I love Hack a Day. I visit this site daily. And this is the first time I’m complaining about it.

I am very upset that this article links to a leaked, illegal download for GTA IV. It misrepresents our standards and I’m baffled as to why it’s even there. I will no longer visit Hack a Day if it continues to encourage piracy.

Posted at 11:53 pm on Apr 26th, 2008 by oscinis

While we do not condone the practice of piracy the link is provided here in contrast to the GRL link. GRL is encouraging people to download their title before it is officially for sale and that may increase the number of sales of the actual release.

Rockstar discourages the downloading of its game before the release even though it will have absolutely no negative impact on sales. The people that pirate games never planned on spending money on the game to begin with.

Posted at 12:57 am on Apr 27th, 2008 by Eliot

I’m all for piracy. On my own time, that is. Seeing a link to a leaked copy of copyrighted material on a site such as hack-a-day saddens me however. This isn’t the pursuit of knowledge or higher ways of thinking. This is something that belongs to a site that the user knowingly visits for info such as that you’ve provided.

A very sad day, indeed.

Posted at 2:30 am on Apr 27th, 2008 by rashani

I agree that the link to the pirated GTA was out of place. The perception of ‘hacker’ as ‘bad guy’ is only strengthened by links from sites like hackaday to pirated material. It may be there to ‘provide contrast’, but it is contrast that is out of place. Churches do not have images of the devil to ‘provide contrast’ with Jesus.

Posted at 5:20 am on Apr 27th, 2008 by What is?

Call yourselves engineers? Using imperial measurements!?!

Posted at 7:59 am on Apr 27th, 2008 by mojo

come on, can’t you see the GTA torrent link is a joke and a lead-in to the videos? it could have also been a criticism of the fact (and proof) that the GTA game has been leaked.

Posted at 12:09 pm on Apr 27th, 2008 by deoryp

This is a site for alternative technology uses, like hacking and modding, which can be illegal, and disrespected, and you’re worrying about a torrent link?

Posted at 3:06 pm on Apr 27th, 2008 by Crash

Torrent files are not illegal, nor are links to said files. It’s what you choose to do with them.

Posted at 3:16 am on Apr 28th, 2008 by jared

i have to disagree with elliot on “The people that pirate games never planned on spending money on the game to begin with.” I’ve certainly pirated things before that I otherwise would have purchased, and I find it impossible to believe that I’m the only one (or even in the minority).

and at jared, #7,
we know torrents aren’t illegal, but posting a link to a page whose sole purpose is to let you obtain a pirated copy of a game illegally, is condoning that behavior to a certain extent. i don’t think most people visit that page just to read the comments (“wtf is a iso file!!!!????”).

i dislike all the smartass “it’s just a link” commentary. the only purpose that link provided was to facilitate piracy. stop trying to sound intelligent by saying “It’s what you choose to do with them.” do you collect torrent files? no. so what else would you do with it? if a link is needed to supplement the story, how about linking to an actual article about the leak?

I’m not saying i don’t pirate pirate a bunch of stuff, but i don’t like all of the feeble arguments that exist around what is undeniably illegal behavior.

It isn’t professional, and it doesn’t belong on this site.

Posted at 5:07 pm on Apr 28th, 2008 by joelanders

Dude, what’s wrong with imperial measurements? The fancy-pantsy Eurostyle units are for sissies/the mentally weak.

Posted at 5:51 pm on Apr 28th, 2008 by RT (Panzer Time!)

plenty of engineers here in america use the imperial system. nasa uses it, jpl uses it, the los alamos national lab (where the first atom bomb was conceived and tested) uses it widely. it may be cumbersome and “backward”, but it certainly is not a sign of an incompetent engineer. yet.

Posted at 9:19 pm on Apr 28th, 2008 by andrew

i forgot to say, i really have no problem with the torrent link. it made me laugh, i even visited the page to see the comments. i don’t even have an xbox 360 or any intention to download the iso. what’s the matter with [eliot] giving us a heads up about recent goings-on, illegal or not? if anything i find it interesting, not offensive.

Posted at 9:24 pm on Apr 28th, 2008 by andrew

I’m with Andrew, last time I checked this, was not a site for those afraid of unsanitized information. If you disapprove of piracy, then feel free to not download the torrent. Hell, if you feel strongly enough, make an argument supporting your position.

The honorable act by adding information and/or insight to a community, not selectively blotting it out.

Posted at 10:19 pm on Apr 28th, 2008 by Wolf

i always seem like a pissed-off, raving lunatic when i try to argue a point…

it’s not really that i’m offended by it, i just don’t think it’s all that relevant here. maybe a story about how it got leaked, who leaked it, and what rockstar is going to do about it would be nice, but just linking right to the torrent?

and i’m definitely not for sanitizing everything on here. shoot, if it’s relevant, i really don’t care how illegal it is (i’m such a rebel) if we’re getting good info from it. i can see where this leak is relevant, seeing as this is a very computer-related site (allowing a broad range of topics), but it would fit better elsewhere or presented differently.

for example, i do my little pissed-off, raving lunatic thing when people bring up drug use in an otherwise formal and scholarly situation. i’m not a drug-user myself, but i really don’t care what other people do as long as they keep it mostly to themselves. That sort of thing only belongs in certain contexts, most of which are in the back of a volkswagen bus parked in the middle of nowhere….etc. Out of context, it’s just a bit awkward.

i feel somewhat the same way about posting that torrent link on this site. a site i like very much is torrentfreak.com. that link would belong on that site and it would fit very nicely at the bottom of a nice informative article about the leak.

totse.com is where i would go if i ever needed rob/ murder/ rape someone and wanted very bad advice on doing those things. discussions of drug-use and (come to think about it) pretty much anything law-breaking-related would be relevant and expected on that site.

i’ve never been pressed to find out really, but i’m sure there’s plenty of sites out there that revolve around graffiti or “street art”. grl comes to mind because that’s often linked to on makezine, and i think they are completely legal and high-brow in their actions (not sure?), but even a discussion about more shady graffiti practices could take place there because it’s relevant somewhat. (slightly off-topic, but I think it’s strange that a lot of the same hippies who build things out of bamboo to be “ecologically friendly” tape up batteries, leds, and magnets and throw them all over the place…*cough* makezine *cough*)

hackaday.com is about hacking (choose your favorite definition). if some major software is leaked before its release and mentioned on hackaday, i want a discussion about how this was done, how it could be prevented, or a link to an article elsewhere with that discussion. just linking right to the illegal part gives a bit of a bad image.

I love this site, and I’ve been reading it from the beginning. i am sure elliot didn’t mean anything bad when he posted that link, but if an outsider read that part, it would be far too easy for them to take for granted that we’re all a bunch of game-stealing kids. i am sure it’s very hard to find great links, write great articles, and please everyone in the world (in your free time), and i hope this comes across as not-unfriendly feedback from an avid reader and fan.

Posted at 12:35 am on Apr 29th, 2008 by joelanders