New Firefox extension turns Amazon.com into illegal free-for-all
A new Firefox extension called Pirates of the Amazon lets users download movies, games, TV shows, and MP3s free of charge by cross referencing Amazon's product pages with torrent files from the Pirate Bay.
If the content can be found on the Pirate Bay's search index it shows up as a "Download 4 Free" link on the top of the Amazon product page. This links directly to the hosted .torrent tracker file, letting the user avoid having to make a purchase from Amazon in place of acquiring it illegally via BitTorrent.
The extension developer's site, along with the link to download the software is currently offline. The extension made the front page of Digg a few hours ago, which is likely what took the site out (not legal intervention). I've contacted Amazon to see if the company is making any efforts to block the extension but have not heard back yet. As it stands, the extension still works, albeit without the "Download 4 Free" thumbnail, which is hosted on the developer's servers.
As blog Torrentfreak notes, this is a really bad time for such an extension. Piracy continues to be a huge problem for movies, music albums, and PC games. Amazon's online MP3 store is one of the least expensive places to legally purchase DRM-free music, and this extension manages to make it that much simpler to pirate. It also coincides with a time of year when online retailers are getting an increase in traffic due to holiday sales.
That said, anyone who knows how to pirate content probably did not need this to continue their habit.
A similar add-on is available for IMDB users from Userscripts.org that cross references movie titles with torrent sites to find copies of films online. Despite its clear lean toward piracy, I'd argue that one of its more useful features it is to track down subtitle files, which can provide translations in smaller countries where the content might be legally available but not localized.
Below is a demo of how the extension works. Expect the developer's site, along with the download links to be back up later today.
Pirates of the Amazon screencast from pirates_of_the_amazon on Vimeo.
Josh Lowensohn writes for Webware.com, CNET's blog about Web applications and services. E-mail Josh, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Josh. 
Downloading digital copies is NOT STEALING! It is NOT PIRACY! If I steal your car or your boat (arrghh) then I have injured you as you have lost something of tangible value, that is theft. A digital copy is taking nothing tangible from you. You have lost nothing. It is not even taking your profits as the person doing the copying most often was not going to purchase the material in any case.
In the modern digital world music and movies could be sold at a fraction of their current pricing and everyone would still make a decent profit. The media moguls are protecting their pricing cartels out of nothing but greed. Screw them.
" A digital copy is taking nothing tangible from you. You have lost nothing. "
Except in this case, the sales, which Amazon loses, and that is actionable. Your argument only works when it's stuff that's ripped from CDs, (and even then it's not that good an argument) and since it's against federal law to circumvent copy protection ANY time you download a ripped movie you in violation of the law.
If you're too much of a cheapskate to pay for what you watch, then get out of my sight. Let the rest of us do the honorable thing and pay.
By that logic, if I could find a way to exactly replicate said car or boat and then give those exact replicas away to anyone that wanted one. What would happen to the market value of the original car or boat? I understand where you are coming from, it costs close to nothing to make a copy of a digital file and in most cases the recipient of the copy either goes on to buy the original or was never going to in the first place. On the side of the original creator, the market value of their product appears to be at serious risk due to the flooding of the market with replicas. Since you cannot simply stop the copying from happening, the focus should be on improving the value of the original and possibly giving away the easily replicated original and adding value to it through other inherently unique, and impossible to replicate, products.
Not a very good analogy, IMO. If you somehow built some sort of machine that can make an exact, working replica of a car or a boat for anyone to have, and give out these replicas for free, you'd be a freakin' humanitarian in my books.
DOWNLOADING = STEALING
So if I steal your credit card number and information, it isn't stealing because you haven't lost anything (you still have your piece of plastic)?
What is your mother's maiden name again? ...
Let me explain this to you. I'll try and use short words, but read slowly if you get confused.
We live in the 21st century. In this brave new world, people create things that are digital in nature. They learn how to make these things, they spend their time practicing it, and they devote their careers to producing them. There is absolutely no difference between that and someone who unpacks the frozen french fries from the box before dumping them into the hot oil, salting them, and handing them to the hungry customer.
Whether you need to destroy my digital copy to make your own is entirely irrelevant. The ONLY difference between tangible goods and digital goods is cost of materials, and the price should reflect that. I can buy an entire CD for $8.95 if I download it, versus $15 for it in the bookstore? That feels about right.
