warez

WAREZ a term used by software pirates use to describe a cracked game or application that is made available over the Internet, usually via FTP/IRC/P2P, often the pirate will make use of a site with lax security. Widely used in cracker subcultures to denote cracked version of commercial software, that is versions from which copy-protection has been stripped. Hackers recognize this term but don't use it themselves. The WAREZ mentality discussed in this article connotes the mindset of the hackers/crackers who make this copyrighted media available.