirate BBS are the same which are used in the legal part of the modem world, but the way it's runned is much different from the way normal boards are runned. Their phone numbers are not open to the public, and often they have numerous safety precautions before an user is accepted. Still many of them are more hos- pitable than normal bases. Worldwide there are about 765 registrated private boards. Not registrated by the authorities ofcoz, but on the pirates own list for Elite Boards. Even countries as Poland is repre- sented, and all in all 23 different countries is said to have pirate boards. To that there are numerous 'legal' boards which runs with special file areas, from where priviliged users can get cracked software!
GAMES FROM ABROAD
The users are mainly the persons who're also on the normal bases, but sure there's someone who only are on the pirate boards. In common they have that they like this kind of contact. The kernel is ofcoz the file areas on these bases, and here you can find the newest games the same day as they are released, or maybe even before. Several megabytes are downloaded every day.This often hap- pens through the fastest modems available on the market. It's not unusual that the newest games are fetched abroad, if a group in this country is the first who has cracked it!
HACKING DOCUMENTS
Pirate boards are occupied almost the entire time, and that is even though many of them has several phone lines. Even the new ISDN lines can be found on some bases, and the biggest bases are working with no less than up to 8 lines. Both crackers and hackers are regular visitors on these bases, and connected to the last mentioned you can find thousands of files dealing with hacking in various contries. The hackers even releases their own magazines in the shape of textfiles on the board Various prints of hardware, which can help them to cheat the phone companies, are also widely spread.
AN UNIQUE STYLE
Ofcoz the users are communicating mutual on these bases, but the 'tone' is very different from other BBS systems. Whether the way of talking is more liberal or not is not to be discussed, but many will probably say that it looks like a row of quotes from the latest HIP HOP record. The bases are not connected in nets like many ordi- nary PD boards. An area can therefore easily seem 'dead' if the users prefer to use their time online to leech the newest games. At that point normal boards are a lot more exciting if you can deal with the for- mal tone.
TELEPHONE ABUSE
As the most users and sysops get enormous phone- bills on several hundred ?!? (dollars/pounds.), a way out of this, is for some pirates unfortunately : phreaking. Phreaking consists of buying calling cards on the black market, and after that calling on the credit of not-knowing Americans. These cards can be obtained through corrupt AT&T employes. It is often about hundreds of cards arriving at the country at a time. The result is a bill on thousands of dollars for the unlucky owner. Another way to cheat the phone companies are the socalled boxes (bluebox/blackbox a.s.o. -ed !), which is a hardware gizmo connected to the telephone. De- pending on which type there's used, the exchange are cheated to 'believe' that the phone is hung up, or the call is registrated with another subscriber.
ALSO WORKING AS MAIL ORDER COMPANIES
As a game often takes up several megabytes, the most pirate boards often only accept modems with speeds on 9600 bauds or more. Most of them uses 16800 baud modems, which allows a file transfering speed at 1600 - 2000 bytes per second. Some of the boards therefore run small mail order companies too. As a kind of back up to the board. The pirates has partly succeeded in giving a better service than even the biggest commercial companies. That itself is both frightening and in the same time very impressing.
STEADY AMOUNT OF PIRATE BOARDS
The amount of pirate boards is surprisingly not in- creased characteristic the latest years, and the 'market' for pirate copies are apperently satisfied, but as the most fast modems are quite cheap now, we can expect that more users will be capable of get- ting software on these boards. whether that amount will increase radically in the future or not, is only guessing.
The question whether these boards are helping the computer to survive or trying to kill the few prof- fesional supporting companies still left is up to YOU to answer. No matter what, then they are very alive & kicking, and maybe they aren't that mystic anyway!!
Next is an interview with a sysop of a board. To pro-
tect his real identity plus his handle/group they
have decided to call him Mr. Warmstart.
+ = Questions - = Mr. Warmstart
INTERVIEW WITH " MR. WARMSTART "
+ Please tell us how you became sysop on a pirate
board!
