Quote:
Originally Posted by soondai
but I just don't understand why the files are hosted on such a sketchy site.
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It's not really all that hard to figure out.
The dubious legality of distributing such tools (in some jurisdictions) naturally means that those who contribute and upload the tools are going to upload them to sites that allow them to do so anonymously. Anonymous upload sites that DON'T trigger malware/antivirus warning are—by their very nature—few and far between. And those that start out simple, ad-free and non-"
here's our proprietary download manager"-ery soon become "sketchy" and "
here's our proprietary download manager"-ery after they gain any kind of popularity.
So while I'm quite sure the game of constantly chasing reputable and relatively risk-free anonymous upload sites may sound like a whole lot of fun to some, many might actually find that sort of thing quite a slog, and would prefer to focus their efforts/talents where it actually does some good—the tools themselves. Maybe they'd even tend to rely on the word-of-mouth and the advice provided by a friendly online community to assist people in how—exactly—to get what they need safely and efficiently.
Then there's the fact that paid and safe and non-sketchy online hosting would (besides being traceable to the account holder) likely be plagued by take-down notices from authorities and rights-holder advocacy groups; making sure that most of the time spent developing the tools could now go toward chasing a merry-go-'round of hosting sites (supported by traceable PayPal accounts perahps?) just so the people who are actually taking the
smallest legal risk could casually click buttons on the internet and download stuff without having to think things through at all.
Or so I would imagine.