2022-02-12: Warez

I finished Martin Paul Eve's Warez: the infrastructure and aesthetics of piracy. It's a fascinating book, where he lays out the argument that the warez scene (hardcore digital piracy) is less about getting access to the latest books music and films for free, but instead a strange alternative reality game---after all the sheer requirements for keeping membership of the scene in terms of uploading content mean that no one would ever get to look at their pirated goods.

That plus its own idiosyncratic stylings and art---zines a plenty---and, yeah. Compelling. The book gets especially good in the later chapters with a discussion of the demoscene art and the cracker vs hacker tensions. Fascinating tear down of this community.

Would recommend. 9/10

=> Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy