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Strange posting about ebooks

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Peter Hickman

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Jan 30, 2006, 4:26:38 AM1/30/06
to
For some unfathomable reason I have received four emails containing
various Ruby related ebooks:

Pragmatic Programmer, From Journeyman to Master.pdf
Syngress - Ruby Developer's Guide.pdf
The Pickaxe.pdf
Game Programming with Python Lua And Ruby.pdf
The Ruby way.chm
Ruby in a nutshell.chm

To my knowledge none of these are free, anyone else get them?

They came from Mubin Aktan <biyok...@yahoo.com> and the to list was
obiefe...@gmail.com, pat....@gmail.com, paul....@gmail.com,
pe...@semantico.com, peterm...@yahoo.com

Pit Capitain

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Jan 30, 2006, 4:46:17 AM1/30/06
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Peter Hickman schrieb:

I also received four Emails, but deleted them as spam. I haven't looked
at the contents.

Regards,
Pit


Ross Bamford

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Jan 30, 2006, 4:48:37 AM1/30/06
to
On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 09:26:38 -0000, Peter Hickman <pe...@semantico.com>
wrote:

> For some unfathomable reason I have received four emails containing
> various Ruby related ebooks:
>
> Pragmatic Programmer, From Journeyman to Master.pdf
> Syngress - Ruby Developer's Guide.pdf
> The Pickaxe.pdf
> Game Programming with Python Lua And Ruby.pdf
> The Ruby way.chm
> Ruby in a nutshell.chm
>
> To my knowledge none of these are free, anyone else get them?
>

I did, from the same sender, but in a message to a different group of
recipients. Wasn't there a message on list a while back asking if anyone
wanted them?

I just deleted them - as well as the copyright issues, I gather that PDFs
could be vulnerable to viruses...?

--
Ross Bamford - ro...@roscopeco.remove.co.uk

Damphyr

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Jan 30, 2006, 6:13:47 AM1/30/06
to
Oh, they came through my spam filters so I did look at the contents and
they are the genuine article. I would have been more active if there was
some kind of virus in there.
The To: Headers are ofcourse different: collinsj, cribbsj, Daniel Bolt
and Daniel Berger in addition to myself.
Oh and I didn't get the first zip which obviously contains Ruby Way and
Ruby in a Nutshell.
I didn't really react to it because apart from the Lua/Ruby book (which
is not really my playground) I have a dead tree copy of the others (even
the ones I didn't get).
Thinking about it the Pickaxe 2nd Ed. is really handy as a reference
therefore nice to have as PDF, but the PP Book is really worth it's
weight in gold so better get the version that has weight :)
V.-

--
http://www.braveworld.net/riva

____________________________________________________________________
http://www.freemail.gr - δωρεάν υπηρεσία ηλεκτρονικού ταχυδρομείου.
http://www.freemail.gr - free email service for the Greek-speaking.


Paul Robinson

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Jan 30, 2006, 6:32:52 AM1/30/06
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On 30 Jan 2006, at 11:13, Damphyr wrote:

> Oh, they came through my spam filters so I did look at the contents
> and
> they are the genuine article. I would have been more active if
> there was some kind of virus in there.

But the question is, why is somebody sending them out?

I haven't received them, but then I haven't posted to this list much
before. At least it means you can eliminate the route that it was
sent to all subscribers to the mailing list - just people who seem to
post.

So, is this a set-up for a "Ruby programmers are all thieves" story?
I just don't get the purpose. Was there anything else in the mail?

> Thinking about it the Pickaxe 2nd Ed. is really handy as a
> reference therefore nice to have as PDF, but the PP Book is really
> worth it's weight in gold so better get the version that has weight :)

I'd advise you destroy all the PDFs that you received illegally.
They're not yours, you don't own them, it's piracy. You might think
having the PDF is handy, so fine, pay for it.

For what it's worth, the Pragmatic Programmer's series all seem to be
watermarked PDFs if they're legit - I bought the PDFs legally - and
in the footer of each page in the main part of the books, it will say
"Prepared for..." (in my case it says "Paul Robinson") and name the
person involved. I'd suggest sending copies to the PP team so they
can track down who is stealing from them...

