Don't forget, casual gamers are more likely to actually pay for their games. Many "hardcore" gamers pirate their console games there days, especially xbox, xbox360 and DS games.
A man-in-the-middle attack is still technically possible, consider the following scenario:
Bobs public Key is sendt to the ISP
ISP swaps this public key with it's own bogus key ISP public(which is named exactly the same as Bobs), and sends it to Alice
Alice uses this key, thinking it is Bobs, and sends her encrypted message to the ISP(!)
ISP decrypts, READS THE MESSAGE, encrypts the message again with Bobs public key which it received in the first place
ISP sends original properly encrypted message to Bob
Bob reads message, thinking noone else read it on the way, discovering the vulnerability is impossible
Not that it is likely that anything like this will ever be done by such a trustworthy party as an ISP should represent, but it is just important to point out that the man-in-the-middle attack is NOT impossible even when properly utilising public key scenarios.
When utilising public key crypography, it is always of critical importance to verify the validity of the public key you are using. But as long as there is a man in the middle, who has the power to intercept any and all communication, it should generally not be considered 100% secure.
Re:How is this any different from Steam?
on
Quake 4 Linux
·
· Score: 1
Why is every slashdotter always bashing on steam? I could never make myself understand that. Sure they had some stability issues back in beta, but those are all fixed now.
There are two ways game makers can distribute their products today:
1. Coders/management > Huge expensive distribution system > Consumers
2. Coders/management > Online cheap distribution system > Consumers
Now the huge expensive distribution system has a lot of power and infuence today, but in the future thay will be gone, replaced by cheaper and more consumer friendly systems. It's only a question of time. It might not be steam, but it will be something like it.
Now there are probably still people out there who really want that box and that disk to go with their game, but I honestly don't miss it anymore. I never have to worry about scrathed disks, serial keys or funny copy protection systems that get in my way. All I need is my steam logon, and I can play my games anywhere in the world, on any computer.
Now I'm waiting for some competition for steam, they could use that. We need better online distribution systems for all kinds of software, not only games.
Got broadband? Then delete all your data that can be downloaded later when you need it.
OS ISOs? When do you need that OS disk so badly you can't wait an hour or two to have it downloaded? And you probably want to get the latest version off the net anyway, so delete those. The same goes for movies. If you have seen it twice or more delete it.
My system consist of two 100Gig drives mirrored on my home server for documents and photos, and a 300Gig drive for ISOs, moves and music that i listen to regularly.
I download a lot of movies and games from P2P-networks(poor student, but with great 5Mbit broadband:) and have never had any trouble with disk space at all.
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Don't forget, casual gamers are more likely to actually pay for their games. Many "hardcore" gamers pirate their console games there days, especially xbox, xbox360 and DS games.
Not that it is likely that anything like this will ever be done by such a trustworthy party as an ISP should represent, but it is just important to point out that the man-in-the-middle attack is NOT impossible even when properly utilising public key scenarios.
When utilising public key crypography, it is always of critical importance to verify the validity of the public key you are using. But as long as there is a man in the middle, who has the power to intercept any and all communication, it should generally not be considered 100% secure.
Why is every slashdotter always bashing on steam? I could never make myself understand that. Sure they had some stability issues back in beta, but those are all fixed now.
There are two ways game makers can distribute their products today:
1. Coders/management > Huge expensive distribution system > Consumers
2. Coders/management > Online cheap distribution system > Consumers
Now the huge expensive distribution system has a lot of power and infuence today, but in the future thay will be gone, replaced by cheaper and more consumer friendly systems. It's only a question of time. It might not be steam, but it will be something like it.
Now there are probably still people out there who really want that box and that disk to go with their game, but I honestly don't miss it anymore. I never have to worry about scrathed disks, serial keys or funny copy protection systems that get in my way. All I need is my steam logon, and I can play my games anywhere in the world, on any computer.
Now I'm waiting for some competition for steam, they could use that. We need better online distribution systems for all kinds of software, not only games.
OS ISOs? When do you need that OS disk so badly you can't wait an hour or two to have it downloaded? And you probably want to get the latest version off the net anyway, so delete those. The same goes for movies. If you have seen it twice or more delete it.
My system consist of two 100Gig drives mirrored on my home server for documents and photos, and a 300Gig drive for ISOs, moves and music that i listen to regularly.
I download a lot of movies and games from P2P-networks(poor student, but with great 5Mbit broadband :) and have never had any trouble with disk space at all.