Could Your Boss Find Pirated Software on Your PC?

Discussion in 'ten-forward' started by Ghost, Oct 8, 2002.

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  1. Ghost

    Ghost Guest

    Macrovision and Websense are teaming up to develop new tools that could identify illegal content on office PCs.
    Paul Roberts, IDG News Service
    Tuesday, October 08, 2002

    File swapping aficionados beware. Those MP3s you've been storing on your office computer could soon catch the attention of your network administrator and may even bring the wrath of the legal department down upon your head.

    On Tuesday, Macrovision, a maker of digital copyright protection technology and Websense, a maker of employee Internet management software, announced a strategic partnership to develop tools for locating pirated files on corporate and government networks, according to a statement released by the two companies.

    The partnership is a response to heightened concern among corporations that they could be the target of lawsuits filed by industry groups such as the Recording Industry Association of America or the Motion Picture Association of America when company resources are used to download, store, or distribute pirated content.

    The RIAA and Integrated Information Systems of Tempe, Arizona, acknowledged in April that IIS had agreed to pay the RIAA $1 million in damages when it was discovered that employees used a company server to share pirated MP3 files.

    "This is a self-fulfilling prophecy," says Kian Saneii, vice president of business development at Websense of San Diego, California.

    "As the MPAA and RIAA make an issue of this, people will get sued and have to fork over money. All you need is a few lawsuits in order for people to say 'I need this [software] to sleep well at night.'"

    Employee Management

    For Websense, which works in a sector it calls 'employee Internet management' or 'EIM,' the partnership with Macrovision is just one phase of an expansion of their Websense Enterprise product from an Internet access management application working at the network edge to a content management application that sanitizes both the employee's desktop and online environments.

    "Employees' [computers] are now basically home entertainment centers. Our customers were saying 'the computing environment is bigger than the [Web] browser. Your product is not letting them get to gaming [Web] sites, but they're playing Doom or Solitaire or instant messaging all day long,'" Saneii says.

    Websense's desktop client will monitor user activity on the desktop and manage that activity according to policies set forth by the company and network administrator, much like its Internet management software does for Web browsing, according to Saneii. Application, port, and protocol level activity associated with network games, peer-to-peer applications, or instant messaging can all be tracked, logged, and locked down.

    The integration of Macrovision's SafeDisc and SafeScan digital rights management technology with Websense makes it possible to determine whether a particular media file is a legal copy, or whether it is pirated code, according to Saneii.

    "We need to know, if an employee has the 'Star Wars' DVD on their hard drive, if it's a copyright protected version of 'Star Wars' that they legally purchased online, or a hacked version--and if it's a hacked version, whether they're distributing it," Saneii says.

    Privacy Concerns

    Still, the liability of companies for the actions of their employees in handling pirated material is still an open question, says Jonathan Zittrain, assistant professor of law at Harvard University Law School and co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

    He sees the introduction of monitoring technology such as that being developed by Websense and Macrovision as a development that benefits copyright holders more than companies and their employees.

    "My sense is 'score one for the content publishers'," says Zittrain.

    "It represents an education that has taken place with content publishers and the companies that market to them about the topography of the Internet--a very intelligent view of the different bottlenecks along the path from one music lover to another."

    Harvard's Zittrain also wonders whether companies such as Websense and Macrovision aren't tapping a more general anxiety about viruses and spam e-mail in the corporate sphere to push what is otherwise intrusive software.

    "This comes at a propitious moment for content publishers. You have a convergence in the workplace environment of a desire to build firewalls and virus scanners and a desire, because of concerns about sex harassment, to filter e-mails to prevent pornography. It's brilliant to call [the joint product] a 'liability protector.' Who wouldn't want to buy a liability protector?"

    Playing by the Rules

    Websense's Saneii doesn't see his product as an infringement on personal liberties. The policies enforced by Websense's technology, he points out, are most often spelled out in the employee handbook.

