Editing Warez (section)

==Terminology==
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{expand section | clear reference to ''published definitions'' of the included terms, most of which are as yet unsourced and so violate [[WP:VERIFY]], etc.) | small = no|date=August 2016}}
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2016}}
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Warez, and its [[leet]]speak form ''W4r3z'',<ref name=CollinsDict>{{cite book | author = Staff at Collins | year = 2014 | chapter = Warez [redirects from W4r3z] | title = Collins English Dictionary, Complete and Unabridged | edition = 12th | location = New York, NY | publisher = HarperCollins | chapter-url = http://www.thefreedictionary.com/W4r3z | access-date = 26 August 2016 }} Note, this definition, contrary to this article statements and statements at the Oxford citation, suggests that the term's origin and pronunciation were "influenced by the anglicized pronunciation of Juarez, a Mexican city known for smuggling."</ref> are plural representations of the word "ware" (short for computer software),<ref name=CollinsDict/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/1999/jun/17/onlinesupplement4 |title=Hacking away at our ethics |first=John |last=Sutherland |date=1999-06-17 |website=[[The Guardian]] |quote=it's "wares", crossed with "Juarez", the Mexican smuggling capital across from El Paso}}</ref> and are terms used to refer to "[p]irated software distributed over the Internet,"<ref>{{cite journal | journal = PC Magazine | year = 2016 | title = PCMag Encyclopedia, Definition of: warez | location = New York, NY | publisher = Ziff Davis–PCMag Digital Group | url = https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/54211/warez | access-date = 26 August 2016 }}</ref> that is, "[s]oftware that has been illegally copied and made available"<ref name=OxfordUSED>{{cite book | author = Staff at Oxford Dictionaries | year = 2016 | chapter = Warez | title = US English Dictionary | location = Oxford, UK | publisher = Oxford University Press | chapter-url = http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/warez | access-date = 26 August 2016 | archive-date = 27 August 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160827173226/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/warez | url-status = dead }} Note, this definition is also identical to that in the British English version of this publisher's dictionary.</ref><ref name = Chandra2016>{{cite book | author =Chandra, Priyank | title = Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems | chapter = Order in the Warez Scene: Explaining an Underground Virtual Community with the CPR Framework | year = 2016 | series = Chi '16 | issue = May | pages = 372–383 | location = New York, NY | publisher = [[Association for Computing Machinery]] (ACM) | chapter-url = http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2858341 | access-date = 26 August 2016| doi = 10.1145/2858036.2858341 | isbn = 9781450333627 | s2cid = 15919355 }}</ref> e.g., after having "protection codes de-activated".<ref name=CollinsDict/> "Cracking", or circumventing copy protection, is an essential part of the warez process,"<ref name = Schwabach1406/> and via this commonality, the definition focused on computer software has been extended to include other forms of material under copyright protection, especially movies.<ref name = Schwabach1406/> As Aaron Schwabach notes, the term covers both supported and unsupported materials (the latter unsupported, termed [[abandonware]]), and legal recourses aimed at stemming the creation and distribution of warez are designed to cover both profit-driven and "enthusiast" practitioners.<ref name = Schwabach1406>{{cite book | author = Schwabach, Aaron | year = 2014 | title = Internet and the Law: Technology, Society, and Compromises | edition = 2nd, revised | location = Santa Barbara, CA | publisher = ABC-CLIO | series = EBSCO ebook academic collection | isbn = 978-1610693509 | pages = 247f, and ''passim'' | url = https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1610693507 | access-date = 26 August 2016}} The earlier edition is {{cite book | author = Schwabach, A. | year = 2006 | title = Internet and the Law… | series = ABC-CLIO's contemporary world issues | isbn = 978-1851097319 | pages = 307–309, and ''passim'' | url = https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1851097317 }}, with same publisher and access date. Pages referenced at 247f are to the 2014 edition, while pages referenced to 307ff are to the 2006 edition, in both cases with page number appearing in superscript, in "rp" markup.</ref> Hence, the term refers to copyrighted works that are distributed without fees or royalties and so traded in general violation of copyright law.<ref name="Pirate's Forum">{{cite web | url=https://pirates-forum.org/Thread-Warez-scene-Related | title=Warez (Scene) Related }}</ref>

The term ''warez,'' which is intended to be pronounced like the word "wares" (/ˈwɛərz/), was coined in the 1990s;<ref name=OxfordUSED/> its origin is with an unknown member of an underground computing circle,{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} but has since become commonplace among Internet users and the mass media.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} It is used most commonly as a noun:<ref name=OxfordUSED/> "My neighbour downloaded 10 gigabytes of warez yesterday"; but has also been used as a verb:<ref name="Pirate's Forum"/> "The new Windows was warezed a month before the company officially released it".<ref name="Pirate's Forum"/> The global collection of warez groups has been referred to as "The [[warez scene|Warez Scene]]," or more ambiguously "The Scene."<ref name = Witt2015>{{cite book | author = Witt, Stephen | year = 2015 | title = How Music Got Free: The End of an Industry, the Turn of the Century, and the Patient Zero of Piracy | location = London | publisher = Penguin | isbn = 978-0698152526 | url = https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0698152522 | access-date = 26 August 2016}} Pages are as appear in the superscripted "rp" markup, inline.</ref>{{rp|p.72}}<ref name = Rehn2004>{{cite journal | author = Rehn, Alf | year = 2004 | title = The politics of contraband: The honor economies of the warez scene | journal = The Journal of Socio-Economics | volume = 33 | issue = 3, July | pages = 359–374 | doi=10.1016/j.socec.2003.12.027| s2cid = 46154259 }}</ref><ref name = Chandra2016/>

While the term 'piracy' is commonly used to describe a significant range of activities, most of which are unlawful, the relatively neutral meaning in this context is "...mak[ing] use of or reproduc[ing] the work of another without authorization".<ref>{{cite book | author = Eds. of the AHD | title = The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language | edition = 4th | chapter = Pirate | chapter-url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/73/P0327300.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080629183819/http://www.bartleby.com/61/73/P0327300.html | archive-date=2008-06-29 |publisher=[[Bartleby.com]] | access-date =2010-02-18}}</ref> Some groups (including the GNU project of the [[Free Software Foundation]], FSF) object to the use of this and other words such as "theft" because they represent an attempt to create a particular impression in the reader:{{blockquote|Publishers often refer to prohibited copying as "piracy." In this way, they imply that illegal copying is ethically equivalent to attacking ships on the high seas, kidnapping and murdering the people on them.<ref name=w2a>See 'piracy' and 'theft' on [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html Words to Avoid (or Use with Care) Because They Are Loaded or Confusing] Free Software Foundation</ref> }}The FSF advocates the use of terms like "prohibited copying" or "unauthorized copying", or "sharing information with your neighbor."<ref name=w2a/> Hence, the term "software pirate" is controversial; FSF derides its use, while many self-described pirates take pride in the term,{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} and some groups (e.g., [[Pirates with Attitudes]]) fully embrace it.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

''Direct download [DDL] sites'' are web locations that index links to locations where files can be directly downloaded to the user's computer; many such sites link to free [[file hosting service]]s, for the hosting of materials.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://filesharefreak.com/2008/02/02/advanced-searching-for-copyrighted-content-part-iv-ddl-websites/ |title=Advanced Searching for Copyrighted Content – Part IV – 'DDL' Websites |date=2008-02-02 |publisher=FileShareFreak |author=sharky |access-date=2010-02-18}}</ref> DDL sites do not directly host the material and can avoid the fees that normally accompany large file hosting.