--
Paul Robinson


Peter Hickman

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Jan 30, 2006, 6:46:38 AM1/30/06
to
Paul Robinson wrote:
>
> For what it's worth, the Pragmatic Programmer's series all seem to be
> watermarked PDFs if they're legit - I bought the PDFs legally - and in
> the footer of each page in the main part of the books, it will say
> "Prepared for..." (in my case it says "Paul Robinson") and name the
> person involved. I'd suggest sending copies to the PP team so they can
> track down who is stealing from them...
The pickaxe shows "Prepared exclusively for Yeganefar"

Dick Davies

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Jan 30, 2006, 7:18:13 AM1/30/06
to
On 30/01/06, Peter Hickman <pe...@semantico.com> wrote:

> The pickaxe shows "Prepared exclusively for Yeganefar"

I got these this morning too.

I'd assumed they were trojans and deleted them, but
I just pulled them out of 'deleted items' (go gmail!) and the pickaxe pdf I got
has the same tagline.

Maybe it's a sting operation by Dave T ? :)

--
Rasputin :: Jack of All Trades - Master of Nuns
http://number9.hellooperator.net/


Hal Fulton

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Jan 30, 2006, 8:43:53 AM1/30/06
to
Peter Hickman wrote:
> For some unfathomable reason I have received four emails containing
> various Ruby related ebooks:
>
> Pragmatic Programmer, From Journeyman to Master.pdf
> Syngress - Ruby Developer's Guide.pdf
> The Pickaxe.pdf
> Game Programming with Python Lua And Ruby.pdf
> The Ruby way.chm
> Ruby in a nutshell.chm
>
> To my knowledge none of these are free, anyone else get them?

He mailed them directly to me, too. :/


Hal

dbl...@wobblini.net

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Jan 30, 2006, 8:45:25 AM1/30/06
to
Hi --

Yes, I got them too, with four or five other people on the to list.

Unfathomable is right. I can't begin to figure out what's behind
this. Sheer malice springs to mind.


David

--
David A. Black
dbl...@wobblini.net

"Ruby for Rails", from Manning Publications, coming May 1, 2006!
http://www.manning.com/books/black


Dirk Meijer

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Jan 30, 2006, 9:14:44 AM1/30/06
to
i got them as well...
i replied with the questions who he was and why he sent me this, and he told
me he was "just trying to help ruby newbies out"..
i suppose he meant well.. he just did the wrong thing :P
greetings, Dirk.


2006/1/30, dbl...@wobblini.net <dbl...@wobblini.net>:

dbl...@wobblini.net

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Jan 30, 2006, 9:21:26 AM1/30/06
to
Hi --

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006, Dirk Meijer wrote:

> i got them as well...
> i replied with the questions who he was and why he sent me this, and he told
> me he was "just trying to help ruby newbies out"..

Yeah, newbies.... Guy Decoux was one of the ones on my to list :-)

Dirk Meijer

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Jan 30, 2006, 9:27:22 AM1/30/06
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it seems it was sent to a lot of e-mail adresses, in alphabetical order, all
e-mail adresses that appeared in my list started with an h or an i..
the only question is why this actually was sent..
anyway, that's not really my problem..
greetings, Dirk.


2006/1/30, dbl...@wobblini.net <dbl...@wobblini.net>:
>

James Edward Gray II

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Jan 30, 2006, 9:28:44 AM1/30/06
to
On Jan 30, 2006, at 8:21 AM, dbl...@wobblini.net wrote:

> Hi --
>
> On Mon, 30 Jan 2006, Dirk Meijer wrote:
>
>> i got them as well...
>> i replied with the questions who he was and why he sent me this,
>> and he told
>> me he was "just trying to help ruby newbies out"..
>
> Yeah, newbies.... Guy Decoux was one of the ones on my to list :-)

I got them too.

James Edward Gray II


Jakub Hegenbart

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Jan 30, 2006, 10:05:49 AM1/30/06
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Paul Robinson wrote:

> I'd advise you destroy all the PDFs that you received illegally.
> They're not yours, you don't own them, it's piracy. You might think
> having the PDF is handy, so fine, pay for it.
>
> For what it's worth, the Pragmatic Programmer's series all seem to be
> watermarked PDFs if they're legit - I bought the PDFs legally - and
> in the footer of each page in the main part of the books, it will say
> "Prepared for..." (in my case it says "Paul Robinson") and name the
> person involved. I'd suggest sending copies to the PP team so they
> can track down who is stealing from them...
>
> --
> Paul Robinson

Ehm, this could be considered a FUD or at least an (uninformed)
exaggeration. Or at least, the legal state in some countries doesn't
just correspond to it. I'm not (!) questioning the morale, just the
"piracy" and "received illegally" parts. Where I live, it's just
nonsense and also it's the very rhetorics currently being used by local
recording companies to intimidate the people from using the rights the
copyright law explicitly grants to them. The "Prepared for..." person
also might have nothing to do with it. Tracking down the culprit might
be much more difficult than that.

