F.O.S.I.

Since 1997, an individual calling himself F.O.S.I. has made available 36 "non-cracked, full-version" copies of warez (unlicensed and therefore illegal "PROGRAMZ") on his website via direct downloads. The website often changes its URL, and the titles and categories of the programs offered also have varied.

To some, F.O.S.I.'s website has become an Internet landmark, a piece of nostalgia from the early days of the Internet.

Despite increasingly-frequent software piracy crackdowns in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as well as tightening government regulations in the United States, F.O.S.I. continues to operate his website as before, keeping it up to date and using a website design created more than a decade ago. It is interesting to note that, although sprinkled with ads, F.O.S.I.'s website has neither pop-up advertising, nor spyware, standing apart from the majority of warez websites.

In an age of software piracy using P2P and IRC clients, F.O.S.I. remains a web-based distributor of unlicensed software.

[http://navig8.to/fosi Official website]