Podcast episode profile for 35. Dial a pirate
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🎙 About the podcast
Flashback, tracks from the past
We have covered the demo scene since 2020, and play all the great chip tune music as well. Join us to hear tracked music combined with commentary from the geek-of-all-trades: DJ Daemon. He was once known once a Daemon in the Amigaworld, and brings you stories about Amiga, retrocomputing, C64, demos, the demo scene and all things nerdy in the retro world.
We play tracker music composed on Protracker, Screamtracker, Fasttracker and Impulsetracker. It's music composed on Amiga and the retro-PC. Genres such as Chiptune, Synthwave and Retro electro.
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35. Dial a pirate
Flashback, tracks from the past
🎧 Playlist
- 00:00 Flashback – tracks from the past – show intro
- 00:12 DJ Daemon speaks: Shiver me timbers, it’s a new name for the podcast. And today, we talk about pirates! No ships, no cutlass and no beer swilling on the tavern. It’s all about those pesky software pirates and the lamers who loved them…
- 00:31 BeaT of Osmosys – Celestial Fantasia
- 06:16 DJ Daemon speaks: So… Why are those that copy commercial software without permission called pirates to begin with? It has nothing to do with crimes on the seven seas. Actually it relates to the “pirate radio stations” of the 50s and 60s. Those stations were often located on ships, broadcasting from international water, where the law of the countries they targetted would not apply. When the kids in the school yards in the 80s started copying diskettes with commercial games, the term was re-used. But a pirate generally does not refer to the end-user, but actually to the crackers and the distributors. Let’s talk more about that after a relaxing tracked tune.
- 07:16 Xerxes – Marie
- 11:40 DJ Daemon speaks: Let’s talk piracy in Sweden. I once interviewed Pontus Berg or Bacchus as he’s called in the cracker group Fairlight. He explained that in the first years when Fairlight existed, distribution of commercial software without the copyright owner’s consent was legal. But diskettes with commerical games and applications were protected in order to make copying impossible. Groups such as Fairlight and Triad here i Sweden disabled this protection and also distributed the software. The industry initially begged them to stop, but then it became illegal, the attitude changed pretty quickly….
- 12:33 Jester of Sanity – Stardust memories
- 16:23 DJ Daemon speaks: In the early 90s, a lot of us geeks read the Swedish computer magazine “Datormagasin”. Issue number 16 of 1993 spread shock waves through the community, as “Jan Svensson” entered the scene. That was not his name, but he did exist. A pirate-hunter that preyed on those copying disks. There was just a problem: it wasn’t true. The article was kind of open about the true purpose of him, but the picture and the head line made a lot of people believe that he targeted teenagers copying disks with each other. In reality, he actually tried to gather evidence to convict big bulletin board systems selling illegal copies.
- 17:22 Skaven252 – The Goblin Returns
- 20:19 DJ Daemon speaks: Jan Svensson was described as a former “big time pirate” turned informer belonging to SIMP, a precursor to the Swedish organization “Anti-piratbyrån”. And in 1993, his work may have helped bringing down a big BBS in the Swedish town of Helsingborg. The sysop for the BBS called “Scandinavia” was convicted and had to pay 8000 Swedish kronas. That’s about $1300 in today’s monetary value. The thing that made them target him was that he charged money yearly for access to the pirate copies on his BBS.
- 21:17 Ahlin – Ps Deep Fantasy
- 23:23 DJ Daemon speaks: So why did we copy diskettes? For me and for many in my situation, we could not afford the games as we were teenagers or even kids. But that’s off course not a valid legal reason. So I don’t offer it as an excuse – rather an explanation. When I go my first modem, I actually didn’t pirate much at all and pretty quickly stopped as I didn’t really care about games and saved money to buy software instead. Not so much just an ethical decision but much more that i disliked the warez communities and their high brow cameraderie and self-absorbed attitude towards others. I respect the crackers, though…
- 24:15 Anvil – Path to Nowhere
- 28:39 DJ Daemon speaks: The warez-BBSes were the places where you could get the newest “cracks”. That is, the latest games and apps with the copy protection disabled. The word “elite” as often described by the number combination 1337 comes from same the bunch of people that saw themselves as the best of the best. But they were often shunned by many others. The warez BBSes required that you were recommended by others in the warez scene in order to gain access. This protected them from the law (or so they though) and made them feel special.
- 29:25 Laamaa – No use for a name
- 31:05 DJ Daemon speaks: No-one has better described the Warez doodz than legendary programmer Eric S. Raymond: “The cracker d00dz have a gift culture which thrives in the same (electronic) media as that of the hackers, but their bahaviour is very different. The group mentality in their culture is much stronger and more exclusive than among hackers. They hoard secrets rather than sharing them; one is much more likely to find cracker groups distributing sourceless executables that crack software than tips that give away how they did it.”.