An yeah, you don't own the book even if you pay for it. Or you can have
the paper, but you still don't have to have the right to read it. Kind
of reminds me the Harry Potter affair, the latest book, AFAIRC...

Jakub


Peter Hickman

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Jan 30, 2006, 10:31:46 AM1/30/06
to
Jakub Hegenbart wrote:
>
> Ehm, this could be considered a FUD or at least an (uninformed)
> exaggeration. Or at least, the legal state in some countries doesn't
> just correspond to it. I'm not (!) questioning the morale, just the
> "piracy" and "received illegally" parts. Where I live, it's just
> nonsense and also it's the very rhetorics currently being used by
> local recording companies to intimidate the people from using the
> rights the copyright law explicitly grants to them. The "Prepared
> for..." person also might have nothing to do with it. Tracking down
> the culprit might be much more difficult than that.
>
>

The name is placed in the PDF by PragProg when they receive an order by
the named individual and is presumably associated with some form of
payment details. Proving that that person is responsible for the
distribution of the PDF is another matter. There are clues in the other
documents but I suspect that these eBooks have been floating around for
sometime and some fuckwit thought that the best way to promote Ruby was
to send large spam (It works out to around 18Mb in my mailbox) to a list
of people who are already actively engaged in Ruby.

And my wife wonders why I don't give up programming to become a
technical writer :-(

men...@rydia.net

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Jan 30, 2006, 10:58:09 AM1/30/06
to
Quoting Pit Capitain <p...@capitain.de>:

> > They came from Mubin Aktan <biyok...@yahoo.com> and the to
> > list was obiefe...@gmail.com, pat....@gmail.com,
> > paul....@gmail.com, pe...@semantico.com,

> > termi...@yahoo.com


>
> I also received four Emails, but deleted them as spam. I haven't
> looked at the contents.

I got them too. Same.

-mental


Chris Gernon

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Jan 30, 2006, 11:08:01 AM1/30/06
to
Damphyr wrote:
> Oh and I didn't get the first zip which obviously contains Ruby Way and
> Ruby in a Nutshell.

The same thing happened to me - I got the last three out of the four
messages. Could someone forward me the first one? Thanks!

(I kid! I kid!)

- Chris

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.


Logan Capaldo

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Jan 30, 2006, 11:47:49 AM1/30/06
to

I got them also.

Matthew Moss

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Jan 30, 2006, 12:05:29 PM1/30/06
to
*nod* Received these as well, prepared for Yaganefar and sent by Mubin
Aktan's email, assuming it wasn't forged.

Matthew Moss

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Jan 30, 2006, 12:07:30 PM1/30/06
to
On 1/30/06, Matthew Moss <matthew.m...@gmail.com> wrote:
> *nod* Received these as well, prepared for Yaganefar and sent by Mubin
> Aktan's email, assuming it wasn't forged.

And offhand, best I can tell, it wasn't.


Henrik Martensson

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Jan 30, 2006, 2:11:40 PM1/30/06
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On Mon, 2006-01-30 at 10:26, Peter Hickman wrote:
> For some unfathomable reason I have received four emails containing
> various Ruby related ebooks:
<snip>
I got two of them, and deleted them.

/Henrik

--
http://kallokain.blogspot.com/ - Blogging from the trenches of software
development
http://www.henrikmartensson.org/ - Reflections on software development
http://testunitxml.rubyforge.org/ - The Test::Unit::XML Home Page
http://declan.rubyforge.org/ - The Declan Home Page

tsum...@tsumelabs.com

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Jan 30, 2006, 3:51:28 PM1/30/06
to
I as well. Perhaps some of our friends at Yahoo can get his IP to track him?

