Topsite (warez)

Not to be confused with a website ranking system, 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 archiving of warez releases. Topsites have very high-bandwidth Internet connections, commonly supporting transfer speeds of hundreds to thousands of megabits per second; enough to transfer a full DVD in minutes. Topsites also have very high storage capacity; a total of many terabytes is typical.

Overview

ecurity

Unlike their predecessors in the Bulletin board system (BBS) scene, topsites aren't advertised broadly. With the increased threat of police raids, topsites 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 for users with dynamic IPs), with SSL encapsulation on all FTP sessions. FTP bouncers are commonly used to hide the topsite's real IP address, and to share network load.

ite channels

Activity on the FTP server is announced by a "Sitebot" in a private IRC channel. Users need to issue an invite command to the FTP server in order to join a site channel. Sitebots typically run Eggdrop IRC bot software.

Dupe (duplicate) check

Release databases record release names and their release date & time, although fields vary from database to database. Examples of other common fields include ID3 musical genre names (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.

Release databases used by topsites are private, but a number of public websites exist with similar information; examples include [http://www.nforce.nl NFOrce.nl] , [http://swedupe.com/ SWEdupe.com] , [http://www.vcdquality.com VCDQuality.com] or NFOogle.com [http://www.nfoogle.com] .

Credit system

Credit system controls the amount of data that users can download. 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. 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. Credits can be lost by uploading a bad release that gets nuked. Nuke multiplier affects the amount of lost credits. Nukes can be either site nukes (local) or scene nukes (global). Site nukes are issued when a release that is uploaded to the topsite violates site rules, such as 'No VLS' for the MP3 section. Another common site nuke is for backfilling, which is uploading something after a specific amount of time has elapsed from the time of release, usually 5 to 15 minutes. Typically the nuke multiplier for a site nuke is at least 3x, where all couriers responsible for racing the bad release will lose 3x the credits they gained uploading. These nukes will not be echoed out to pre channels, as they only affect the local site. Scene nukes are nukes which are echoed out to pre channels. Scene nukes usually occur when a release violates scene rules, such as wrong encoder, or when the release is out right bad, such as out of sync. The nuke multiplier for scene nuke on topsites is usually 1x; all the couriers lose all credits gained uploading the release and break even. [http://www.aboutthescene.com/thescene/system.html]

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.

The warez scene relies on strict release standards, or rules, which are written and signed by various warez groups.

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 test such as uploading a certain amount in a short period of time.

Couriers compete (race) against each other for respect, credits, access to other topsites, and fun. Private couriers often operate as independent (iND) couriers. Some couriers band together to form courier groups which provide support and friendship through camaraderie. Although it may be noted that Couriers/Racers are looked down upon more than ever by affiliates and topsite staff with the increase of scripts that perform the couriers tasks automatically. Some (couriers themselves) call it efficient, others call it lazy.

taff roles

ite operator

A site or system operator (siteop/sysop) is in charge of the day-to-day operation of a topsite. They have full (root) access to the server and are able to manage users, groups, and topsite scripts and daemons installed on server. They decide on site rules, and site sections (eg , XviD movies, MP3 music, etc). Site operators are also in charge of managing the site channel, and sitebot.

=Group administrator= A group administrator ('gadmin') is a member of an affiliated group or courier group with user management rights over the group. Each group has a pre-negotiated number of leech and ratio users, or slots.

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 shut down sites by infiltrating the pirate groups that operate on them. Operation Site Down (June 2005) was the latest significant law-enforcement attack on the warez scene. There were also busts in June 2006, with one US.biz site being busted, and several colocated servers being seized.

Not all takedowns are successful. Operation Bahnhof failed miserably when the officials entered an area that their warrant didn't include. Although they found several dedicated servers with terabytes of illegal material, they ended up being sued for illegal trespassing and harassment, and were accused of planting evidence, since one of the Antipiratbyrån (Swedish anti-piracy group) employees were trying to infiltrate the scene to gather evidence, and in doing so violated Swedish laws against entrapment.

oftware

Some software that is used on topsites. [ [http://old.wheresthebeef.co.uk/show.php/guide/2600_Guide_to_Internet_Piracy-TYDJ.txt Article from 2600 magazine, mentioning glftpd.] ] [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20060519095624/http://old.wheresthebeef.co.uk/show.php/guide/2600_Guide_to_Internet_Piracy-TYDJ.txt Archived version of an Article from 2600 magazine, mentioning glftpd.] ]

FTP daemons

*glFTPd
*DrFTPD
*ioFTPD

Notes

ee also

*Topsite (www)
*Topsite Templating System TTS

External links

* "Wired magazine" article about the phenomenon: [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/topsite.html The shadow internet]
* NetMonkey Weekend Report (NWR) [http://web.textfiles.com/ezines/NWR/nwr36.txt article on topsite FTP daemons]