End of 'Internet Spirit' and 'GhostFox' : soon 
Posted by:
JujuLand
Date: September 26, 2008 09:04AM
Yesterday evening, I have browsed a great number of links and when it has been possible I had posted or mailed a text asking for removing of Internet Spirit Browser page from their pages.
Quote
Post or mail sent
I am a member of the team of developers K-Meleon, which as you know is free software under the GPL.
This license allows everyone to freely use and modify freely as the software in question.
The sources of K-Meleon are of course available online, and many programmers grass, see, do not hesitate to change the software as they see fit. And all this is very good.
In the case of Internet Spirit, for everything would be better if the author did not violate the terms of the license.
Indeed, the author of the modified code is not required to seek permission from the author of the official version, do no less obliged to mention the origin of the product, provide sources of codes used, and keep the product changed under the same license.
But on all these points, there is flagrant violation of GPL.
I ask you therefore to remove this product from your pages, as we have already asked several sites, and for which the responses were positive.
Have a look for example to the about page found on Hardy's page and the About page in K-Meleon browser, and compare it. It's really a shame ...
h.t.t.p [:] /./.w.w.w [point] hardycreations [point] com [/] spirit [/] Credits [point] x.h.t.m.l
Thank you in advance to delete this robware of your pages.
A+
A. Aupeix
Here is the state Sunday at 17:30
Quote
HardyCreations.com
First www.hardycreations.com is down
Quote
BestFreeware4Download
page removed, and links on Hardy's site (which is now down)
Quote
BestFreewareDownload
ok
Quote
BestSoftware4Download
page not removed, but links on Hardy's site (which is now down)
Quote
Tucows
ok
Quote
Softsea.com
ok
Quote
Clubic
page not removed, but links on old Hardy's site (which is now down)
Quote
Softpedia
ok
Quote
FreeSharewareCenter
ok
Quote
BestVistaDownloads
ok
Quote
ZDNET
ok
Quote
ZDNET-fr
always possible (pages + links)
Quote
ZDNETasia
always possible (pages + links)
Quote
ZDNET.de
always possible (pages + links)
Quote
cnet.de
ok
Quote
cnet and all the CNET group sites
always possible (pages + links)
Quote
AnneSoft
ok
Quote
Simtel
ok
Quote
BetterWindowsSofware
page always online, but links on Hardy's site (which is now down)
Quote
vistaheads
ok
Quote
programas-gratis.net
I have just found it and send mail this morning
Quote
soft.mydiv.net
page always online, but links on Hardy's site (which is now down)
Quote
EuroDownload
page always online, but links fail
Quote
get4share
ok
Quote
downloadfilesfree
ok
Quote
soft4sale
ok
Quote
pcworld.com
ok
Quote
yankeedownload
ok
I'll update this post to display how the sites respond to our mail or post.
A+
Mozilla/5.0 (x11; U; Linux x86_64; fr-FR; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Ubuntu/12.04 K-Meleon/76.0
Web: http://jujuland.pagesperso-orange.fr/
Mail : alain [dot] aupeix [at] wanadoo [dot] fr
Ubuntu 12.04 - Gramps 3.4.9 - Harbour 3.2.0 - Hwgui 2.20-3 - K-Meleon 76.0 rc
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2008 03:42PM by JujuLand.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
leveck
Date: September 26, 2008 01:48PM
Thank you .I am sure that we all appreciate your effort, which has obviously taken a lot of time and work.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
JujuLand
Date: September 26, 2008 07:22PM
Find on Sourceforge:
Ghost-Fox is an extremely Fast, Customizable, Lightweight Web Browser for the Win32 (Windows) Platform based on the Gecko Layout Engine (the rendering engine of Mozilla). Ghost-Fox does not require any other web browser to be installed...
Download
Last Update: Jul 25 2008
Exactly like the presentation of Internet Spirit.
Normal ...
* Project Admins : hardycreations
* Developers : 1
* Development Status : 6 - Mature
* License : Mozilla Public License 1.0 (MPL)
* Operating System : All 32-bit MS Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP)
* Programming Language : C++
* Topic : Browsers
* User Interface : Win32 (MS Windows)
* Project UNIX name : ghostfox
* Registered : 2008-07-25 01:43
* Activity Percentile (last week) : 85.55
* View project activity statistics
* View list of RSS feeds available for this project
:B
Tucows has answered that Internet Spirit will de removed from there sites. It will probably take about 48 hours.