Tsume


Phil Tomson

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Jan 30, 2006, 3:15:44 PM1/30/06
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In article <Pine.LNX.4.64.06...@wobblini.net>,

<dbl...@wobblini.net> wrote:
>Hi --
>
>On Mon, 30 Jan 2006, Peter Hickman wrote:
>
>> For some unfathomable reason I have received four emails containing various
>> Ruby related ebooks:
>>
>> Pragmatic Programmer, From Journeyman to Master.pdf
>> Syngress - Ruby Developer's Guide.pdf
>> The Pickaxe.pdf
>> Game Programming with Python Lua And Ruby.pdf
>> The Ruby way.chm
>> Ruby in a nutshell.chm
>>
>> To my knowledge none of these are free, anyone else get them?
>>
>> They came from Mubin Aktan <biyok...@yahoo.com> and the to list was
>> obiefe...@gmail.com, pat....@gmail.com, paul....@gmail.com,
>> pe...@semantico.com, peterm...@yahoo.com
>
>Yes, I got them too, with four or five other people on the to list.
>
>Unfathomable is right. I can't begin to figure out what's behind
>this. Sheer malice springs to mind.
>

I got them too. It seems that whoever did this got their list of email
addresses from this list. Probably sent to anyone who had posted recently.

Not sure why either.

Phil

Ryan Leavengood

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Jan 30, 2006, 4:22:00 PM1/30/06
to
On 1/30/06, tsum...@tsumelabs.com <tsum...@tsumelabs.com> wrote:
>
> I as well. Perhaps some of our friends at Yahoo can get his IP to track him?

What's the point? While he has violated copyright he did not appear to
do it maliciously, and he is likely from a country where copyright is
not so sanctified as it is in the US and Europe. The cat is out of the
bag and it is extremely difficult to determine what "lost revenue" his
copyright violation may have caused for the copyright holders. Likely
not enough to warrant paying lawyers to track him down and try to sue.

It is likely that some of those who did not delete the emails, read
the books and liked them will choose to purchase the real thing,
either for the paper version or just to pay for the electronic version
out of fairness. Some may not.

I think part of living in the modern internet connected world is
realizing that any copyrighted content you produce will be "pirated"
by some people. I think that needs to be considered one of the costs
of doing business in that realm.

The music and movie companies' campaigns to completely eliminate all
copyright violations are unrealistic and will result in more misery
for the average person than they will solve problems.

Ryan


James Britt

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Jan 30, 2006, 4:49:04 PM1/30/06
to
Ryan Leavengood wrote:
> On 1/30/06, tsum...@tsumelabs.com <tsum...@tsumelabs.com> wrote:
>
>>I as well. Perhaps some of our friends at Yahoo can get his IP to track him?
>
>
> What's the point? While he has violated copyright he did not appear to
> do it maliciously, and he is likely from a country where copyright is
> not so sanctified as it is in the US and Europe. The cat is out of the
> bag and it is extremely difficult to determine what "lost revenue" his
> copyright violation may have caused for the copyright holders. Likely
> not enough to warrant paying lawyers to track him down and try to sue.
>

Exactly. I believe that most of the people on this list would buy those
items if they wanted them, or already have them.

I think the number of people who received this mail, and now think, "Oh,
good; I was going to pay or this, but now I won't", is quite small.


--
James Britt

http://www.ruby-doc.org - Ruby Help & Documentation
http://www.artima.com/rubycs/ - The Journal By & For Rubyists
http://www.rubystuff.com - The Ruby Store for Ruby Stuff
http://www.jamesbritt.com - Playing with Better Toys
http://www.30secondrule.com - Building Better Tools


anne001

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Jan 30, 2006, 5:24:15 PM1/30/06
to
>I think the number of people who received this mail, and now think, "Oh,
>good; I was going to pay or this, but now I won't", is quite small.

I bought the pic axe which I don't like, and it is not the first time I
am disappointed in a book bought over the internet. I borrowed sam's
teach yourself but I did not buy it yet in the hope an update will come
in 2006

The benefit of having access to a pdf is not that you don't have to pay
for it, it is that you find out if it will be useful.

--

tsum...@tsumelabs.com

unread,
Jan 30, 2006, 5:57:55 PM1/30/06
to
On Tuesday 31 January 2006 06:49 am, James Britt wrote:
> Ryan Leavengood wrote:
> > On 1/30/06, tsum...@tsumelabs.com <tsum...@tsumelabs.com> wrote:
> >>I as well. Perhaps some of our friends at Yahoo can get his IP to track
> >> him?
> >
> > What's the point? While he has violated copyright he did not appear to
> > do it maliciously, and he is likely from a country where copyright is
> > not so sanctified as it is in the US and Europe. The cat is out of the
> > bag and it is extremely difficult to determine what "lost revenue" his
> > copyright violation may have caused for the copyright holders. Likely
> > not enough to warrant paying lawyers to track him down and try to sue.
>
> Exactly. I believe that most of the people on this list would buy those
> items if they wanted them, or already have them.
>
> I think the number of people who received this mail, and now think, "Oh,
> good; I was going to pay or this, but now I won't", is quite small.

