Sprint PCS Info - SPI Labs: Auditing of Ringerpost (Updated)

Update: Many Ringerpost supporters have said in our article's commentary that we are doing this for personal reasons. Nothing could be further from the truth. We advocate to Sprint, and as part of it, bring matters like these to the public's attention. We would, and will do the same with any other web site offering content in violating of Sprint's licensing agreements. Please report any site that you believe is hosting pirated Sprint DRM content, and we will cover it in a similar fashion.

Following on our coverage of Ringerpost.com's posting of pirated Vision content, we decided to use SPI Labs resources to give you "just the facts" as to what you will find on their site.

Our audit focused on games and applications, basically MIDP 1.0 and 2.0 apps. Games and applications were separated only due to the web site establishing different forums for posting each. We did not analyze if ringtones, or video ringtones, were being pirated from the Vision Vending Machine. We also isolated application revisions, for example, categorizing files that were targeted for use on only one device, or, applications that received a much broader range of compatibility. We counted each release separately, as stealing the MM-535 version of an application is a different count of piracy from stealing the MM-A800's version of the application.

In all, we found over 140 games and over 50 applications that clearly could have only originated from the Vision vending machine. Of those, approximately 25% were admitted, in some manner to be "ripping off" or pirating by the original poster. 10% of MIDP applications had had their JAD wrappers hacked to remove certain DRM restrictions, a direct violation of the DMCA, even for hosting the materials for educational purposes, as the site claims.

Based on that Sprint applications only work on the Sprint network (such as Garmin mobile, MobiTV, and TeleNav), and that we have isolated exact counts and manners, as well as archived them for Sprint corporate security, we can prove beyond any doubt that Ringerpost is directly violating with malice and forethought, international copyright laws, United States copyright laws, as well as the DMCA.

Any legal authority (DoJ, Sprint Legal, etc) that would like further information is welcomed to contact Sprint PCS Info.