A+
Mozilla/5.0 (x11; U; Linux x86_64; fr-FR; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Ubuntu/12.04 K-Meleon/76.0
Web: http://jujuland.pagesperso-orange.fr/
Mail : alain [dot] aupeix [at] wanadoo [dot] fr
Ubuntu 12.04 - Gramps 3.4.9 - Harbour 3.2.0 - Hwgui 2.20-3 - K-Meleon 76.0 rc
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
kko
Date: September 26, 2008 07:43PM
Hey, this can't be it, really:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ghostfox/
http://ghostfox.sourceforge.net/
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
JujuLand
Date: September 26, 2008 08:09PM
Yes it's the same program. When you look for GhostSetup.exe properties it gives :
V 3.0.0.0
Internet Spirit Installation
And when you launch it, it gives a splash screen which is the same reading woman and as text, Internet Spirit Browser ....
I understand why now, he has closed his previous website and has reactivated this site.
Now, I think it will not too much difficult to ask to Sourceforge to close this project, it's not hard to see that he is always violating the GPL license.
If you look at the tab Credit Info, all have been made by Maike the Spirit, nothing about K-Meleon and the real programmers. If, as I think the last GhostSetup I am downloading, it's always the same produst (3.0.1.3 perhaps), no dubt then that he wants to continue his robbery.
A+
Mozilla/5.0 (x11; U; Linux x86_64; fr-FR; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Ubuntu/12.04 K-Meleon/76.0
Web: http://jujuland.pagesperso-orange.fr/
Mail : alain [dot] aupeix [at] wanadoo [dot] fr
Ubuntu 12.04 - Gramps 3.4.9 - Harbour 3.2.0 - Hwgui 2.20-3 - K-Meleon 76.0 rc
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2008 08:25PM by JujuLand.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
disrupted
Date: September 26, 2008 08:29PM
hardy is a parasite.. it's very hardy to kill his ripoffs, he keeps changing websites and hosts, he also has a couple of other websites with stolen games and a paint.net clone.. a while back; i emailed cnet's(download.com) editor-in-chief explaining the violation of spiritbrowser and requested its removal but the didn't respond. it also came to my attention that all the skins are ripped off al's kronos(kmlite)
more there:
http://youfailit.net/?p=49
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
JohnHell
Date: September 26, 2008 08:35PM
Strange way to request attention from people. He needs help, a lot of.
Great work jujuland.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
desga2
Date: September 26, 2008 08:55PM
Thanks Juju, i sent some post/mails to:
programasgratis.com
filecluster.com
wareseeker.com
10001downloads.com
freewarebb.com
P.S.; Why this person are using Maxthon icons?
This have a good side, Internet Spirit/GhostSetup have a good skins/themes collection.
K-Meleon in SpanishEdited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2008 09:12PM by desga2.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
Mark Williamson
Date: September 26, 2008 09:30PM
Friends, as the owner of a few freeware and shareware sites, please can you elaborate as to what exactly Internet Spirit has done as I am unfamiliar with both products at the moment. Have they simply copied your browser or code or is it something else as I cannot fully understand the message sent to me (first post). If they are claiming work or copying work we will remove all their links from all our sites without question.
Thanks in advance
Marko
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
kko
Date: September 26, 2008 10:25PM
Quote
Mark Williamson
Friends, as the owner of a few freeware and shareware sites, please can you elaborate as to what exactly Internet Spirit has done as I am unfamiliar with both products at the moment. Have they simply copied your browser or code or is it something else as I cannot fully understand the message sent to me (first post). If they are claiming work or copying work we will remove all their links from all our sites without question.
Thanks in advance
Marko
It's pretty simple. This 'Internet Spirit Web Browser' is infringing our copyright and license. Distribution is illegal.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
disrupted(unlogged)
Date: September 26, 2008 10:34PM
the problem is not with internet spirit browser per se.. anything submitted by michael j. hardy should not be listed or atleast taken with caution and inspected first. mr. hardy has a long history of stealing codes and violating copyrights. now he has changed the name to ghostfox or whatsit and it won't be long before he starts submitting it to software websites under the new name...
