I only know a partial solution to copy protection.
ANT data structure can be duplicated, BUT you can encrypt it to prevent
changes or reverse engineering it. Dongles are hardware devices which
are difficult to duplicate, which allow you to limit the number of
copies you can use to 1- but good pirates copy the data in it and create
shells to intercept the data requests and supply the data required; it
is usually possible to examine the mem field of a computer to see the
decrypted program (it cannot run until decrypted) and capture that to a
file for later hacking. Much of this is a logical consequence of what a
computer is and how they work. To truely prevent unauthorized
duplication requires a medium of storage not easily duplicated by
uesers, using write devices not commonly supported by existing hardware
in the field. CD-ROM *WAS* suck a technique, and publishers jumped on
this piracy resistant technology. Now that Write capable CD drives are
coming down in price and becoming common, the old issues are coming back
again.
The best solution is to FEATURE the problem-shareware, low registration
fees, and PERSONAL ETHICS. If you really like it, encourage the
pubisher with shipments of $$$. The alternative will be the licensing of
PROMS & EPROMS, shipping data as mask programmed rom cartridges, and the
making illegal of floppy and floppy drive sales except for replacement
on old systems.
Authors are not slaves; neither are publishers. They expect to be
rewarded for their efforts, and will quit if not, leaving the field to a
few brillant amateurs, LOTS of poor quality programmers, and some
hobbiests. Unfortunately, we need data and software, and lots of it in
our society. This means the rewards for providing those must be there,
and the social mechinism to deliver them and protect them must also be
there, or the social order breaks down.
Piracy will always be with us to some extent. If it is a minority it is
tolerable. If it is the rule the industry collapses.
In economics in general, robbery is the exception; when it becomes the
rule, no-one is making wealth, everyone is stealing it, and when the
existing pool of wealth is used up, the society in question
collapses. Rome collapsed before the hordes of the northmen sackers and
vandal sackers, not to mention the domestic sort who became wealthy at
the nation's expense. When it got bad enough, a few people found ways to
stop bleeding to death economically.
To establish a social order, there need to be some limited rules.
Pirates step outside these rules. So do Brigands, theives, and slave
takers. Eack wants someone else to live and work for their benifit for
no reward. Each makes some simple or convoluted claim to moral right to
the other person's labor. Each is a parasite.
DDT was invented to kill parasites.
-Kirk D Bailey
Grinning Idiot Press
880 118 terr n #3
St Petersburg FL 33716
(813)578-4812
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