warez

n. commercial software that is illegally distributed via the Internet or a computer bulletin board system

"Warez" refers primarily to virtual copyrighted material traded in violation of copyright law. The term generally refers to illegal releases by organized groups, as opposed to peer-to-peer file sharing between friends or large groups of people with similar interest using a darknet. It usually does not refer to commercial for-profit software counterfeiting. This term was initially coined by members of the various computer underground circles, but has since become commonplace among Internet users and the media.
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/weirz/ A term used by software pirates use to describe a cracked game or application that is made available to the Internet, usually via FTP or telnet, often the pirate will make use of a site with lax security.
Software piracy is illegal and should be reported to the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST).
(1994-11-29)