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From: demillo@uwmacc.UUCP (Rob DeMillo)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: Re: Copy Protection - a case study
Message-ID: <1799@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 13-Dec-85 13:21:57 EST
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.1799
Posted: Fri Dec 13 13:21:57 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Dec-85 06:53:23 EST
References: <3624@think.UUCP> <131300002@ima.UUCP> <882@ecsvax.UUCP> <883@ecsvax.UUCP> <465@looking.UUCP>
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 71

I have been intimately involved in the copy protection
debate for quite some time - personally, I am against 
copy protection as much as I am against theft of software.

However, there are a few things to keep in mind, and I
even beleive I have come up with a partial solution. (..and
I'd like to hear comments - positive and negative about it, since
I will probably be forced to use it at some point in the 
future...)

First, as it has been pointed out numerous times: there will
always be software pirates -- copy protection or not. (Some pirates,
I suspect, even enjoy the protection schemes: more of a challange.)
The people who are the most likely to pirate software are also
the people most capable of busting a CP scheme.

Second, if your target market is big buisness, I wouldn't
even bother with copy protection. They are the clientile that
are least likely (and least capable) of piracy. They have
reputations to protect.

Thirdly, I do not - nor have I ever beleived in - the "harmless
copy protection scheme." By nature, a copy protection scheme
screws up your memory device. Sooner or later, it's gonna bite ya.
(Probably no big deal if you install the CPed software on
a floppy, but anyone who installs one of them on a hard disk
hasn't quite got all of his bits in one word -- so to speak.)

Now, the "solution" to which I would appreciate comments about,
since I have never heard it mentioned yet - but it seems to make
sense:

	(a) Resign yourself to the fact that you are going
	    to lose sales. Period.
	(b) On every disk you sell, grant the buyer the right
	    to make unlimited backup copies for his/her
	    own personal use.
	(c) On EVERY distributed diskette, include (somewhere)
	    in the code an encrypted serial number. Keep a
	    record of which user has which serial number.
	(d) If you find a pirated copy of your code, check
	    the serial number and trace it back to the
	    source! 
	(e) Prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

This scheme has several advantages:
	(a) Ease of implementation - only need good
	    bookkeeping to keep track of the serial #s.
	(b) Not dangerous - never any worry of your
	    clients disks getting accidently wisked away
	    to the Twilight Zone.
	(c) MOST IMPORTANT: respect from your clients
	    because you have respect for them. (And
	    that's what it's all about, ain't it?)
	(d) Realism: no one can protect anything, anyway, no how!

Comments?


	   
-- 
                           --- Rob DeMillo 
                               Madison Academic Computer Center
                               ...seismo!uwvax!uwmacc!demillo


     "...I suppose you find the concept of a 
         robot with an artificial leg amusing?"

                    -- Marvin, the Paranoid Android