Okay, If I pirated loads of books, what is the point of reading a book many
times unless its a reference book like the pickaxe? I don't think some books
could be considered for repetitive reading. So once the book is read, it
becomes useless to the holder.

I do understand people do pirate books to read them before buying them, and
even programs out there which show parts of the book just aren't enough to
judge a book before buying, but I don't think someone needs to spam everyone
on the list with huge attachments. There should really be a "trial book" from
the publishers if people wished to perform this type of engagement.

Tsume


Ryan Leavengood

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Jan 30, 2006, 6:22:51 PM1/30/06
to
On 1/30/06, tsum...@tsumelabs.com <tsum...@tsumelabs.com> wrote:
>
> Okay, If I pirated loads of books, what is the point of reading a book many
> times unless its a reference book like the pickaxe? I don't think some books
> could be considered for repetitive reading. So once the book is read, it
> becomes useless to the holder.

Thank goodness for libraries, right!

> I do understand people do pirate books to read them before buying them, and
> even programs out there which show parts of the book just aren't enough to
> judge a book before buying, but I don't think someone needs to spam everyone
> on the list with huge attachments.

Don't misunderstand me in regards to my copyright tirade before...what
the "book emailer" did was wrong. I'm just saying now that it is done
there isn't much we can do about it.

> There should really be a "trial book" from
> the publishers if people wished to perform this type of engagement.

Again libraries can be of use here.

Ryan


men...@rydia.net

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Jan 30, 2006, 6:46:10 PM1/30/06
to
Quoting Ryan Leavengood <leave...@gmail.com>:

> What's the point?

Everything else aside, there is also the matter of having the
multi-megabyte email blob mass-mailed to everyone; it was a
particularly unkind thing for dialup users.

-mental


tsum...@tsumelabs.com

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Jan 30, 2006, 6:54:05 PM1/30/06
to
On Tuesday 31 January 2006 08:22 am, Ryan Leavengood wrote:
> > There should really be a "trial book" from
> > the publishers if people wished to perform this type of engagement.
>
> Again libraries can be of use here.

/me looks at Homer Libraries yearly spending allowance
<tsume> Hmm, don't think they even have any funds for buying computer tech
books.
<tsume> daihenda! :(

Tsume


Gregory Brown

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Jan 30, 2006, 8:15:22 PM1/30/06
to

+1

Must have been a bot that pulled the list and then partitioned it off.

But why? Why not just hit the list once?

Was this person smart enough to not want to see this stuff archived?

I deleted 2->4 at arrival, did not get 1


men...@rydia.net

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Jan 30, 2006, 8:40:36 PM1/30/06
to
Quoting Gregory Brown <gregory...@gmail.com>:

> But why? Why not just hit the list once?

I imagine the listserv would have refused the messages, as their
attachments were so large.

But, yeah. It's an awful lot of work to go through. It can't have
been a casual thing.

-mental


Christer Nilsson

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Jan 30, 2006, 10:03:04 PM1/30/06
to
I got files 2, 3 and 4 on Jan 29th. I've got the paper copy of all books
except the Lua book, which does not fit in the otherwise respectable
collection.

Christer

Jon A. Lambert

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Jan 31, 2006, 1:41:04 AM1/31/06
to
Ryan Leavengood wrote:
> On 1/30/06, tsum...@tsumelabs.com <tsum...@tsumelabs.com> wrote:
>>
>> I as well. Perhaps some of our friends at Yahoo can get his IP to
>> track him?
>
> What's the point? While he has violated copyright he did not appear to
> do it maliciously..

It was an overtly malicious act and I hope the owners of the properties do
indeed go after them.

--
J Lambert

Peter Hickman

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Jan 31, 2006, 4:26:01 AM1/31/06
to
Ryan Leavengood wrote:
> What's the point?

For the simple fact that he is a spammer perhaps? 18Mb of spam, you
could almost consider that to be a mailbomb, my average spam is around
15Kb per message not 5Mb.


Doug Bromley

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Jan 31, 2006, 4:39:05 AM1/31/06
to
I really don't think a witchunt is necessary. Some people are
starting to sound like a rowdy lynch mob baying for blood.


Jon A. Lambert

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Jan 31, 2006, 6:24:59 AM1/31/06
to
Doug Bromley wrote:
> I really don't think a witchunt is necessary. Some people are
> starting to sound like a rowdy lynch mob baying for blood.

