Newsgroups: comp.misc
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!hobbes.physics.uiowa.edu!news.iastate.edu!exnet.iastate.edu!z1dan
From: z1dan@exnet.iastate.edu (Dan Sorenson -- Seed Testing Labortory)
Subject: Re: Any piracy statistics in the US ??
Message-ID: <1991Jun25.173337.5578@news.iastate.edu>
Sender: news@news.iastate.edu (USENET News System)
Reply-To: z1dan@exnet.iastate.edu (Dan Sorenson)
Organization: Iowa State University Extension
References: <292@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp> <Zay2444w164w@mantis.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1991 17:33:37 GMT
Lines: 40

In article <Zay2444w164w@mantis.co.uk> mathew@mantis.co.uk (Giving C News a *HUG*) writes:
>will@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp (will) writes:
>> 	Getting in on this a little late.  But isn't it possible to program
>> 	your software to read the serial numbers on the say (CPU and/or FPU)
>> 	before the software will function.  Then all you need to do is require
>> 	the purchaser to do is give his/her serial numbers when purchasing the
>> 	software and everyones happy.
>[stuff deleted and I feel good about it] 

	It appears that somebody has forgotten that, no matter how wonderful
the copy protection scheme, somebody is going to find a way around it.  It
also tends to make using the software inconvenient for the user, which will
tend to disrupt sales.
	If it were me, I'd be quite upset to find that I could only use the
software on machine "X" and not machine "Y," when software licensing
agreements generally let me use it on any number of machines, though not
all at the same time.  How would I fix this problem?  Make good copies of
the original disks, of course, and then use a sector editor to search
for my serial numbers.  These get changed, and away I go.  If this
proves ineffective, I'll disassemble the program code and look for where
it reads my serial number.  Then I'll bypass this code and get on with
_using_ the software I legitimatley bought.

	I'm not advocating software piracy, of course, nor am I advocating
the reverse-engineering of code to bypass certain "features" that may
exist.  I am merely stating a reason for why this form of copy protection
has not become widely used in the software industry.

	Flames to /dev/null, please.  Conversations can go here or e-mail.

__________________________________________________________________________
"What's that thing?"  "Well, it's a highly technical, sensitive instrument
we use in computer repair.  Being a layman, you probably can't grasp
exactly what it does.  We call it a two-by-four." -- Jeff MacNelly, "Shoe"

		Dan Sorenson, z1dan@exnet.iastate.edu

It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word.
		-- Andrew Jackson
___________________________________________________________________________
