Those of you that are into downloading cracked applications (I know you’re there) will be saddened to learn that Installous, the infamous installer app for cracked applications, is shutting down. Others will rejoice and see this as a victory, especially for developers.
puy0, the creator of Installous wrote a very naive posts about the reasons why he’s giving up. He basically explains he didn’t know what he was doing was illegal.
During all this time I have been actively searching for a lawyer to know how legal we were. Not the lawyer you can find just anywhere, but one that understands Internet legislations and specializes in copyright laws. Trust me, these people are rare, very in demand, and very expensive.
As such I have been looking for three months, and I finally found one recently. Unfortunately our discussion left me sad and even feeling stupid to have invested so much effort into this, and involved people with me… You see, after talking for more than an hour with him, I’m sorry but the conclusion is that what we do would be very hard to defend against in court.
I am at the moment already at risk, and would risk even more with the exposure that an Install0us v3 release will definitely bring me. Call me a coward, but as I said, hiding under covers is not a life for me. Moreover, these days in my country piracy is a hot subject among politicians… I do not want to be flamed in a trial for something that I do as a hobby, and I do not want to involve any people with me in this. I am sincerely sorry to the people who followed me thinking we were legit, my honest mistake.
This guy is either thinking we are dumbasses or he is very naive. Either way, and whatever your opinion about cracked applications might be, one has to admit that what puy0 did was big. I mean, he had a good 2-year run. In some ways, you can compare him to the creator of Napster. It sure was completely illegal, but it was the first of its kind.
What’s your opinion on this?