    "We don't make value judgements. We make enabling technologies," Saneii says.

    And, with Websense's software controlling activities on the desktop, employers won't have to worry about personally policing their employees--the software will do it for them.

    According to Saneii, Websense and Macrovision have performed proof-of-concept tests integrating SafeScan with the Websense product, but don't expect to have a product to market before the second quarter of 2003.

    Pricing for the new technology has also not been set, though Saneii suggests that the company was considering a number of options including rolling Macrovision's technology into Websense's existing per-seat subscription service, adding it as a separate premium service for existing customers on top of the Websense Enterprise product, or giving the service away for free on a trial basis.

    Macrovision could not be reached for comment.

    http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,105737,00.asp
     
  2. Mr.Blaze

    Mr.Blaze The Newbie Welcome Wagon

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    lol whats the point if you dowenload stuff at the office you deserve whats comeing to you lol even im smarter then that lol.

    i alraedy stated on how to stop pirating lol in a way companys that arnt smart enough to protect there stuff or use just straight out common sence deserve it in my opnione.

    its simple you want to make money then be smart in protecting your product.

    i mean look at photo shop adobe industrys they literly make milliones yet they cant afford security blahhhhhhh what a joke.

    we all know the real score here there to lazy and they dont want to pay so there hopeing the goverment will do all there work for free.

    i can see from both angles here software makers and piraters.

    did you know the internet was meant to be perty much open for everything lol if you put it out there people are going to take it lol

    if you are in the buisness of makeing money dont make your software dowenloadable make real demos with out a unlock code and stop crying that the evill pirater got me cause i put my software out for the whole world lol.

    look at tds a fine example of antipirating software you dont here them complaining about pirating lol.

    and ill tell you why that is cause galvin and wayne arnt lazy or stupit they pland ahead first developed great software and taked procations in protecting there software from piraters.

    i mean if you have a car you dont leave the keys in the ighnition with the motor runing and the door wide open while you go to the mall to get stuff do you?

    if you did you deserve when you come back and your car is gone lol.

    and to dowenload stuff at work lol arnt you supose to be working lol basicly im saying you get whats comeing to you for not useing common sence lol
     
  3. Paul Wilders

    Paul Wilders Administrator

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    Sir Blaze,

    No. But that's not an appropriate comparison. Using cracks and stolen reg keys is actually fabricating or using stolen keys to start up the car - which isn't yours in the first place.

    There's no way around it: it still is theft, no matter what.

    regards.

    paul
     
  4. Pieter_Arntz

    Pieter_Arntz Spyware Veteran

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    I agree, and in some countries you can get fined for leaving the keys in your car as well. Compare that to leaving security leaks in someone elses computer i.e. the one at work. ;)

    Regards,

    Pieter
     
  5. Primrose

    Primrose Registered Member

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    Beside the personal slant the author of that article wanted to present ;)..the real issue is not the "boss" finding stuff on "your" PC....It starts out with ..it is" not your PC" it is company property and now that Companies are realizing they could end up in court with expenses they do not need and can not afford just because an employee or" they" made a mistake and had software or files that held a copywrite and the fee or purchase was not a legal transaction.


    With this software presented, any company IT can now do his job in that area with software.


    What transpires after that..is up to speculation.. ;).. but I would think that management would take some corrective action...easiest would be to get rid of the software you do not need for your operation..or the files...Not the employee.

    Lawyers are expensive...and you do not want your operation shut down in the mean time..because of a mistake.

    I have to smile at this a little..I know some companies so large they do not even KNOW what some of their System shares are being used for at this time.

    If they did..they would not be Owned, hacked or even have to consider Software Quality Control and Tracking.
     
  6. Mr.Blaze

    Mr.Blaze The Newbie Welcome Wagon

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    yeah I algree with prime lol makes sence.

    cracks patches and stolen serials lol=)

    First off I have to say by making real demos without the unlock code cuts down pirating considerably.

