history, technology, cyberculture and nostalgia find a place to meet and mix

United Cracking Force

Cracking

For the uninitiated,
Software Cracking is the modification of software to remove protection methods: copy protection, trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, date checks, CD check or software annoyances like nag screens and adware.
-Wikipedia

From what I understand, the legality of cracking or "reverse engineering" isn't really black or white if you did not act for commercial gain. Even if we assume it is proved illegal, it is a crime hard to prove and convict. Therefore most convictions so far have been done for the "illegal distribution of cracks".

In spite of the illegality in distribution of cracks, we've had a lot of groups throughout history competing to release them, for free. It was done for the challenge, and for the respect and honor. The underground world on the internet has mostly been about reputation, rather than money. But more about cracking in a later post.



It struck me now that the big players in the past, have all but disappeared nowadays. One of them was the United Cracking Force. I stumbled upon these groups through the artwork I often found. The logo designs for many of these underground groups were really cool. The demoscene, a direct spinoff from the crack scene was a significant component of cyberculture.





UNITED cRACKING FORCE (also known as uCF2000) were amongst the most renowned cracking groups to exist. Started in 1994 by mARQUIS dE sOIRE, they ruled the release scene for most part of the next decade.

They seem to have faded away now, but at their peak, along with PhrozenCrew, they went after most of the copy protection schemes out there. From anecdotal experience I know that uCF is credited for being the first to break the dongle protection scheme, though the claims have been doubted.

As a researcher, I have been interested in this underground world on the internet for a long time. uCF2000 were the first underground groups I stumbled upon, so I just had to write at least one paragraph about them.



Links

United Cracking Force Release History
Files from UCF2000 - Defacto2 Group Repository
Reality Check Network 22, "United Cracking Force", 14th July 1996
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Windows 3.1x





History

The ultimate operating system which would herald the modern age and make many of us eternal slaves to the great Microsoft. Released in March 1992, about when Silence of the Lambs had just won the Best Picture award at the Oscars (obscure trivia), Microsoft had mapped its way to dominating the computer industry in ways unlike ever known.

Windows 3.1 replaced Windows 3.0. Amongst the most significant changes was replacing Reversi with Minesweeper. Minesweeper would soon go on to become one of the greatest games of all times, thus vindicating Microsoft and all its strategies.

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Solitaire - The Card Game



It has been an integral part of all Windows' users' lives. It is a boring game, almost mind-numbing, but it has existed and thrived because we have often had nothing else to do. In a match-up between laziness and boredom, Solitaire was the perfect trade-off. And playing it usually tended towards an addiction-laced equilibrium state.

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IRC

IRC has existed for over two decades now. (August 1988. This is around the time the Iran-Iraq war was about to end after the death of over a million mortals.)

I will not go through IRC's history because there are enough links out there which have pieced together every fragment of time that has contributed to the invention of the IRC. I will instead talk about IRC and internet culture.

The internet has always been a place where no one could possibly ever feel left out. No loser is a loner out here and there are no misfits. The freaks can always find other freaks to make themselves feel less freakier, and talk or discourse about anything they wished to. And no matter what your interests were, you always have somewhere to be. For decades, vast millions of lonely souls have found solace on the internet, getting the interaction and exchange of ideas that they could never find in the real world. IRC has been amongst the largest social communities on the net for years. A live society, which unlike all the social networking sites, is not about projection of the real world.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a virtual world. Millions of computers connected to one another, from almost every country in the world. Thousands of channels in hundreds of networks. And over half a milion users at any instant. This is a large population. In real word terms, this would be like all the people of Bhutan deciding to collect at one time, in one large building.

But this world is different. Very different. Looks never mattered, words did. The witty were cool. Cruel biting sarcasm and a lot of explicit language. And you could be anything you wished to be. Live your wildest avatars out here, identified by only your handles. And yet there were rules, subtle but absolute. Social norms that have evolved over time. They were unwritten in most cases, but if you crossed the invisible lines, you would/could be ostracized by all.

IRC has never been owned by anyone. It is a free network. Free society. Free knowledge. Free sharing. It is a bastardized version of the internet.
And therefore has once become a battleground for the repressed to play with all that is taboo in the real world. Any fetish now has a channel. Add to that the illegal downloads and apparent lack of real-world social protocols, it is almost a haven for anarchism.

IRC. It is for those who wish to escape.



Links

Daniel's Page - History of IRC
IRC History by Jarkko Oikarinen
Jarkko Oikarinen Interview
Livinginternet - Internet Relay Chat (IRC) History
IRC History
IRC Junkie - Is IRC on the Decline?
COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNITY ON INTERNET RELAY CHAT


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