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
disrupted(unlogged)
Date: September 26, 2008 11:10PM
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
Weather
Date: September 27, 2008 03:41AM
I would have thought the campaign should appeal to sites such as The Register and Inquirer. Even ask Google to help search and destroy such crooks.
Or are you already doing this?
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
disrupted(unlogged)
Date: September 27, 2008 04:05AM
holy macaroni:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=ghost-fox+browser+hardy&start=20&sa=N
i think he already submitted ghost-fox a while back and then decided to change to internet spirit because of a similarly-named firefox extension. desgas discovered that alternative naming when zoohunter first found out about internet spirit bollocks.
i don't know weather what the devs should do.. hardy is certainly a pest, he has already cloned paint.net and selling it at regnet alongside a few other stolen games.. it seems the only way to stop this guy is a lawsuit with a substantial fine.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
JujuLand
Date: September 27, 2008 07:11AM
@disrupted,
you're perhaps right when you said GhostFox is before, but when you look at download sites, the date displayed is about July or august 2008, about the same date as for Internet Spirit.
Can it be a new way to diffuse is robbery and keep money ??
When I'll have a moment, I'll do the same campaign as I do for Internet Spirit. I think, viewing the quick deletion they did, that they don't want to be ennoyed for a little robber. And, if he will appear after with a new name, he will have more problems when asking to promote this product.
Sure that the better way ought to be a lawsuit, but who is about to give money for. It's a dream ...
I think a continuous tracking of this guy and his products, is the only way we have for now.
A+
Mozilla/5.0 (x11; U; Linux x86_64; fr-FR; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Ubuntu/12.04 K-Meleon/76.0
Web: http://jujuland.pagesperso-orange.fr/
Mail : alain [dot] aupeix [at] wanadoo [dot] fr
Ubuntu 12.04 - Gramps 3.4.9 - Harbour 3.2.0 - Hwgui 2.20-3 - K-Meleon 76.0 rc
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2008 07:11AM by JujuLand.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
guenter
Date: September 27, 2008 10:51AM
Quote
Mark Williamson
If they are claiming work or copying work we will remove all their links from all our sites without question.
@ Marko thank You in advance!
alain who AFAIK wrote the mail to You speaks French normally and assumes that PPL know that K-Meleon is an old GPL project. K-Meleon started in 2000! On the Windows plattform K-Meleon is the oldest dedicated browser only software based on the Gecko engine (K-Meleon project started years before Firefox).
Let me explain the problem: Mr. Hardy removed K-Meleon's own GPL copyright notice from our code/work (about: page). We do not even know whether he recompiled or just resource hacked our compiled product.
Next he made up an Eula that put K-Meleon's GPL code under his propriatary license and that tries to prevent that future additions by other PPL become GPL code.
Position here: Either the code stays under GPL and he quotes our devs copyrights - or he violated K-Meleon's license. He must not use the code and none his product.
For convenience I double post from another thread about this robware:
Quote
guenter
His Eula contradicts K-Meleon's/GPL older rights "images...source code, incorporated into the Software Product) except as noted are owned by GLOBALISSA. The intellectual property right, copyright and all other rights in the Software Product shall remain with GLOBALISSA."
about: "Copyright by Contributors to the K-Meleon project under the GNU General Public License." Alternative concepts also exist. But all boils down to K-Meleon's devs own K-Meleon's source code, icons ... under the terms of the GPL.
If You mix new code with older GPL code the new code is "infected" by the GPL.
All changes/contributions or what others add - becomes K-Meleon/GPL code
You may only mix Your code with GPL code if You submit to the condition that it becomes GPL as well...
There is an option. If we think many PPL look for the browser?
We can tell PPL Download here if You want the newest version of InternetSpirit web browser (which is a K-Meleon clone). All would have the same basic text and alter it a little; If many of us did this on home pages and here - Google and other engines would point to our downloads with these or similar words. But that would be only worth while to do if any number looked for the product
Marko - perhaps You can use the later idea text and link for InternetSpirit aka Gostfox ...
That way PPL that look for these browsers want mail & ask where it is
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2008 11:07AM by guenter.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
JujuLand
Date: September 27, 2008 01:29PM
@guenter,
Who is Mark Williamson ? (oopps, I have find his post a little higher after posting)
Can I do something else more, or do I wait.
I don't know if it's possible to do somethinhg with google, but it coul be an excellent idea, as it's the more used search engine.