    The whole ideal of a pirater is in understanding him.

    A.pirater is interested in sharing software to the world to people who cant afford it nor can they afford it them self's.

    they believe that the Internet should be open to every one and that every one should have same access to same software as rich people or the masses.

    They compare them self's to new cyber age robin hoods who steal from greedy over priced companies who stamp 600 to 900 dollars on a 45 MB software.

    And uploaded to servers across the world

    smart ones on servers with non extitreaty policy with the USA so they cant be prosecuted.

    many use the method of uploading in rar and ace format across the globe with scattered files ready to be reassembled and downloaded.

    not all piraters follow this ideology some are straight up thugs or cyber thief's who simply steal and upload regardless of the price with no morals from 5 dollar software and up AKA warez sites.

    now lets ask are self's what a is crack .

    Will other then the drug on the street in cyber space it is a small utility that attempts to make the software fully functional.

    however doing so on a demo which is usually the case the software is unstable and not as useful as a full retail version
    lots of bugs in many cases

    and when you go to update the software the update exe doesn't recognize the software usually made by a novice pirater with some knowledge of how to make software or a little hacking as well.

    because its demo so it becomes UN updateable which has become the case in this time and age.

    what's a patch pretty much the same thing as a crack but try's to serialize the main exe still you may encounter same problems as the crack but somewhat more stable a novice pirater with some knowledge of how to make software or a little hacking as well?

    then you got a reg. file probably one of the best its clean leaves no traces and fools the software that everything is on the up and up cause all the correct keys are in place this is meant for full retail and not demo and usually made by some high tech crypto pirater MIT student lol.

    then you got your keymaker which has been created by some big time guru pirater with crypto software and hacking and code writing experience and much much more

    these guys are scary cause they can take a program look inside and dechiper how to make a legal registration code with every number and letter in the alphabet and make a key generator for example,

    Mrblaze hit generate
    your code is 157qwe2.

    these guys mainly write key makers for over priced and expensive software is it illegal it should be but is deciphering mores code illegal no lol.

    algain not all piraters follow this ideology.

    now look at the muedanes of cyber space just average Joe's who surf the Internet they come cross some web site just by using google to look up software and instead get redirected to a warez site or surpassingly some web site that offers something for free they download it and use it.

    muedanes are not piraters there just normal people who find software
    is it illegal to find money on the side of the road no?

    should you not keep it

    will morally in ethically you should turn it in to the police but how many of us that find a 5 dollar bill or a case of money will actually turn it in to the police lol.

    should mudanes be consider piraters no because there not uploading cracks patches serials with software on to a server that's the difference between a pirater and some poor guy who cant afford software at outrageous prices.

    piraters are the ones who are actually breaking the law mudanes are the guys wanting something for free pretty much playing Russian roulette with there computer as they don't know for sure if what they downloaded is safe it might have a Trojan a virus a worm or something that wipes out your hard drive which is many times the case at some warez site.

    so remember if its free and you think its to good to be true in most cases it is so remember nothing is really free doing such things can have drastic consequences.

    As for the company's its simple make real demo software without some unlock code.

    Make sure that every registration code is truly unique.

    black list serials

    Make it so your software has to install correctly not search for previous versions and automatically assume everything is on the up and up AKA reg.

    Many software look for old keys and assume that if there their then they bought it.

    Monitor your updates if the same registration try to update 5 times in the same day then its being pirated don't make everything automatic having a real human bing monitor registrations helps big time.

    include black listed serials in your updates

    further more by making real demos cuts down on pirating big time.

    No pirater is going to go down to office depot or best buy and buy software like photo shop just so they can upload it to the world lol.

