Topsite (warez)

From Free net encyclopedia

Topsite is a term used by the warez scene to refer to high-speed FTP servers used by release groups and couriers for distribution, storage and archival of warez releases. Topsites have very high-bandwidth Internet connections, commonly supporting transfer speeds of 100 to 1000 megabits per second; enough to transfer a full DVD in minutes. Topsites also have very high storage capacity; over a terabyte or more total space is common.

Parent article: Warez

1 Overview
2 Software
- 2.1 FTP daemons
- 2.2 Zipscript
3 External links

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Overview

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Security

Unlike their predecessors in the BBS scene, topsites aren't advertised. With the ever-increasing rate of police raids, software pirates have been forced to employ elaborate security precautions in order to stay hidden from authorities.

A typical topsite configuration will only allow users to login from a certain ident and host (or ip range), with mandatory SSL encapsulation on all FTP sessions. FTP bouncers are commonly used to hide the topsite's real IP address, and to share network load.

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Affiliates

A warez group may gain access to a topsite as an affiliate, including the site among the group's primary release points (usually in return for leech privileges for their members). Typically, groups will affiliate with several topsites, in order to maximize efficient courier distribution to other (non-affiliated) topsites. Topsites may have any number of affiliates, and commonly advertise them in the welcome message, as a measure of quality.

Each affiliate has access to a private, hidden directory on the topsite. This directory is used for uploading new releases before they are made available to other users. When a new release has finished uploading on each of the group's sites, a command is executed to simultaneously copy it into a directory accessible by other users, and trigger an announcement in the topsite IRC channel. This event is known as a pre-release, and must occur at the same time on every affiliated site. When a pre-release occurs, the event is also echoed on Pre-channels to inform couriers to send ('race') it to as many of their own sites as possible. By doing so they gain credits, which they can use to download other (pre-)releases.

The fastest couriers are often able to begin sending files within ten seconds of a pre-release, at speeds of up to several hundred megabits per second.

The warez scene relies on strict release standards, or rules, which are written and signed by various warez groups. These rules are mandatory, enforced on every pre-release, regardless of which group released it. Any release that fails to comply with current scene standards will be nuked, and discarded.

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Dupe (Duplicate) Check

Release databases record release names and their release date & time, although fields vary from from database to database. Examples of other common fields include genres (for MP3 releases), sections, and nuke details.

Release databases are maintained to provide release groups with a service for checking existing release titles (ie, to avoid duping another group). Some databases contain historical release records dating back to the BBS era. Note that such databases are uncommon, due to a completely different release naming method (based on the ZIP file descriptor FILE_ID.DIZ, as opposed to a directory name), and lack of information from this period.

Release databases are usually updated by automatic processes that either recurse selected topsites searching for new releases (spidering), or catch pre-release announcements from site channels.

Most release databases are private, but a number of public websites exist; examples include NFOrce.nl, SWEdupe.com, nfodb.com, VCDQuality.com, and tehserver.us. DupeCheck is the name of the biggest private release database, accessible only to selected scene members.

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Credit system

Most sites operate by using an automated credit system. When a user uploads a file, their account is credited for an amount based on the uploaded file size, commonly multiplied three times (1:3). For example, when a user uploads a 15MB file, they may receive 45MB credits in return. Credits can be later used to download files from the site.

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Couriers

Couriers are a specific class of topsite users who earn their access by uploading new releases and filling requests. When a courier gains access to a topsite, they are often required to pass a trial period, in which a certain amount must be uploaded in a short period of time.

Couriers compete (race) against each other for respect, credits, access to other topsites, and fun. Couriers often band together to form courier groups which provide support and friendship through camaraderie. Some notable historic courier groups include Amnesia (AMN), Request to Send (RTS), Angels on Drugs (AOD) and The Flame Arrows (TFA).

Release groups often have couriers among them, to help spread their releases before pre-ing, although for security reasons many groups are now using automated spreading scripts.

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Takedowns

While these sites are protected with technologically advanced schemes, law enforcement operations such as Operation Buccaneer and Operation Fastlink have been able to gain access and hence shut down some of these sites by infiltrating the pirate groups that operate on them. Operation Site Down was the latest operation against the warez scene and managed to bring down several large sites.

Not all takedowns have been so successful. Operation Bahnhof failed miserably when the officials entered an area that their warrant didn't include. Although they found several servers and terabytes of illegal material, they ended up being sued for illegal tresspassing, harassment and accused of planting evidence. Apparently one of the Antipiratbyrån (Swedish anti-piracy group) employees was trying to infiltrate the scene for gathering evidence, but they forgot the fact that Swedish law doesn't permit entrapment.

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