A+
Mozilla/5.0 (x11; U; Linux x86_64; fr-FR; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Ubuntu/12.04 K-Meleon/76.0
Web: http://jujuland.pagesperso-orange.fr/
Mail : alain [dot] aupeix [at] wanadoo [dot] fr
Ubuntu 12.04 - Gramps 3.4.9 - Harbour 3.2.0 - Hwgui 2.20-3 - K-Meleon 76.0 rc
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2008 01:48PM by JujuLand.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
Mark Williamson
Date: September 27, 2008 02:39PM
OK, thanks for the clarification guenter, consider this guy removed from all our sites
Marko
(PS for your records that includes freewarebb, netlinkz4u and downloadfilesfree - all ending dot-com)
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
Mark Williamson
Date: September 27, 2008 02:42PM
Just out of curiosity, and to spread the word would you prefer I replace their details with any text or would you just prefer I delete the entries full stop?
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
Mark Williamson
Date: September 27, 2008 10:27PM
Instead of waiting any longer I have now removed all references to that software and hardycreations-dot-com from all our sites although I see he may be having problems of his own as his website is down and out anyway
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
Weather
Date: September 28, 2008 05:10AM
The Register and Groklaw seem to have a lot of legal postage for open sausage.
I'd post it on Groklaw but they banned me for not absolutely agreeing absolutely with absolutely everything they say.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
JujuLand
Date: September 28, 2008 08:12AM
I have send this mail to ZDnet Fr, hoping it will give something and ask that this person contacts CNET that I can't contact.
Quote
Monsieur,
Vous hébergez un logiciel nommé 'Internet Spirit' ou encore 'GhostFox' proposé par Hardy Creations.
Ce logiciel existe dans plusieurs versions 1.1.5, 1.5.0, 3.0.0, 3.0.13 ...
Il s'agit en fait d'une version recompilée de K-Meleon 1.1.5 ou 1.5.0.
K-Meleon est diffusé sous licence GPL, ce qui permet à tout un chacun de modifier le produit comme bon lui semble. Malgré tout, la licence GPL impose quelques 'contraintes' comme la disponibilité du code source, le maintien de toute référence aux créateurs initiaux, et le maintien sous licence GPL.
Or, pour ce produit, il n'en est rien. Toute référence aux créateurs a été supprimée, le produit est diffusé sous licence EULA, et bien sur les sources ne sont pas fournis.
Il s'agit donc en l'espèce de violations graves de la licence.
Il faut remarquer de plus, que K-Meleon n'est pas le seul produit dont la licence a été violé, de nombreux jeux on subit le même sort. Voir les adresses suivantes et les nombreux liens que l'on connait sur les posts suivants:
http://kmeleonbrowser.org/forum/read.php?1,83865
http://kmeleonbrowser.org/forum/read.php?1,84013
De plus, bien que le site de HardyCreations ne réponde plus, curieusement depuis le lendemain de la campagne que j'ai réalisé auprès des diffuseurs de logiciels, il est toujours possible de télécharger ce logiciel depuis vos pages. Ceci venant notamment du fait que vous (cnet ?) héberger les produits que vous proposez en diffusion.
En conclusion, je vous demande donc de faire supprimer les pages concernant ces logiciels et concernant HardyCreations.
De plus, vu mon impossibilité de les joindre par un quelconque moyen, je vous demande de faire remonter cette demande auprès des diffuseurs du groupe CNET.
Par avance merci de la promptitude avec laquelle vous me répondrez et prendrez toutes les mesures qui s'imposent.
Alain Aupeix
membre de l'équipe des développeurs de K-Meleon
Merci
A+
A+
Mozilla/5.0 (x11; U; Linux x86_64; fr-FR; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Ubuntu/12.04 K-Meleon/76.0
Web: http://jujuland.pagesperso-orange.fr/
Mail : alain [dot] aupeix [at] wanadoo [dot] fr
Ubuntu 12.04 - Gramps 3.4.9 - Harbour 3.2.0 - Hwgui 2.20-3 - K-Meleon 76.0 rc
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
desga2
Date: September 28, 2008 10:16AM
Thanks Mark Williamson!
Your cooperation is highly appreciated by the entire K-Meleon community.
K-Meleon in SpanishEdited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2008 10:18AM by desga2.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
guenter
Date: September 28, 2008 11:55AM
Thanks Mark Williamson!
