
How to remove software cracks and keygens from file hosting sites - admp
http://successfulsoftware.net/2011/01/25/how-to-remove-software-cracks-and-keygens-from-file-hosting-sites/
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iwwr
"Billions of dollars are lost every year from illegal downloads of music,
movies and software"

The industry has yet to present proof to this statement other than: estimate
the number of downloads and do a dumb multiplication with retail prices.

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benohear
I also can't help thinking that piracy helps the incumbent by protecting the
market at the bottom end. I'm pretty sure low cost or open source alternatives
to, say, Photoshop would have a lot more traction if the option to pirate it
wasn't there.

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pavel_lishin
Yup. If I couldn't pirate Photoshop, I'd be pretty handy with GIMP by now.

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mih
Didn't try out the software mentioned in the post myself, but at first glance
it seems the guest blogger has ironically created a desktop search tool for
warez

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bobds
That's the free part too, so anyone can use it.

Although I suppose it won't be long until a cracked version of CrackTracker
appears on those file hosting websites.

Another interesting concept would be to package this in a DLL and include it
in the software you want it to protect. When someone runs a cracked copy, it
will go see if it can find any relevant links in the browser's history and
then auto-report them.

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some1else
No need to crack the software if you only use it as a keygen search tool.

But man.. Reporting browser history to an unrelated software vendor.. Do you
by any chance work at SONY?

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pavel_lishin
> Imagine if this 70% didn’t exist or it was converted to regular paying
> customers!

Two _hugely_ different scenarios.

In the first one, your software is suddenly only 30% as popular as it is now.
Imagine if there was no way to run Photoshop except to pay the $700 for a
version. I wonder how popular and indispensible it would be to companies that
pay for it, then.

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FrankenTan
I couldn't play my legally purchased copy of KOTOR II thanks to the DRM
without cracking it.

I'd argue that cracks, even if not KeyGens, have legal applications.
Especially now when some companies include DRM which might cripple your game
should they go out of business and their servers go down.

Even though I can see why this is a flawed argument, I feel the need to make
it anyway: Cracks aren't illegal some countries, either.

[edit: replaced an 'or' with an 'and'. This mistake happens when I code too,
sadly!)

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NickPollard
This is potentially useful information, but whilst reading it I was yet again
alarmed by exactly how easy the DMCA makes it to send threatening copyright
infringement notices.

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gergles
Yeah, and he is dangerously close to suggesting that you can DMCA keygens or
cracks -- if you didn't write it, you can't DMCA it.

Sure, if someone's redistributing your _program_ you can, but if they just
wrote a keygen, you don't have copyright in that, and filing a DMCA notice in
that instance would be illegal.

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surlyadopter
"Thankfully for the ISV, torrent use is on the decline. People prefer direct
downloads of the full package instead of slower peer-to-peer downloads."

Wishful thinking unfortunately.

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spuz
The CrackTracker tool mentioned at the end looks interesting. I've not seen an
attempt to tackle the huge number of shady warez sites before.

What would be _really_ interesting to see would be if someone uses this tool
to remove cracks for their software can tell us if there is an appreciable
increase in the number of sales afterwards. That way we can get some real hard
evidence for the real impact that software piracy has on desktop software.

~~~
Natsu
Am I crazy, or could the pirates also use his tracker tool to find cracks in
the first place?

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ef4
> Imagine if this 70% didn’t exist or it was converted to regular paying
> customers!

Imagine whatever you want, but most of the people are probably using it
_because_ it's free. This is why the numbers touted by the anti-piracy
industries are so ridiculous.

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jdj
Whatever you do, it doesn't matter. A boatload of companies have tried to
fiercely combat piracy - not a single success. So why even bother and waste
money in various methods, it only delays (in a matter of days ?) the crack.