What feels wrong is how people can't get it through their heads that this is a digital world. That's what we produce now, many of us. Ones and zeroes. It doesn't make the finished product worth any less.
You would have to prove that Amazon lost a sale. Good luck with that given that this plug in doesn't make anything available.
If I have a knife and use it to slice bread, and another person uses the same type of knife to rob a store; who is at fault? The maker of the knife, the bread slicer, or the robber? If you answer anything other than the robber, then you are either a sleazy lawyer or the robber.
Are people really this stupid that they believe there's nothing illegal going on here?
RE: music piracy, etc - Who gives a ****? Music was written to be heard, Films were filmed to be seen, etc. I write original music and put it online for everyone to download freely. The only copyright stipulation is that you cannot say my song was written by you. In other words, Don't Rip Off My Music.
Why is it not also humanitarian to give away free music, as it would be to give away free cars? The only real way ordinary musicians can make money is by live performance, aka touring. If you are famous enough to make a living off record sales alone, you shouldn't be worried about money enough to sue somebody for downloading.
Simple as Greed.
I will continue to support the music and musicians that I love by respectfully buying there music!
Umm, yeah.
/P
While it's much harder to infect movies and/or other media files, it is certainly not impossible (ref: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39154533,00.htm )
...but yeah, you kids go right ahead.
/P
Fail: your own link that you provided for reference does not back up your statement.
You said "While it's much harder to infect movies and/or other media files, it is certainly not impossible"
The article says "Wallon is destructive because it replaces the wmplayer.exe file"
wmplayer.exe <> a media file. It is a program file and thus is no different from many, many viruses. Media files can not (To the best of my knowledge) be infected because they have no programming code. Instead, they're run through a program (like ITunes, wmplayer, etc) which has all the code needed to run the media file.
Just a disclaimer: I don't feel this firefox add-on is legal or should be used by anyone (and those who say it is fine are self-delusional and trying to appease their own consciousness), I just wanted to clarify the difference between infected program files and media files.
I'm all in favor of dealing with these pirates the way the British Navy did -- from the yardarm.
The music industry is similar to the ice man, who use to deliver ice to your house.. we'll the technological invention of the refrigerator put that industry out of work, and so shall the internet put the people who want to sell CD's in stores out of work. Musicians will still make money (but perhaps less) playing live music because that is still something people want.
The government is only in the way of advancements just like it would be if it were to try to ban refrigerators if it was attempting to save the ice delivery industry.
The article is right: Amazon is the last place to get great music at a decent price without forcing whole albums down your throat. Plain jane MP3s too that you can do whatever you want with. And people STILL don't want to pay a measly dollar for a song.
I'll continue to pay and support Amazon.
I'm one of those half-pirates - I understand the need to pay for content, but I also like free stuff. Amazon's still going to get a ton of my money, and I'll probably use this to indulge in stuff I can't pay for in these troubled economic times *drink*
True but that almost makes you as bad as "The Pirate Bay" JUST linking to torrentz. They are still being taken through the courts. It is a fine line don't you think? You are certainly making all of this more well know and accessible in the same way that The Pirate Bay is.
It raises some interesting questions about open source & responsibility.
How can it be open & restricted at the same time?
Software makers are also forced to block similar exploits - if it were iTunes that had this extension you can bet Apple would be made to build a fix.
Knives or Cameras analogies are not the same - your knife has not had an add on - this FF extension is an add on to the original - Add a Grenade Launcher to your knife & see how fast that gets banned.
Are you kidding me? That's like saying, "The responsibility falls on the camera-maker to make sure its cameras are not used to photograph child pornography" or maybe, "The responsibility falls on the government to make sure people don't use their freedom in a way the government would agree with."
Come on man- questioning Firefox extensions, or Firefox as a whole? Questioning open-source? If you've ever even looked at this site you'd realize that some Firefox extension is reviewed here every day because of its wonderful features and abilities. I've read tons and tons of great reviews of both Firefox and its extensions, and this is honestly the first one used for bad intentions I've read about, but "It's Mozilla's fault?" Get real, bro.
People use computers to do things both wonderful and terrible every day. If some guy in Utah uses his new laptop to distribute child pornography out of his basement, who's to blame? Society? I doubt it. The internet? Wrong again. The computer maker? Nope. THE DIRTBALL SOB distributing the pictures is at fault!
