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From: lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Christopher Lishka)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Software Theft Deterrents
Message-ID: <247@uwslh.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24-Jul-87 14:52:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwslh.247
Posted: Fri Jul 24 14:52:02 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Jul-87 15:11:43 EDT
References: <207@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM> <3576@well.UUCP>
Reply-To: lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Christopher Lishka)
Distribution: na
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison, State Hygiene Lab
Lines: 63


Well, there is always more than one way to skin a cat...

In reference to the hardware Gizmo/dongle/whatever-it-is-called, a
previous poster said (very rightly) that one could defeat this form of
copy-protection by patching some machine code with NOP's.  Alas, there
is also another way.  A couple of my friend's once reverse engineered
a dongle and managed to come up with their own dongles; all they then
needed to do was copy the software with a decent copier, plug in their
own dongle-copy, and VOILA!  One more copied/pirated/stolen/etc.
program existed.  Therefore dongles can also be broken through
hardware.

I don't think there is a form of copy-protection that can't be broken,
unless the computer itself provides special hardware that allows NOONE
in if some funky mode is set (and I mean Noone, not even the
designer).  Now, some forms may be more deterent than others, but lets
face it...if you know how to get into a machine, you can figure out
how to take control, and run things pretty much the way you want.  It
may take a hell of a lot of effort, but it can certainly be done.

So where does that leave everyone?  Well, the pirates, who choose to
spend the time breaking into the software, will eventually get through
the copy-protection and have a piece of software that can be used.
However, Mr. Average-Computer-User, who goes out and buys the stuff,
will be taking a risk if he cannot back up the disk, 'cause he could
easily get something scrambled via a large magnetic field (don't go
sticking floppies on speakers) or the program very stupidly writing to
the protected disk.  Then, IF his original gets fried, he'll probably
think twice before buying another piece of software from a company.
What does this all end up in?  Well, it is potentially bad for the
company, annoying for the guy whose $100 protected disk gets trashed,
and provides the pirate with something to do in his spare time.

Point: the only real way to "copy-protect" something is to supply
extra materials with it that are very useful.  This is hard to do with
games, but it has been done; the "look-up-a-word..." copy protection
is sort of like this.  A GOOD manual for, say, a compiler is a better
example.  Now, this doesn't get around the old Xerox machine, but then
again some manuals are so thick that it takes a fair bit of cash to
Xerox in the first place.

One last note: I am very appreciative of people like Mr. Fish and Mr.
Stallman (and how about Mr. Knuth too) who either write software or
collect it in order to give it out free, just to spread around some
good programs.  I am not saying that those who write programs for
profit aren't as worthy of praise (hell, I write programs for a
living!), but at least there are some people out there who have gone
out of their way to distribute good products without making a lot of
money (or even any money) off it.  I would just like to thank all of
you who are producing useful, fun, and well-written programs without
hoping to make a killing off them.  One day I hope to be able to do
the same (but right now I need to get my butt through college!).

[P.S.  I am writing this on GnuEmacs, a wonderful editor by Mr. Stallman
	which (I believe) is freely distributable]

Enough rambling...

-- 
Chris Lishka                    /lishka@uwslh.uucp
Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene <-lishka%uwslh.uucp@rsch.wisc.edu
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