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Miscellaneous

by Mike Masnick

Thu, Oct 7th 2004 9:54am





Copy Protection Goes On The Offensive

from the why,-you-don't-need-that-any-more... dept

It's no surprise that developers of copy protection tools are trying to improve them beyond the weak, easily defeated offerings they are today. However, it sounds like some are starting to go a bit too far. Beyond just trying to stop copying, they're scanning your system for other programs, telling you to disable certain copying programs and then proactively uninstalling certain components of those programs. After first denying this was true, the company later said it was just a bug, but many people doubt this. It's likely, unfortunately, that this is just the beginning. Copy protection software seems to be getting ever more proactive, often doing damage where none should ever be done.

4 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    Get Redmond involved

    identicon
    eponymous geek, Oct 7th, 2004 @ 11:14am

    Write a copy protection scheme that disables parts of Windows Media Player, like ripping a CD to the HD. Microsoft will join our side and that'll be the end of that.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    No Subject Given

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 7th, 2004 @ 11:38am

    To install Doom 3 I had to unistall Clone CD. Got a message informaing me that Doom would not run with CD emulation software on my system.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    I can understand...

    identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, Oct 7th, 2004 @ 2:35pm

    I can understand why a company doesn't want their software running on a PC that contains software that *might* be used to pirate their precious program, but...

    I do not agree that they have the right to insist that the software be removed or, worse yet, damage the software in some way. That's not just wrong, that's criminal.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    Re: I can understand...

    identicon
    thecaptain, Oct 8th, 2004 @ 5:08am

    They can always refuse to install AND offer you a refund should you decide NOT to disable what they ask (if they don't offer a refund, then they don't have the right to refuse to install imho). I think that's reasonable.

    However I agree, they do NOT have the right to uninstall third party software from my machine without my knowledge AND consent. That's damage and akin to crackers and virus writers.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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