I vote we sieze hold of him, press him flat between a printing press and
throw him in the river. If he floats he's not a witch and he can go free.
If he sinks he's a witch and subject up to $5000 in fines for each incident
of criminal copyright infringement.

--
J Lambert

Peter Hickman

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Jan 31, 2006, 6:37:30 AM1/31/06
to
Jon A. Lambert wrote:
> I vote we sieze hold of him, press him flat between a printing press
> and throw him in the river. If he floats he's not a witch and he can
> go free. If he sinks he's a witch and subject up to $5000 in fines for
> each incident of criminal copyright infringement.
>

Get with the times dude. He has to hold an overclocked AMD CPU in his
hand whilst
carrying a 19 inch monitor up five flights of stairs. If after 24 hours
there are no blisters from the CPU then he is innocent.

Robert Klemme

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Jan 31, 2006, 8:21:36 AM1/31/06
to

You reversed the traditional logic - is that on purpose? Traditionally if
he sank he's no witch and can go free, if he doesn't he's sued.

robert

Matthew Moss

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Jan 31, 2006, 10:08:12 AM1/31/06
to
On 1/31/06, Doug Bromley <doug.b...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I really don't think a witchunt is necessary. Some people are
> starting to sound like a rowdy lynch mob baying for blood.


Build a bridge out of 'im!!!


Mike Fletcher

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Jan 31, 2006, 10:43:49 AM1/31/06
to

Now, now. You're starting to sound like a bunch of Python (Monty)
people . . .

(And there's a duck typing reference in here somewhere waiting to be
made :)

Dirk Meijer

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Jan 31, 2006, 10:58:19 AM1/31/06
to
2006/1/31, Mike Fletcher lemurifi...@gmail.com:

> (And there's a duck typing reference in here somewhere waiting to be
> made :)


if he looks like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck and weighs
the same as a duck...
he's a witch!!

lol, thanks for pointing that out :P

men...@rydia.net

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Jan 31, 2006, 11:56:18 AM1/31/06
to
Quoting Mike Fletcher <lemurifi...@gmail.com>:

> (And there's a duck typing reference in here somewhere waiting to
> be made :)

Well, if he types like a duck...

-mental


Robert Klemme

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Jan 31, 2006, 12:02:02 PM1/31/06
to

Ducks are known for their horrible handwriting - hence the popularity of
duck typing...

robert

Martin DeMello

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Jan 31, 2006, 4:35:06 PM1/31/06
to

Ducks are like doctors - if you think their handwriting's bad, wait till
you see their bills!

martin

p.s. you can always tell a dodgy doctor by his evasiveness - if it ducks like a quack...

Timothy Goddard

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Feb 1, 2006, 4:49:27 AM2/1/06
to
I just got back from holiday to find 3 emails, labelled parts 2, 3 and
4 from this guy, containing 4 of these. He must've simply gleaned
emails from the groups here and sent in batches of about a half-dozen.
This person could well have good intentions, but if I wanted the books
here (yes, the files appear to be genuine) I would give the authors the
payment they deserve.

A paperback book is infinitely more useful than an ebook anyway. I
always keep the pickaxe on my desk for reference as it's the fastest
way I've found to look up details of the built-in classes and standard
library.

There's no need to hunt down a single guy with misguided intentions,
but please could Mr Aktan keep these to himself.

Austin Ziegler

unread,
Feb 1, 2006, 5:23:18 PM2/1/06
to
On 01/02/06, Ross Bamford <ro...@roscopeco.remove.co.uk> wrote:
[...]
> I just deleted them - as well as the copyright issues, I gather that
> PDFs could be vulnerable to viruses...?

You gather mostly wrong. PDFs themselves cannot contain executable code
that can affect the operating system, even with the Acrobat Javascript
capabilities.

PDFs *can*, however, contain QuickTime, JPEG, or other media files that
could possibly have bugs in operating-system or viewer presentation
code.

-austin
--
Austin Ziegler * halos...@gmail.com
* Alternate: aus...@halostatue.ca


MenTaLguY

unread,
Feb 1, 2006, 8:25:00 PM2/1/06
to
On Thu, 2006-02-02 at 07:23 +0900, Austin Ziegler wrote:
> You gather mostly wrong. PDFs themselves cannot contain executable code
> that can affect the operating system, even with the Acrobat Javascript
> capabilities.

That's presuming there aren't any exploitable bugs in Adobe's Javascript
implementation, of course.

