| From: | Jonathan Day |
| Date: | 17 Aug 2000 at 21:24:19 |
| Subject: | Keyfiles (was Re: Amiga Piracy) |
Hi
Perhaps one method of trying to stem 'casual' piracy whilst at the same time
minimising the inconveniance of honest users, would be a duel manual/keyfile
system.
I have the game 'Wings' which asks you to type in the nth word on the nth
line of the nth paragraph of the nth page of the manual. Obviously a copy
of the manual is needed, the larger the better, and in a form that is
'photocopier unfriendly' (e.g. not stapled together).
This method is the most inconvienient to 'honest' purchasers of the
software,
but it discourages 'casual' piracy and allows the software to be used
out-of-the-box and also by those not online.
Online users should have the opportunity to register and receive a keyfile
which allows the manual protection to be bypassed. The keyfile
registration should state that the use of this method means you agree to
online verification. After a random (within set limits) period of time
online, verification of the keyfile should take place next time the host is
connected. If the host is not connected after another limited period once
verification is required, the program should lock-out with a message box
explaining why informing the user to go online. The times that a successful
verification is performed, a message should appear to show verification has
occured, either in the browser or the next time the software is loaded, and
to thank the user for supporting the programmer - just to drive home the
point to the original owner that he will have problems if he allows someone
else to get hold of his keyfile.
All this of course relies on a good manual protection, otherwise no-one
would bother with the online process...
How's that sound?
Jon
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