Questionable DVD's and potential viruses.... Keeping my finger's crossed.

Forums: Viruses, Dvds, Computer Help, Illicit Dvds, Computer Security Issues
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I just finished watching a particular Hollywood film (one of 6 DVD's) which was sent to me by my sister. I was unaware of its ... um ... potentially illicit pedigree as I thought it was a store bought DVD in which she no longer wanted but sent to me in a pay it forward. 2 or 3 minutes into watching the film I noticed some irregularities ...

Let's just say it looked like Russian numbers (I think the years were written out in Cyrillic) in the title cards that indicated the progression of the years between plot vignettes.

Then I found out the DVD lacked any proper menu and wasn't partitioned into separate chapters like every other DVD I have viewed, rented, and owned.

I kind of figured by the time I made this conclusion ... that of the illicit origins of the DVD, it was playing for about 5 to 10 minutes and if it was infected by a virus my system would already be exposed ... so I watched the rest of the DVD on my computer.

I'm not going to watch any other of the DVD's on the computer but will use a portable DVD player and watch in on that tiny screen.

Have you heard any computer infections by this manner? BTW: IT was the first time I have ever watched a bootleg DVD in my life. I hope I have been overlooked by fate and the malice of illegal DVD creating world.

Also, I have run a quick antivirus scan on my computer while the DVD was playing and now I am running a full computer scan and will run Search and Destroy (antispyware program) as well.

I do believe if my sister watched these, she would have played them on a traditional DVD player and television so there wouldn't be any way she would have known of any hidden viruses.

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 3,224 • Replies: 6

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It always boils down to a matter of provenance when dealing with bootleg media, since you are trusting the chain of ownership.

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@jgweed,

I wished ahead of time that I new of the DVD's illicit origins in the first place. It is possible my sister had mentioned it on the sly the dubious nature of the DVD's.

All I remember is that she said her friend recently got these movies and her 'policy' is that once she watched them she tended to pass them on instead of keeping them. A policy that my sister used herself. It sounded like a rather expensive hobby but since it was my sister, I took her reasoning at face value.

I have never mentioned my principles of being out and out against the practice of bootleg movies. I have been open about it when the subject had come up online but the subject was never breached when I was talking with my sister.

I don't want to sound ungrateful ... afterall she did think of me when she thought of who should get the DVD's next and I appreciate the generosity but I'm ethically at a flummoxed point. I'm not going to openly condemn her about her practices but should I hint my ethical hesitations about accepting any more of these films? What do I do with these DVDs I have now?

I don't think the NYPL will accept them as donation (okay they might accept them at face value ... at first ... then might balk later when they find out their illicit bootleg nature) and I feel guilty already thinking about freecycling them to another person given my strongly held principles on the subject.

What do you think I should do?

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Now you are asking not a technical question, but a moral one. For both reasons, I would certainly not pass them to someone else.

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You could send them back to your sister and let her pass them on.

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@littlek,

I'd have the chain stop with you.

Destroy 'em.

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@dlowan,

First why do you not run your anti-virus on them(dvds)?

Second download the free version of a program call sandboxie and running your viewer/player program under sandboxie you can watch anything in a safe manner on your computer system.

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Questionable DVD's and potential viruses.... Keeping my finger's crossed.

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