- I originally started up with a pd-board, however with a little elite in the background (elite is here meant as cracked software -ed!), but as time went the users were asking more and more for elite. At last they were almost only there for elite. most didn't really care about the pd. Then I got in contact with some users who had re- gular elite boards. Through them I got access to the before mentioned boards, and started opening my eyes for the elite-world. After that it turned more and more to elite for me, as I saw that this was what the people really wanted. Today I run VERY MUCH elite.
+ It's a common perception that pirates makes a lot of money. Is that in force for you as sysop for a pirate board ?
- It has never been my intention to make money of it, and I never have. I rather lost money becoz of the enomous phone bill I have recieved through time! There are some persons who are running postorder on their boards. Not that I will say it's many. I'll guess apx 15% of the danish boards have this ser- vice with cracked software. Primary this service is for users with 2400 baud modems only. They might make a little money. Enough to buy more phone - lines and hardware, but it's not a profitable living, though I will presume they do make a fair share.
+ What contact do you have to the people who are cracking the games ?
- I haven't got direct contact with the people who cracks the games, but as they often are users on several elite boards I can write them messages on these boards. I get the software, which I give to people, via modem from other pirate bbs's in Den- mark and the rest of the world.
+ Pirate boards are often a symbol on mysticism for people who doesn't have modems. Is it a 'closed' world for you who uses these bases ?
- No it's absolutely not a closed world, and it's by the way rather easy to get access to several elite boards if you know their phone numbers. It is only the pd boards who runs elite secretly who're hard to get access to. For the time beeing I have account to private area on 4 pd boards in Denmark.
+ How many users can be found on a base like your own ?
- At the moment I have about 280 users, though they aren't active all of them. Becoz of soo many calls the lines are almost always busy. Often you can't get through to my board untill 6 in the morning,but that's the way it is with almost every board. It is exciting to have access to these experiences via a bunch of cool games a.s.o, which you can only find on these boards.
+ How do you see the fact that selling or giving away games is actually illegal ?
- I don't really think much about it, as it's so normal Do you ever think about that it is illegal to copy video tapes from the television and give it to your friends ? It is just as illegal as selling games !
+ Don't you feel a certain guilt,that the big software companies doesn't develop professional software for the c64/amiga anylonger ?
- I'll say that I feel like the ones who are copying tapes for eachother eventhough it's illegal ! By the way then the serious users are not using the c64/amiga but the pc. Apart from this then my board also have illegal pc games in an area for pc users. This is just as illegal, but it's not that the producers of pc programmes has been more suc- cesfull in stopping the illegal sellings. I know that there also exists pure pc pirate boards. The pc users also swaps cracked software. Some times in a larger scale than people expect.
+ I have on a pirate bbs found documents about jour nalists from several magazines, that have stated themselves negative about the pirate world. Their full names and addys were published, and people were encouraged to stay away from them. Are these people not easy targets for harassment ?
- It is true that documents with names and addies of people you should not talk to are to be found on some boards. It's the more tough kernel who would like to be left alone, and often it's people who are not interested in the lies who're spread/published about the pirate world. Thes journalists are not objective, but are only trying to be the hackers & crackers enemy number one.
+ You mentioned the 'tough kernel'. Who do you refer to with that ?
- The tough kernel are the persons who're cracking the games. They are not interested in stopping, becoz of the money they're making. The relation between them and us are just fine,and by the way : they are not as tough as they sound like!!
+ At last the inevitable question. Are you not afraid of getting caught ?
- If I get caught, well then I get caught. But I think the police has much to do with a lot of other things than to be interested in what I'm doing.
Yeppa, finally you reached the end of this chapter.
I hope you found it just as exciting as I did.
I would like to get a comment or chapter by a sysop concerning this chapter. Is the pirate world really like this ! - Is it really that easy to get access to a pirate board, -and don't you feel guilty that the software companies doesn't develop much software anylonger ?
To me it's sound like a world of it's own, but gee, I might be wrong like hell. So if any of you out there have something to add, please send it to this addy :
BIZ KID/CAMELOT
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