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Using Spyware to Report Pirates?
An anonymous reader asks: "I have visibility to AUP complaints we receive at work, and we receive messages from a software vendor that make it obvious that their product is phoning home when it discovers it is running a cracked copy of itself." Apparently the software phones home, and then the publisher's legal department sends the administrator an e-mail. "The message goes on to detail the users IP, a timestamp, the product in question, the users PC name, username, and MAC address.
This falls under -my- definition of 'spyware.' What are your thoughts?" Software has been making surreptitious checks for "piracy" for over a decade, yet these checks are usually limited to the software itself, and not data on the user's machine. Do you feel software publishers should have the right to peer into users data, if their software suspects foul play on the machine, or should it do the easy and intelligent thing and just stop working?
So that's why my copies of OpenServer and UNIXWARE keep pingflooding kernel.org...
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Arrrr Matey, light the canons and blow them uptight anglo uppity software developers to smithereens!
Does anyone know where there's a list of spyware that does this? I'd like to see what programs to avoid stealing.. uhr.. I mean buying.
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
Acceptable Use Policy, standard to most Internet Services Providers (AKA ISPs).
:)
PS - AKA Stands for Also Known As.
PPS - PS stands for... eh, forget it
just write a simple proxy that goes in between this program and the main site. change it from:
Version: 2.45 build 34
License Key: h4x0rr3d by PHR3d! ph33r phr3d!
IP Address: 66.35.250.150
Ethernet address: 23:e6:38:af:80:bd
to:
Version: HAPPY MONKEY!
License Key: SEE THE HAPPY MONKEY!
IP Address: LOVE THE HAPPY MONKEY!
Ethernet address: BE THE HAPPY MONKEY!
It's your network, you can send whatever data out of it that you like!
uhh, there is no article to read - it's an ask /.
ymmv
Get a job.
But, but, but.. I didn't click through any agreement! My cat must have walked across the keyboard when I was out of the room, honest!
riiiight, because software would NEVER make a mistake.
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
Particular CD? Hah, I guess you're too young to remember having to check page 46, line 3, word 12 in the manual. :)
s -99-00/software-piracy/copyright.html
More details on that old thing (+1 nostalgia) here:
http://www-cse.stanford.edu/classes/cs201/project
Ha! Having stolen and cracked the software, I never HAD to agree to an EULA. You won't catch me that way, you tricky devil!
We found hin, the guy/gal that actually READS the Eulas...
/. crowd ? How does it feel, just after you read a few thousand lines of Mumbo-Jumbo ? do you understand it all ? Do you think you can now remove the IANAL from your posts ? Or did you thonk it is just "the right thing to do" ?
So, dear sweet Tooth, can you answer a few questions for the
Next, on Slashdot : AC, or not AC !!!
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
If that's the case, and it' sending information back, then you need a better crack!
http://slashdot.org/~tf23/journal