PDA

View Full Version : Anti-copying programs may slow piracy



Sporkman
November 27th, 2007, 04:06 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071125/ap_on_hi_te/piracy_technology_1


Anti-copying programs may slow piracy

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer Sun Nov 25, 1:43 PM ET

If the experience of the world's largest software vendor is any guide, the industry's best hope for reducing piracy rests with anti-copying technologies rather than in policing the legalistic user agreements that restrict how software can be used.

While a copyright crackdown by the Business Software Alliance and other industry players has been in force for years, piracy rates — as measured by BSA-commissioned studies — have stopped falling. So a few years ago, Microsoft Corp. began concentrating harder on locking software down through a program it calls its Genuine Software Initiative.

The technology has provoked some hostility, because it enables Microsoft to remotely examine user computers. After analyzing such information as the computer's manufacturer, hard drive serial number and Windows product identification, Microsoft can block access to certain software functions if it suspects the product was illegally copied.

Microsoft does not offer piracy statistics specific for its software. But the company says it appears its plan is working. As evidence, the company notes that in the last quarter, Windows sales were up 20 percent while worldwide PC sales were up only 14 to 16 percent. Microsoft said the difference reflected the fact that people with counterfeit copies of Windows were having to put the real thing on their existing computers.

Cori Hartje, who heads the genuine-software team for Microsoft, cautions that the lockdown is just part of the company's plan for reducing piracy. BSA-style enforcement and user education remain important elements, she said.

To be sure, other lockdown technologies — like requiring users to enter a specific numeric key when they install a piece of software on a PC — have been tried by multiple vendors, with limited success. Those programs often are hacked pretty quickly, or the keys get shared, greatly inhibiting their power to reduce improper copying.

But the industry also has not put as much effort into the subject as it might have. Bob Kruger, BSA's enforcement director from 1993 to 2005, said he often asked its member companies why they couldn't come up with ways to prevent copying. Kruger said the companies told him they feared new controls would annoy legitimate users and send market share to rivals that lacked copy blocks.

Logical as that decision may have been, it has put the onus on customers to track the various things their software licenses allow.

Now, however, Robert Holleyman, who has headed the BSA since 1990, said he was optimistic technology might soon have a better answer.

"It's not a silver bullet," he said. "At the same time, technology is increasingly a tool that is customer-friendly, that will reduce levels of piracy ... and make it easier for customers to interact with the product."

Dimitriid
November 27th, 2007, 04:15 PM
The only thing I know that has really slowed down piracy its the Starforce protection scheme. And it is so intrusive its almost a rootkit, or at the very least going as far as requiring a new driver for your optical drive its crazy.

And then it ONLY slowed down cause games ( its mainly used on PC Games ) have been successfully cracked. Meanwhile it can cause a hoard of problems for users ( usually the case when you outright replace drivers and I guarantee that it was without proper testing ).

So no, any coping programs? No good. Only keep honest man honest ( and annoyed ). Even they know this thats why they pushed so hard for hardware based DRM schemes.

popch
November 27th, 2007, 04:21 PM
Any corporation most likely succeeds in doing those things it tries hardest.

Thus, a corporation trying very hard to make its software unusable will be uncomfortably successful at it. The software will become unusable.

n3tfury
November 27th, 2007, 04:26 PM
sporkman's good at the copy/paste.

Sporkman
November 27th, 2007, 04:34 PM
sporkman's good at the copy/paste.

Damn straight! :D

n3tfury
November 27th, 2007, 05:01 PM
lol

Chrisj303
November 27th, 2007, 06:12 PM
I don't understand why software companies are still trying to combat piracy.

The more money a company spends on trying to protect there product, the more egg ends up on their faces when the software is cracked a day after launch:?


Microsoft is a prime example of this - God only knows how much their product activation system costs to implement and maintain - but guess what? - anybody that wants to use Windows for free, can. Easily.

Depressed Man
November 27th, 2007, 08:13 PM
Anti-copying programs do slow down piracy. Mainly because it usually makes your software unwanted by legit users. (as mentioned earlier..starforce). And if legit people aren't using it, then pirates probably won't use it either (it won't be as popular, yada yada).

And Microsoft's whole "Anti-pirating" WGA program? *smilies*.

Erik Trybom
November 27th, 2007, 08:46 PM
It would seem a maker of an operative system has a lot more leeway implementing anti-piracy schemes. If a third-party program installs a rootkit, it's a scandal. If Microsoft themselves install a rootkit, it's a feature. They are free to modify their own kernel, right?

That's, in part, why free software is an especially good idea for an OS.

phrostbyte
November 27th, 2007, 09:25 PM
Ironic right now I am fruitlessly trying to install a legit (specialized) software program that won't damn work because of license issues.

inversekinetix
November 28th, 2007, 01:10 AM
I don't think I have ever come across a piece of software for which there hasn't been a crack/workaround. Everything from dongles to securerom have been circumvented. Even the newest protection on games (hellgate, crysis) can be circumvented in 3 clicks.

What are they going to try next?

p_quarles
November 28th, 2007, 01:29 AM
The only totally effective copy protection is the plastic wraps they put on CD cases.


What are they going to try next?
More of the same, probably. They know they're not going to prevent copying, but they're worried that the minute they stop trying, piracy will be somehow legitimized.

juxtaposed
November 28th, 2007, 02:08 AM
This stuff is extremely expensive as well as it only slows piracy down mildly.