From: Rich Gauszka 

He's learned a hard lesson but the 'confusion' was a result of his
'scare campaign'

I wouldn't touch that software, free or not, with a ten foot pole.

Now if only Microsoft would learn a similar lesson with Vista

John Beamish wrote:
> http://reversecode.com/
>
> Public Letter:
>
> I hope the public will read this entire letter.
> There has been alot of confusion regarding the copy protection of the
> program called Display Eater.
> It is described here in:
>
> There exist two illegal cd-keys that can be used to register the program
> without paying for it. When Display Eater detects these keys, it would
> delete your home directory.
>
> However, this is not the case in reality. The whole purpose was to
> create a scare campaign. You can download, the file linked from the main
> page, which is now down(the link is still intact here), and check it for
> yourself. It has been this way since 2/7/07.
>
> It was my hope that by creating a scare campaign, I could stop wasting
> time writing copy protection routines to be broken over and over.
>
> It turned out to be a mistake.
>
> People started buying multiple keys, which I never intended, and when
> the protection was in place, people who did not even know they had
> committed piracy or what piracy was were left in the dark. Legitimate
> and prospective users started fearing the program, which I never imagined.
>
> A reporter called me today, and suggested that I make it free, and or
> open source. I plan to do both. Once the code is cleaned up, a GPL'ed
> version will be released.
>
> Since the program is free, this key will activate it, until it is
> released as such.
>
> display eater
> reverse{at}reversecode.com
> PROD-9PNRM6-4RPRY-JUA5D-XW20G-J0MPY-9MTWX-2L9KW-1
>
>
> -Reza
>
>
> On Sat, 24 Feb 2007 14:40:03 -0500, RobertB
 wrote:
>
>> In article ,
>>  "Rich Gauszka"  wrote:
>>
>>> I wonder if someone from the wga team has seen this and thought - GREAT
>>> IDEA!!!!!
>>>
>>> If Ballmer purchases 'reverscode'  (http://www.reversecode.com/  )
>>> beware
>>> the next wga update 
>>>
>>> http://geekpatrol.ca/2007/02/display-eater-eats-more-than-just-displays/
>>>
>>>
>>> Display Eater Eats More Than Just Displays
>>>
>>> Well, this is interesting. It turns out that Display Eater, a
>>> screen-capture
>>> application for Mac OS X will delete your home folder if it thinks
>>> you're
>>> running it with a pirated serial number. How's that for a draconian
>>> anti-piracy policy? [Karsten Kusche over at briksoftware] also thinks
>>> it'll
>>> generate some of the worst PR possible:
>>>
>>>     Removing the home folder of some users will probably do way more
>>> advertisement. But that kind of advertisement is not good. This blog
>>> post is
>>> such a kind of negative advertisement. I definitely do not support such
>>> software and I suggest you should not use Display Eater. If you need
>>> a tool
>>> to create screen-casts go for iShowU. It's just 3$ more expensive than
>>> Display Eater but seems to have a much better user experience.
>>>
>>> Of course, Display Eater's developer thinks his approach is perfectly
>>> reasonable, and has threatened to take his toys and go home if people
>>> don't
>>> stop pirating his application:
>>>
>>>
>>>
http://www.versiontracker.com/php/feedback/article.php?story=20070207124614
786
>>>
>>>
>>> Feedback Type: Developer Note
>>> Contributed by: 02-07-07 12:46PM
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Product Platform: MacOSX
>>> Used Product For: Over One Year
>>> Recommend Product: YES
>>>
>>>
>>> You "checked" to see what piracy protection I was
using, right. Why
>>> dont you
>>> just admit that you PIRATED it?
>>>
>>> For the rest of you nice people. I'll try to be as clear as I can. There
>>> exist several illegal cd-keys that you can use to unlock the demo
>>> program.
>>> If Display Eater detects that you are using these, it will erase
>>> something.
>>>
>>> I don't know if this is going to become Display Eater policy. If this
>>> level
>>> of piracy continues, development will stop.
>>>
>>> -Reza
>>
>> There's gotta be something illegal in this, aside from the bad PR and
>> generally bad Karma of erasing a user's *Home* folder, which has their
>> critical documents on it. More like vendettaware!
>

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5