- 32:19 Anvil – The Love Trap
- 36:40 DJ Daemon speaks: The last word on Warez Doodz is from the user Ozone Pilot : [BELONG] is the only word you will need to know. Warez d00dz want to belong. They have been shunned by everyone, and thus turn to cyberspace for acceptance. That is why they always start groups like TGW, FLT, USA and the like. Structure makes them happy. […] Warez d00dz will never have a handle like “Pink Daisy” because warez d00dz are insecure. Only someone who is very secure with a good dose of self-esteem can stand up to the cries of fag and girlie-man. More likely you will find warez d00dz with handles like: Doctor Death, Deranged Lunatic, Hellraiser, Mad Prince, Dreamdevil, The Unknown, Renegade Chemist, Terminator, and Twin Turbo. They like to sound badass when they can hide behind their terminals. More likely, if you were given a sample of 100 people, the person whose handle is Hellraiser is the last person you’d associate with the name.
- 38:16 Necros – “Ascent of the Cloud Eagle”
- 43:01 DJ Daemon speaks: Linus Walleij here in Sweden disagrees with mr Raymond. When he wrote his rebuttal, he was part of the cracker group Triad.
- 43:45 Jeroen Tel – In my Life, my Mind.
- 48:34 DJ Daemon speaks: I respect the cracker groups, but see the Warez D00d-sysops as way to self-absorbed for their own good.
- 49:31 Dr. Awesome – Aquarium – 16 bit
- 54:24 DJ Daemon speaks: Were leaving. Check our YouTube-channel for a discussion about the next song.
- 55:05 Walkman – Klisje Paa Klisje
📝 Transcript
Welcome to another episode of Flashback Tracks from the Past, the show that takes you back to the golden age of the tracked music scene. Shiver me timbers, it's a new name for the podcast and today we talk about pirates No ships, no cutlass and no beer swelling on the tavern It's all about those pesky software pirates and the lamers who love them.
of osmosis, celestial fantasia. So why are those that copy commercial software without permission called pirates to begin with? It has nothing to do with crimes on the seven seas. Actually, it relates to the pirate radio stations of the fifties and sixties. Those stations were often located on ships.broadcasting from international water where the law of the countries they were targeting would not apply. When the kids in the schoolyards of the 80s started copying disquettes with commercial games, the term was simply reused. But a pirate generally does not refer to the end user, but actually to the cracker and the distributors. Let's talk more about that.after a relaxing tracked tune.
Norwegian artist Cirksis and Marie. Let's talk piracy in Sweden. I once interviewed Pontus Berg, or Backus, as he's called in the cracker group Fairlight. He explained that in the first years when Fairlight existed, distribution of commercial software without the copyright owner's consent was actually legal.But diskettes with commercial games and applications were protected in order to make copying impossible. Groups such as Fairlight and Triad here in Sweden disabled this protection and also distributed the software. The industry initially begged them to stop, but when it became illegal, the attitude changed pretty quickly.
Jester of sanity, stardust memories. In the early 90s, a lot of us geeks read the Swedish computer magazine, Datormagasin. Issue number 16 of 1993 spread shockwaves through the community as Jan Svensson entered the scene. That was not his name, but he did in fact exist.A pirate hunter that preyed on those copying discs. There was just a problem. This was not true. The article was kinda open about the true purpose of him, but the picture and the headline made a lot of people believe that he targeted teenagers copying discs with each other.In reality, he actually tried to gather evidence to convict big bulletin board systems selling illegal copies.
Okay, that's Skaven 252 and the Goblin Returns. Yes, it is a sequel to Catch That Goblin, the classic Amiga mod tune. John Svensson was described as a former big time pirate turned informer belonging to SMP, a precursor to the Swedish organization Antipiratbyrån.in 1993 his work may have helped bringing down a big BBS in the Swedish town of Helsingborg. The CISOP for the BBS called Scandinavia was convicted and had to pay 8000 Swedish kronor. This is about 1300 dollars in today's monetary value. The thing that made them target him was that he charged money yearly for excessto the pirate copies on his BBS.
So why did we copy Disguetz? For me and many in my situation, we could simply not afford the games as we were teenagers or even kids. But that's of course not a valid legal reason, so I don't offer it as an excuse, rather an explanation. When I got my first modem, I actually didn't pirate much at all.I'm pretty quickly stopped, as I didn't really care about the games and saved money to buy software instead. Not so much just an ethical decision, but much more that I disliked the wares communities and their high brow camaraderie and self-absorbed attitude. I respect the crackers though.
youErik Zalitis
The worst BBSs were the places where you could get the newest cracks, that is, the latest games and apps with the copy protection disabled. The word elite is often described by the number combination 1337 and comes from the same bunch of people that saw themselves as the best of the best. But they were often shunned by many others.The W.E.A.R.S. BBS's required that you were recommended by others in the W.E.A.R.S. scene in order to gain access. This protected them from the law, or so they thought, and made them feel special.