    600 dollar software purchased legally just to give it to every one piraters are poor there not bill gates lol.

    by making demos you actually make it inconvenient for a pirater who's only choice is to buy it legally.

    algain make every registration unequal a good one I been seeing is a computer id e-mail name last name with registration online if the computer code of you PC don't match along with you name and e-mail address software go by by.

    remember every computer has an unequal id lol so guess what your busted lol.

    mix that in with galvin and waynes method of anti pirating and your software become literally almost impossible to pirate.

    so to you company's out there stop being cry baby's and do the right thing protect your investment don't go trampling all over peoples civil rights and liberties and right to privacy simply cause you assume the whole world is stealing from you.

    piraters are few concentrate on them there actually pretty easy to find but have you taken the time to look no apparently not.

    lol and stolen serials are easy to black list
     
  7. Paul Wilders

    Paul Wilders Administrator

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    Sir Blaze,

    Thanks for the explaining post. In the end - regardless what motives - it still comes down to common theft. No way around it.

    regards.

    paul
     
  8. Mr.Blaze

    Mr.Blaze The Newbie Welcome Wagon

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    like i said i can see it from all views includeing your and yes i algree with you as well still i think companys should do the right thing in protecting there product.

    not every one is stealing id say thers actualy more legit people in cyber space then there is in piraters and people dowenloading from pirated sites.

    good examole go to my old bord at sos sytraight out of section ask the girls there what a crack or a patch is lol you will see a bunh of this?

    and crack is a drug lol.

    there are alot of intresting security methods in protecting software from being pirated.

    i find it all intresting perty cool =)
     
  9. Paul Wilders

    Paul Wilders Administrator

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    Let's call it ethics. Some have no problem in stealing - others have. In this context, it doesn't matter if and how a commercial software vendor protects his products. A matter of personal responsibility and standards, I suppose.

    regards.

    paul
     
  10. Mr.Blaze

    Mr.Blaze The Newbie Welcome Wagon

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    Heres something intresting actualy i thought it was kinda cool lol will i liked it.

    some company usese a 2x1x cable with there software that hooks up to your printer.

    if the speachial unike cable is not present the program fails to operate.

    meaning you can not pirate it even if you burn the cd exactly and use the three regitration codes it will lock up with out the pice of speachial hardware.

    i never seen that aproch very unike and the only company that makes the cable if the same one thatmakes the software therefor cable patented.

    and you cant oder the cable cause you have to send them a legal recet of purchase and they have to have you in there data base lol.

    thats perty cool i thought it was nifity.

    lmao i was thinking theres these truth detector fingher print things there actualy toys for kids a truth detector but the kicker is it works.

    can you imagine tds harware with a truth detector and fingher print for id lol

    are you the owener of this tds beads of sweat poor dwen the piraters head yes.

    flashing red siren alpears on the screen leters come up with one word lier your fingher print gets sent to tds lol.

    idont know i got a twisted since of huemor but the col thing is actual antipirating hardware thats cool and a difrent aproch
     
  11. controler

    controler Guest

    What I would like to know is this. Has sombody made a DOS antikeylogging program ?
    On Win. NT you can't install anything unless you have Admin rights.
    Would be nice to use a DOS boot disk to check for Keyloggers.
    Come on Prince , what did you find? :D
     
  12. skivvywaver

    skivvywaver Registered Member

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    Mr Blaze, Are you talking about a dongle? If so, there are dongle cracks so that too has been bypassed. Nothing short of puter police will stop pirating. I don't want them to kick down my door to see if I am a pirate.
     
  13. Mr.Blaze

    Mr.Blaze The Newbie Welcome Wagon

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    dongle? nope never heard of that

    and there are no real cracks ect for what i was talking about cause your operating system would have to read the hardware.

    if you crack it im sure it would cause seriouse hardware issues for legitiment software that needs certin hardware to run.

    trying to fool your operating system by cracking it and reading something that dont exsist could cause other seriorse mechanical problems.

    either way i think that and other methods of antipirating make a strong combo
     
  14. root

    root Registered Member

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    Aren't you on vacation, BLAZE? If you are, go play.
    If you are back, go play anyway.
    We have to get the board speeded up before we can handle you again. :D
     
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