-mental

Ross Bamford

unread,
Feb 1, 2006, 8:32:15 PM2/1/06
to
On Thu, 2006-02-02 at 07:23 +0900, Austin Ziegler wrote:
> On 01/02/06, Ross Bamford <ro...@roscopeco.remove.co.uk> wrote:
> [...]
> > I just deleted them - as well as the copyright issues, I gather that
> > PDFs could be vulnerable to viruses...?
>
> You gather mostly wrong. PDFs themselves cannot contain executable code
> that can affect the operating system, even with the Acrobat Javascript
> capabilities.

Ahh, my bad. I saw this thread:

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/08/08/1327204&mode=thread

but missed the part about it only affecting the full Acrobat program.
(Not that I cared much anyway, I don't even have a Windows machine, let
alone Adobe Anything.)

Thanks for setting me straight.

--
Ross Bamford - ro...@roscopeco.REMOVE.co.uk

Hal Fulton

unread,
Feb 2, 2006, 1:13:10 AM2/2/06
to
anne001 wrote:
>>I think the number of people who received this mail, and now think, "Oh,
>>good; I was going to pay or this, but now I won't", is quite small.
>
>
> I bought the pic axe which I don't like, and it is not the first time I
> am disappointed in a book bought over the internet. I borrowed sam's
> teach yourself but I did not buy it yet in the hope an update will come
> in 2006

Very interesting. I think you're the first person I've heard say "I don't
like the Pickaxe."

The _Teach Yourself_ book is actually pretty good. I don't think there
is a 2nd edition in the works; and anyway not much of it would change
even so. What did you think of it, anyhow?

And what did you think of _The Ruby Way_, if you looked at it?


Cheers,
Hal

anne001

unread,
Feb 2, 2006, 6:16:10 AM2/2/06
to
Yes, I was a clear minority on this one! I was surprise by the response
of this list. "Me using a copy I have not paid for. Oh no!" And yet on
a talk on rails, the presenter said one of the advantage of web
applications was that the user did not have a copy of the program to
give to his friends. This is presumably a site with computer folks and
they --- Oh Never -- bootlegged something? They must all be old and
established earning good salaries who have therefore gotten religion.
Or the others did not say anything.

Here is my problem with the pickaxe, as posted recently on a pickaxe
book discussion
"I have no use for databases, and the whole book uses one single
database example, it
seems -- I am allergic to the word "song", it shows up too many time
in that book, every
other word it seems -- "

and I had one person in agreement.

If I can learn ruby in another book, it sounds like the pickaxe will be
good as reference. So all is not lost.

I have had no access to the ruby way, so I can't say. It is not clear
from this list if the files could be compromised. In any case I would
want to wait for this summer when the ruby way second edition is
expected.

Bummer for the Sam's teach yourself ruby not beeing updated.

Ross Bamford

unread,
Feb 2, 2006, 7:15:31 AM2/2/06
to
On Thu, 2006-02-02 at 20:18 +0900, anne001 wrote:
> Yes, I was a clear minority on this one! I was surprise by the response
> of this list. "Me using a copy I have not paid for. Oh no!" And yet on
> a talk on rails, the presenter said one of the advantage of web
> applications was that the user did not have a copy of the program to
> give to his friends. This is presumably a site with computer folks and
> they --- Oh Never -- bootlegged something? They must all be old and
> established earning good salaries who have therefore gotten religion.
> Or the others did not say anything.
>

Well, I for one am currently unemployed, and skint (or 'broke' as they
say). I certainly have no religion, and can't say I've never stolen
anything (can anyone?). But as a creative person (I like to think so,
anyway) I cannot condone copyright theft. Sometimes people *need*
things, but they never *need* books / software / music / etc.

In truth I don't get to buy that many books, but that doesn't mean I'm
going to start ripping off people for whom I have tremendous respect,
right in front of their faces, just so I can get something to read.
Especially when those same people go to great lengths to make sure I can
get the info I need anyway, by being active in the community.

Mubin Aktan

unread,
Feb 2, 2006, 7:50:27 AM2/2/06
to
Hi there,

It's me, "the Witch".

I was shocked when I saw the messages posted upon my "illegal" mails. I
didn't think that people could take account them so seriously.

Those mails had no virii and I sent them just for "helping" people.
That's all.
Was this right? I thought it was.

Of course, I knew that it was an illegal action, I am not so stupid.
And I also knew that Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt and the others would be
angry.

But the point which I missed was this: I thought that my illegal
attachments could hurt the authors or publishers just as much as "a
fly's bite", not more.