No one has better described the Wares Dudes than the legendary programmer Eric S. Raymond. The Cracker Dudes have a gift culture which thrives in the same electronic media as of the Hackers, but their behavior is very different. The group mentality in their culture is much stronger and more exclusive than among Hackers.They hoard secrets rather than sharing them. One is more likely to find cracker groups distributing sourceless executables that crack software rather than tips, giving away how they did it. I may have to note something here. The word hacker in this text doesn't mean what you think it does. A hacker back then was a very honorary title bestowed onto personsthat were good at building programs, software and the hacker culture has always been very inclusive and generous and actually sharing technology, knowledge and software.
Evil is back again in this episode with the love track. Alright, the last word on where's dudes is from the user OzonePilot. Belong is the only word you will ever need to know. Where's dudes want to belong? They have been shunned by everyone and thus turn to cyberspace for acceptance. That is why they always start groups likeTGW, FLT, USA and the like. Structure makes them happy. Wears dudes will never have a handle like pink daisy because wears dudes are insecure. Only someone who is very secure with a good dose of self esteem can stand up to the cries of fang and girly man. More likely you will find wears dudeswith handles like Dr. Death, Deranged Lunatic, Hellraiser, Mad Prince, Dream Devil, the unknown Renegade Chemist, Terminator or why not, to Wind Turbo. Okay, I kinda added some stuff there. Anyway, they like to sound badass when they can hide behind their terminals. More likely, if you were given a sample of 100 people,The person whose handle is HellRaisers is the last person you would associate with that name.
Necros, a son of the Cloud Eagle Linus Valle here in Sweden disagrees with Mr. Raymond When he wrote his rebuttal, he was part of the cracker group Triad I will actually add a link in the description to this podcast. So please take a look there He says things like secretive culture. No way anything feels thatMs. Raymond's statements are unfounded and doesn't have any evidence. But I'm leaving that without much of a comment. I hope that you look at it yourself and so... Yeah.
Jaron Tell, in my life, my mind. And I wanna say something here. I have a lot of respect for the cracker groups, as I feel they have shown a lot of skills in technology, and also many of them had turned into demo groups if they were not to begin with. So this is not meant as disrespect, but the worst dudes, the distributors mostly,kinda took themselves a little bit too much seriously. And they became kinda a little bit of a laughing stock as they were seen as some kind of elite people which really were nothing more than self-absorbed sissops. That's kinda my statements against this culture. But I can always see prowess in technical expertise and actually admire that.
Dr. Awesome, Aquarium 16 bit and this is the first time that particular song is played on this station. This is DJ Demon thanking you for listening and this episode of Flashback Tracks from the past is now done for for this week. Next week we will be back and the next song is a really really big favorite of mine. It's Walkman with Clichéa par Clichéa.And for a story about the weird stereo of an Amiga module, that one specifically, go to our YouTube channel. Well, anyway, thanks for listening.
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About the artist Amiga Flashback View all tracks ›
Started in december 2020, Amiga Flashback was the first name of "Flashback, tracks from the past". It features nice midnight DJ banter from DJ Daemon, interviews, discussions about retro-stuff and lots of tracked music. Most of it is Amiga tracked tunes. In May 2021, it was renamed and started allowing all kinds of tracked tunes instead of mostly Amiga ones.
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🎙 The people behind the podcast
He got his Commodore 64 in 1989 and his first Amiga in 1990. A huge fan of tracker music and have had a long standing dream to create a radio show playing that kind of music. In 2020, that dream came true and in december Amiga Flashback started as a podcast. It was later renamed Flashback, tracks from the past and here we are.
He is also an orga for Swedish demo party Edison and a total retro nerd.
He was actually a listener from the time of the first ericade-station in the 00s. He came back as a listener in 2020, when the station restarted. Later he voluntered to build the new website of the station and also joined as a cohost of the podcast. He runs his own site called the Retro spirit.
Fellow retro geek and creator of great music on his daw.
He describes himself like this: "Pure 8-bit chiptunes! All Tekmann music are solely made on Gameboy units modded to perfection... No computer producing just pure chiptune bliss ;)".
A true retro geek and sysop from the 90s. He lives with his family in Sweden and enjoys sharing his passion for retro computing and music. He is sysop for Swedish BBS "This old cabin".
Created a report about Impulsetracker for us in 2022. Also voiced our messages for christmas 2022 in co-operation with the Retro spirit.
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