Let me explain the timelack of our answers - many answers were from Central European Time zone. Spain, France, Germany ( kko, jujuland, desgas2 are devs & translators ).
- As to Your question. IMHO do as You think best for Your page.
Silencing the name is good but may not help users that look for an update. An notice to Your visitors may help to help PPL that search for it and do not know that it is a K-Meleon and still available under its real anme.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2008 11:58AM by guenter.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
Mark Williamson
Date: September 28, 2008 12:48PM
Hi guenter, no probs on the timezone, I just wanted to make sure we dealt with this issue sooner rather than later - OK, here's my position on this issue - I fully intend on adding K-Meleon to our list of freeware on all sites and I don't have a problem with listing it such as "Internet Spirit/K-Meleon" to help with the search results if this would appeal to you guys. If you have any type of PAD file available to aid in the submission of this I will gladly use this for our other sites otherwise I can add it manually as we do for freewarebb. Once I have submitted the listing I will then feature it on all our sites so it appears on our home pages and stands a chance of being indexed asap. All I need to know really is if you would like me to include a reference in the title to Internet Spirit to help throw the search results. I will hold back until I hear from you.
Cheers
Mark
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
JujuLand
Date: September 28, 2008 12:57PM
I'm trying to contact Google and ask them to block the results concerning Internet Spirit and GhostFox Web Browser, but it's particulary complicated.
A+
Mozilla/5.0 (x11; U; Linux x86_64; fr-FR; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Ubuntu/12.04 K-Meleon/76.0
Web: http://jujuland.pagesperso-orange.fr/
Mail : alain [dot] aupeix [at] wanadoo [dot] fr
Ubuntu 12.04 - Gramps 3.4.9 - Harbour 3.2.0 - Hwgui 2.20-3 - K-Meleon 76.0 rc
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
guenter
Date: September 28, 2008 01:15PM
Congratulations to You - I never thought that one can get this far.
BTW. Google does not normally remove anything (=alter results) by hand - it is their policy. Google may not even have a mechanism that permits it.
But we can replace the top ranked results by SEO mechnism provided we have access to many or top ranked pages - where we can place info ( 'Internet Spirit' is a K-Meleon clone. The original is available via SourceForge project pages).
Since You decided that K-Meleon must do anything about copyright theft - what about AL and Rose who possibly also infriged K-Meleon's copyright.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2008 01:26PM by guenter.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
kko
Date: September 28, 2008 01:15PM
Quote
Mark Williamson
...as his website is down and out anyway
I don't think so. When visiting http://www.hardycreations.com/ I get this message:
Quote
www.hardycreations.com
This website www.hardycreations.com is currently unavailable due to exceeded monthly traffic quota. Please visit again later.
I bet Hardy took the cheapest offer which is free of charge but limited to 1 GB of monthly traffic. With almost 20 MB per Internet Spirit package this is not much more then 50 downloads. That's peanuts.
I've seen this message several times over the last weeks. It appears to me that he is buying additional traffic on demand (when he has the money). No big business if you ask me. :p
I guess he is highly dependent on third party web sites who are distributing his packages. And that's where we can hurt him!
So, thanks to all of you for your efforts - especially to Alain.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
guenter
Date: September 28, 2008 01:59PM
Habe bei Deutschen ZdNet eine falsche Download Addi gemeldet = I reported wrong link to Zdnet.de
Ist das Prozedere so ok?
Original at: http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/download.php
English:
Internet Spirit Web Browser 1.1.5 is a K-Meleon 1.1.5 clone.
Internet Spirit's Eula violates K-Meleon's GPL copyrights. Please remove the downlaod or redirect to the original.
German:
Internet Spirit Web Browser 1.1.5 ist ein K-Meleon 1.1.5 Clone.
Internet Spirits Eula bricht K-Meleons GPL Copyright. Bitte entfernen Sie den Download Link oder leiten Sie zum Original um.
Bezug: http://kmeleonbrowser.org/forum/read.php?1,84013,84102#msg-84102
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2008 02:03PM by guenter.
Re: End of 'Internet Spirit' : soon
Posted by:
guenter
Date: September 28, 2008 02:12PM
Internet Spirit Web Browser at Source Forge! He also has alink at SF
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2008 09:53PM by guenter.
English