Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: $Revision: 1.6.2.16 $; site ima.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!yale!ima!johnl From: johnl@ima.UUCP Newsgroups: net.micro Subject: Re: software protection - dongles & othe Message-ID: <97800003@ima.UUCP> Date: Sun, 11-Aug-85 22:47:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ima.97800003 Posted: Sun Aug 11 22:47:00 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 00:51:13 EDT References: <225@brl-tgr.UUCP> Lines: 23 Nf-ID: #R:brl-tgr:-22500:ima:97800003:000:1299 Nf-From: ima!johnl Aug 11 22:47:00 1985 /* Written 3:27 pm Aug 8, 1985 by che@ptsfb in ima:net.micro */ > Hmm, still doesn't take care of the "black box" boys who hang a > passive, intelligent device onto the RS-232 and monitor the data stream. I suspect that a typical dongle for an expensive (say $700) program would have an 8051 in it, which could do some fairly complex logic. Remember, the dongle doesn't have to be impossible to break -- it just has to be hard enough to break that it's easier to get the program legitimately than to break it. You can break anything with $50,000 worth of lab equipment. This doesn't mean that I think the dongle as currently proposed is a good idea. The thought of plugging stuff in and out of the DB25 on the back of your PC several times a day disturbs me; it's not designed for that heavy a duty cycle without breaking prematurely. And the keyring sounds like it'll simultaneously be logically too small for the number of programs a serious user uses, and physically too big to fit in the 2 inches behind my PC. John Levine, Javelin Software, Cambridge MA 617-494-1400 { decvax!cca | think | ihnp4 | cbosgd }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.ARPA The opinions above are solely those of a 12 year old hacker who has broken into my account, and not those of my employer or any other organization.