Next, I understand and appreciate the argument that by downloading the music/videos rather than buying it is driving down the value of CD's and movies, etc. Sure, I'd have to say that would be pretty sad. HOWEVER, that's not happening! DVD's are still $25 when they're released, and CD's still range from $10-$15. MAYBE, if the price came down to something reasonable in retail stores (I'd definitely go on a CD/DVD spending spree at $5 a piece!) And to be honest, I'd feel worse about downloading music than movies. Big name films re-coop expenses and make tremendous profit in the first weekend they premier! For those of you who still don't see that these movie making millionaires don't need the money, open your eyes! Do you expect me to feel sympathetic that the cost of insuring a Lamborghini is through the roof? I'll be lucky if I ever get close enough to a Lamborghini that I can photograph it.
Finally, to the individuals complaining about CNET broadcasting this story- it's news! It's unbiased factual record of an event taking place, and I appreciate that they published it!
No its not - its like saying that if someone made an extension that added on to Konica's photo software that allowed the software to download child pornography, then it would be Konicas responsibility to issue a fix.
Also, I didn't say it was Mozillas fault. I said it was their responsibility to block extensions used for illegal activities.
Now, I can't account for all libraries on this one, but all of the public libraries branched in my area also have up-to-date DVD's and CD's. Why can't I walk into a library tomorrow and make a copy of the new X-Files movie? Same principle right? I'd pay $1 and SUPPORT the public library and make a DVD, Right? Wrong. Still freely and publicly available, but different rules.
SO, if I want to listen to the new Theory of a Deadman CD, I can do all of these things:
-Listen on the radio
-Borrow from the library
-Borrow a friend's copy
-Borrow my sister's copy
But, the moment I make a copy, they're "gonna get me." Something's out of place. If I want a digital copy of a single song that's popular on the radio, I could hook my boombox up to the microphone on my computer and let it record for a few hours, save it, clip it, save it again....and....BOOM....I have a digital file! BUT, even though I just worked my a** off just to hear 1 stupid song, it's illegal for me to keep it! People made cassettes back in the day from the radio and it was cool, but if I want a scratchy, crappy, static-filled copy of 1 song, I'm a PIRATE! GAR!
Come on guys, you know better. It's no wonder millions of people are "Pirates."
let us put it this way...
with the current prices of movies and music nowadays, many people would rather get it gratis since they would watch movies no more than two times, or listen to music no more than 10 times...
if these companies and artists would really want to stop piracy, then sell their products at price comparable to pirates...
c'mon, isn't it too greedy that an artists is being paid millions of dollars for just one work, and then pass it on the end buyers? stop greed and price monopoly, and thereby you put an end to piracy.
Sorry, not true. Some people would rather steal something than buy it, even if the cost is cheap. Some people are just cheap. Those are the reasons for piracy, plus a certain macho thrill pirates get from stealing.
Firefox is an open source browser people! If people really want this feature enough they will build in this addon and provide the newly compiled firefox with the addon. You can take it off of its original homepage, but someone who still has the .xpi (I think that's the extension to firefox extensions yes?) will upload it somewhere and it will continue to circumvent.
;-)
Take what you want, give nothin' back. Argh! Long live TPB! - Ramen.
- touched by his noodly appendage
- by dragonbite December 4, 2008 7:53 AM PST
- The technology it is using is cool.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
-
- by fdunn3 December 6, 2008 2:21 PM PST
- Couldn't have said it better.
- Like this
-
Showing 1 of 2 pages (62 Comments)The use of the techology is not.
Stealing is stealing and whether you think you are "sticking it to the man" because they aren't "working" as hard as you are makes it legit? Because the executives didn't write/produce/sing/package the CD that they didn't "work" enough to reap the benefits.
That's like saying you're going to screw the insurnace company into giving you an abscene amount of money because they "have enough money" and are "screwing its customers". So because you're a greedy ****** mine and millions of others' premiums get to go up to cover your lazy stealing butt, and no you can't just go to a competitor because they're doing the same thing because there are hundreds of lazy a-holes like you doing the same thing!
Is the music industry totally screwed up?! Probably, but I haven't followed people in the industry to know for sure (just read about it online). Is pirating content going to fix this issue? No. Artists are NOT paid a lot for their work (hence, they go on tour) so every work that is pirated is going to be less money for the artist. Nice.
I am for Firefox not offering it through their "official" add-ons, but that (as stated elsewhere) doesn't stop somebody from offering it on their own website.