I see, however, that I was wrong. My activities made them hurt much
more than I thought. I gave Andy Hunt "a promise" that I will never
repeat this actions again,
"the promise" is important for me.

By the way,

>> Thank goodness for libraries, right!

So you have libraries in which you can read these books?
How lucky you are...

>> Guy Decoux was one of the ones on my to list

I don't know him. Is he master? You should be thankful that I didn't
send the books to Matz. I only know Matz, Dave, Andy and Chris Pine.

>> I think the number of people who received this mail, and now think, "Oh,
good; I was going to pay or this, but now I won't", is quite small.

Yep!!! Definitely !!!

>> It was an overtly malicious act and I hope the owners of the properties do
indeed go after them.

*Gulp!* Ohmigod! You want to send me to "Green Mile"?

Matthew Moss

unread,
Feb 2, 2006, 12:27:11 PM2/2/06
to
> But the point which I missed was this: I thought that my illegal
> attachments could hurt the authors or publishers just as much as "a
> fly's bite", not more.

I have very strong opinions about theft/piracy and arguments such as
this (or "info wants to be free" or "I wouldn't have paid for it
anyway" arguments)... but such opinions usually fall on deaf ears.
Anyway else want to try that, go ahead...

However, here's what I will say. When you received those documents,
there is an implicit trust (and, more likely, explicit) that both you
and the authors/publishers enter into when you purchased those
documents. You broke that trust. Maybe that means nothing to you, but
to most everyone else on this list, you have harmed the community, not
just now, but also for the future. Think about that next time before
you act.


Hal Fulton

unread,
Feb 2, 2006, 11:03:35 PM2/2/06
to
Mubin Aktan wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> It's me, "the Witch".
>
> I was shocked when I saw the messages posted upon my "illegal" mails. I
> didn't think that people could take account them so seriously.
>
> Those mails had no virii and I sent them just for "helping" people.
> That's all.
> Was this right? I thought it was.
>
> Of course, I knew that it was an illegal action, I am not so stupid.
> And I also knew that Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt and the others would be
> angry.
>
> But the point which I missed was this: I thought that my illegal
> attachments could hurt the authors or publishers just as much as "a
> fly's bite", not more.
>
> I see, however, that I was wrong. My activities made them hurt much
> more than I thought. I gave Andy Hunt "a promise" that I will never
> repeat this actions again,
> "the promise" is important for me.

Well, it was an inappropriate action and illegal. Of course,
<sarcasm>none of the rest of us have ever pirated books
or software or MP3s.</sarcasm>

The fact is, most of those were probably available already in "bootleg"
form for anyone who searched hard enough (I know TRW was). Your primary
crime was to make it a lot easier to find them.

What is more, you were rude. You sent the pirated works to the authors
themselves and to their personal friends, in addition to possibly
hurting sales.

However, speaking only for myself: Apology accepted, let's forget it.


Hal

Jon A. Lambert

unread,
Feb 2, 2006, 11:14:26 PM2/2/06
to
Mubin Aktan wrote:
>
> Of course, I knew that it was an illegal action, I am not so stupid.
>

I guess that throws out any affirmative defense. And confirms my intuition
that...

>>> It was an overtly malicious act and I hope the owners of the
>>> properties do indeed go after them.
>
> *Gulp!* Ohmigod! You want to send me to "Green Mile"?

Sorry I've heard of the book but haven't read it yet. And no, that is not a
request for you to email me a stolen copy.

Since you've established that you knew very well what you were doing, I
certainly do hope the lawyers from the owners and publishing houses are able
to use your confession to "take you to the cleaners". In other words, take
your property and earnings from you in just recompense.

A fly's bite for a fly's bite.

---
J Lambert

Daniel Harple

unread,
Feb 2, 2006, 11:14:39 PM2/2/06
to
On Feb 2, 2006, at 1:53 PM, Mubin Aktan wrote:
> It's me, "the Witch".

So, did you use your new found knowledge of Ruby, gained from the e-
books, to collect everyones email address?

-- Daniel


Mubin Aktan

unread,
Feb 3, 2006, 2:13:50 AM2/3/06
to
>> What is more, you were rude. You sent the pirated works to the authors themselves and to their personal friends, in addition to possibly hurting sales.

I didn't do it intentionally. I just copied the email addresses and
pasted them. Didn't even read most of them.

Yes I made a piracy, I am a bad man but I am not so dishonorable:
"Look, I have your book! And guess what? I didn't pay for it! Hahaha!
Don't you believe? Look! Hahaha!".

No. I refuse.

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