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From: eilers@stolaf.UUCP (David V. Eilers)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: RE: Copy protection
Message-ID: <5018@stolaf.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 6-Dec-85 14:21:10 EST
Article-I.D.: stolaf.5018
Posted: Fri Dec  6 14:21:10 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 9-Dec-85 03:17:44 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: St. Olaf College, Northfield MN
Lines: 36


> -------
>      From the various objections I've seen to copy protection based on
> freezing copyable software on a ROM serial number, it appears that the
> REALLY ideal scheme should identify the purchaser rather than the
> machine.  The software should freeze on the buyer's fingerprint, or
> some other personal characteristic which (unlike a password) can't be
> given away.  I wish I could think of a way to do that.
> 
> Jon Millen
> 
> "We should stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us,
> not on one another's toes." -a Peter Neumann paraphrase


Interesting.  Sense we are simply dreaming up a system, a card could be
given to every purchaser of a mac.  Simply plug that card (ROM?) into
the mac you are useing and you are then able to use any software
that has been frozen with your number on.  What do you think?
Sure, there would be ways around this.  Like copying the card or
inventing a machine to emulate any card, but this would make it
very unconvenient to use a copy frozen with another ROM number.
You would either have to keep alot of extra cards around or keep track
of a lot of numbers.  (Not to mention having to know the number in
the first place.)  Also, if this system were made relatively
expensive as far as reproducing a ROM card goes (~$30.00) it would make
it more economically feasible to buy inexpensive software, than to make illegal
copies.  On the other side, it would make inexpensive software more
feasible because, most copies would be brought, not stolen, and the returns
on marketing an inepensive program would go up.  It would also presure
vendors to keep there prices within the range of a copied card because, if the
price was considerably higher, people might be willing to go through the
trouble of an extra card for the *large* difference in price.

Dave Eilers
ihnp4!stolaf!eilers