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From: david@starsoft.UUCP (Dave Lowrey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Copy protection (was Re: Awesome! No I am Pi**ed!) (LONG)
Message-ID: <185a6d67.ARN258d@starsoft.UUCP>
Date: 13 Dec 90 04:17:11 GMT
References: <BK.90Nov29222757@tadtec.uucp> <JKH.90Dec3092012@bambam.pcs.com>
 <1990Dec5.041002.453@sbcs.sunysb.edu> <1990Dec5.205822.216@evax.arl.utexas.edu>
 <1366@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au> <1990Dec9.203048.7679@unlv.edu> <1372@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au>
Reply-To: david@starsoft.UUCP
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In article <1372@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au>, Lou Cavallo writes:

> G'day,
>
> Eric J. Schwertfeger (maniac@cleanhead.cs.unlv.edu ) writes:
>
> *) 1. I've not seen or heard of pirated versions of Superbase for the Amiga. I
> *)    [...]
> *)    Question{s}: is it very easy (or hard) to overcome dongle protection?
> *)
> *) 2. If a decryption scheme was placed into a dongle device with a CPU it may
> *)    [...]
> *)    Question: if one has decryption code that does not reside in Amiga RAM
> *)    (and hopefully not accessible by an Amiga run program) is it necessary
> *)    to have all of the *decrypted* program reside in AmigaRAM?
>
> >     1)  Yes, I've seen pirated SuperBase.  It's done by making your
> > own dongle, which was so simple that I couldn't believe it when I was
> > first told how.
>
> Okay, fair enough. I can only imagine that this is not frequently done. I'm
> guessing that in relation to other copy protection schemes "dongle" methods
> are quite "successful" from a producers viewpoint. Is this correct?
>
> {I hope not, I keep seeing dongle advertising for I*M PC systems and I have
> worries that dongle protection schemes could become a de facto standard.}
>

The effectivness of Dongle protection depends on how effective the dongle
is at protecting the software (duh!).

I know how the Superbase dongle works, and believe me, it was almost not
worth the effort to produce. It is extremely simple.

However, other dongle software can be well protected.

The PaperClip series of wordprocessors for the C64 is a good example.
The dongle contained an IC, that had it's numbers scraped off. The
program it'self was encoded on the disk, so cracking it would be
alot harder.

Can dongle protected software prevent piracy? Yes, in certain cases. The
major place is in the office. There you will find people who aren't
computer hackers. If they have a opertunity, they might make a copy
of a program that "joe, down in accounting" has. However, if it is
protected by a dongle, they won't bother

However, if you have a kid who wants the latest "shoot-em-up", and has
plenty of time and resources at hand, he or she could crack most
anything!

The trade off is the price of the dongle. Does Superbase sell well enough
that they can mass produce the dongles cheaply enough? I don't know.

is the product being used in a business-type environment, where copies
really could add up to lost sales? I dont know.

Are enough people willing to unplug their joystick to insert the
dongle? Again, I don't know.

As for myself....I don't like them because my kids keep playing with
the damn things, and I can never find them when I need them!!!! :-)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
These words be mine. The company doesn't care, because I am the company! :-)

      Dave Lowrey        |  david@starsoft or {uhnix1,lobster}!starsoft!david
Starbound Software Group |
      Houston, TX        | "Dare to be stupid!" -- Weird Al Yankovic