Elgg chat plugin is pirated software

http://community.elgg.org/pg/plugins/release/793249/developer/Gennaro/simple-chat

http://community.elgg.org/pg/plugins/project/792765/developer/Gennaro/elgg-chat-and-videochat

I installed this newly released plugin at the request of a client, tested it out and it worked great.  I was so impressed I went too look at the code and found a EULA.

Within that EULA was this:

4.3. You may not give, sell, distribute, sub-license, time share, lease or lend any portion of the product or documentation to anyone.
4.4. You may not place the product onto a server so that it is accessible via a public network such as the Internet for distribution purposes. We retain all rights to distribute the product under its own license.
4.5. You may not use the source code in whole or part in any other software or product.

 

I visited http://www.cometchat.com/ and found that they do not have a free version, and they don't have anything released as OSS.

I commented as such on the plugin, the author PM'd me playing dumb and deleted my comment.  I repeated my comment and responded to the PM.  Someone else also commented on the plugin that it should be removed from elgg.org.  Since then all comments on the plugin have been removed and commenting has been disabled.

This is the exchange that has happened between us since my initial comment on the plugin:

Smith:

please, don't worry about the chat, it's cracked, i'm using it on my
production site with no problem, if u want to buy it, buy it.

 

Matt:

It's not about whether it works or not, it's about legalities.  If the cometchat authors find your site using it without a license you're at risk of a lawsuit.

More to the point, if they find you're distributing it you're putting yourself in a position where there's potential for a *major* lawsuit.

I actually installed it for a client, it wasn't until after it was installed that I checked out cometchat.  In this case, my client is at risk for using pirated software, they will point the finger at me for installing it, so now I would be liable as well.

In general, it's simply a bad idea to keep this plugin available on elgg.org.
If you really want to distribute it, torrent it and label it as cracked.  That way at least the people installing it know they're using pirated software and that's their choice.  As it is now they have no idea.

 

Smith:

I'am sorry, i don't know what are you talking about.

 

Matt:

<Posted second comment on the plugin, reported content to site admin>

This is pirated software.

 

Smith:

Ok, you don't understand. It's not your business. You cannot do anyhing to
me. You don't know who i'am.

 

Matt:

It's not about doing anything to you.  I don't care who you are or if you use pirated software on your site, I honestly don't.  It does become my business when you release said software under an open source license when you don't have the right to do so.  It became my business when my client asked me to install the plugin on their site, and I did so because it looked like you had developed the plugin and released it.

The terms of service for elgg.org plugins states: Plugins must be released under a GPL2-compatible license.

Your plugin contains code that cannot be released under such a license.  I have reported your plugin to the site admin.

 

Now I'm certainly not trying to be (or interested in being) the piracy police, but I do believe the community plugins should be free from it and I think that is the intent of the TOS.

  • Thanks for the report. That user has been banned from the site and the software removed.

  • I warned Smith too, and he PM´d me saying that is not my business and that I must take care of life. :)

    By the way, in the last days, elgg community received a few users that doesn´t know good manners and opensource philosophy.

  • Cracked software authors usually hack the server don't use this plugins 

  • Yes I realized that, I have Cometchat on my IPB forum, I paid for it and it works very well. I will probably buy it for my Elgg from them.

    Love Cherry x x x

  • To be fair it did work really well.  If live chat is a must have on your project I would probably recommend it, but by legal methods.

  • Matt, I use and recommend Arrowchat. Is light, fast and the support team is good. I paid USD 45,00 for the branded version.

  • Oh, no! I downloaded the plugin before and installed it. What did you exactly mean with Cracked software authors usually hack the server don't use this plugins ? Is my server now infected with  a virus or trojan? And can it be that I get legal problems with the company cometchat.com? I thought, it would be a normal plugin!

     

    I hope you can understand my English.

  • @MaddinB: Dont´t worry. You just downloaded a commercial software. I think you are out of risks.

    VTW, I had a good script for chat. Anyone interested in develop a ELGG plugin?

  • If you need a good free chat, Beechat plugin may be a good solution. It requires some work but after a few modifications it works even better than Cometchat (as it's more flexible)

  • @MaddinB: I did look for malicious activity and found none.  I think it was just a cracked commercial version, so your server is most likely fine.  As for the legal problems, it's a possibility.  You're using commercial software you don't have a license for.  The probability of it getting discovered by cometchat... probably depends on the visibility and profile of your site.  The probability of them doing anything about it if discovered - who knows? You can't predict peoples reactions, it could be anything from them not caring at all, to a cease and desist letter, to a full on lawsuit.  They'd be in their rights for any of those actions.  If you want to take that risk it's your call.