Ubi and Copy Protection

[Derek]

Don't worry, i'm not against having a high post number!

Either am I.

Sure, I'll look into these and I'll be sure to post what I find. And I do understand the argument about the program being slipped in on the CD and the enduser not knowing about it. Sony had a similair issue with their CD protection software. Hey, I'm no fan of programs like this but I do think it is up to the bashers to prove their case. That's all I am asking. Hopefully there are no hard feelings.

[Gaidal Cain]

Hopefully, the producers has learnt from that Sony fiasco and now clearly shows what "extras" you get. Though SF doesn't seem nearly as bad as the Sony scheme- I don't think I've heard about SF opening doors for virii.

[DaemianLucifer]

Hopefully there are no hard feelings.

Of course not,were all friends here

[ThunderTitan]

I havent heard of any such case before starforce.Even the one that sony got sued for came somwhere at the same time as SF

Well the Sony one didn't make anything unreadable or unplayable, it just made it possible for everybody to hide stuff on your computer from Antiviruses and other programs like Warden. It wasn't exactly a new idea, just the first time anyone was stupid enough to use it for something legal.
And it wasn't even copy-protection, it was more like copy-protection protection (to stop people from finding the actual copy-protection program and disable it)!

[Campaigner]

Just saw this at Star-Force.com http://star-force.com/protection.phtml?c=83&id=766

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
StarForce has been checked. No root-kits found.

Independent tests showed that StarForce copy protection contains no malware.

The international IT community will not quickly forget the incident with Sony BMG at the end of 2005. The root-kits discovered in music CDs’ copy protection forced Sony to call back millions of discs and suffer serious losses.

Mark Russinovich was the main character of the story. It was him who one day discovered the root-kits and woke up famous the next morning.

Soon after the story with Sony calmed down a well-known online magazine asked Mark to “check-out” StarForce for root-kits or any other malwares.

After detailed examination of copy-protection installed by StarForce Mark came to the conclusion that StarForce protection contains zero root-kits or malwares. While the fact that StarForce drivers have to be sometimes uninstalled separately from the protected application is a bit annoying, it is not the StarForce’s responsibility, but the developer’s.

This conclusion together with the online contest again show that accusations about StarForce protection damaging PCs or operation systems have absolutely no ground.

StarForce Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another victory for StarForce!

[Derek]

Just saw this at Star-Force.com http://star-force.com/protection.phtml?c=83&id=766

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
StarForce has been checked. No root-kits found.

Independent tests showed that StarForce copy protection contains no malware.

The international IT community will not quickly forget the incident with Sony BMG at the end of 2005. The root-kits discovered in music CDs’ copy protection forced Sony to call back millions of discs and suffer serious losses.

Mark Russinovich was the main character of the story. It was him who one day discovered the root-kits and woke up famous the next morning.

Soon after the story with Sony calmed down a well-known online magazine asked Mark to “check-out” StarForce for root-kits or any other malwares.

After detailed examination of copy-protection installed by StarForce Mark came to the conclusion that StarForce protection contains zero root-kits or malwares. While the fact that StarForce drivers have to be sometimes uninstalled separately from the protected application is a bit annoying, it is not the StarForce’s responsibility, but the developer’s.

This conclusion together with the online contest again show that accusations about StarForce protection damaging PCs or operation systems have absolutely no ground.

StarForce Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another victory for StarForce!

The only thing I ask, and this is in the interest of fairness, is for Starforce to say/list who independently checked it.

[Gaidal Cain]

The only thing I ask, and this is in the interest of fairness, is for Starforce to say/list who independently checked it.

Mark Russinovich. The article mentions his name no less than three times...

[Vision]

Mark Russinovich, the guy who detected, discovered, and then sought out to crush Sony beneath his giant-sized steel-clad heel, was the one who did the investigation. He did so at the REQUEST of a "well-known magazine"... too bad there is no mention of that magazine anywhere.

If it were not Sony he sought out to make pay for their stupidity, I would think he was paid off to do that... however, it was Sony (who settled a class action lawsuit for $7 per person, and there were A LOT of people involved), and I tend to trust this source...

plus there is the fact that noone has either responded to nor won the StarFarce contest.


on that note, I still claim fair use.

[DaemianLucifer]

Well,that covers most of the SF problem,but not the one with drivers.There is no metioning about SF's influence on cd burning software and equipment.So we shall still have to wait and see.

[ThunderTitan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_kit

A rootkit is a set of software tools frequently used by a third party (usually an intruder) after gaining access to a computer system. These tools are intended to conceal running processes, files or system data, which helps an intruder maintain access to a system without the user's knowledge.

Hmm... so SF is not a virus. Big suprise there.

BTW do you have a link for the original article by Mark Russinovich, coz the link to the SF forum doesn't seem to work. And neither does the official site.

EDIT: A google search on SF and Mark Russinovich didn't turn out anything!

[Vision]

BTW do you have a link for the original article by Mark Russinovich, coz the link to the SF forum doesn't seem to work. And neither does the official site.

Link to a quick blog post about Mark: http://www.thechrispirilloshow.com/help ... kits.phtml

Him talking about the Sony incident: http://media.thechrispirilloshow.com/mp ... novich.mp3

Link to his story about actually discovering the rootkit:
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/1 ... ights.html

However, there is nothing online (available) about him having done an investigation on StarFarce... he does work for sysinternals though, so it is not far fetched to think he would have done one.

His blog site is http://www.sysinternals.com/Blog/

on a side note: ironically, my brother got infected by a swarm of viruses and spyware, which I found out on Marks blog, is actually what looks like an anti-spyware conspiracy of sorts. If you use IE, I suggest you get the updates that were posted last month. Use windows update or set your computer to auto-update to get them. This kind of infection can happen to you just by visiting a website. My bro is now paying me $150 to fix his computer... and that is a low price because he is family.

[Orfinn]

Just saw this at Star-Force.com http://star-force.com/protection.phtml?c=83&id=766

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
StarForce has been checked. No root-kits found.

Independent tests showed that StarForce copy protection contains no malware.

The international IT community will not quickly forget the incident with Sony BMG at the end of 2005. The root-kits discovered in music CDs’ copy protection forced Sony to call back millions of discs and suffer serious losses.

Mark Russinovich was the main character of the story. It was him who one day discovered the root-kits and woke up famous the next morning.

Soon after the story with Sony calmed down a well-known online magazine asked Mark to “check-out” StarForce for root-kits or any other malwares.

After detailed examination of copy-protection installed by StarForce Mark came to the conclusion that StarForce protection contains zero root-kits or malwares. While the fact that StarForce drivers have to be sometimes uninstalled separately from the protected application is a bit annoying, it is not the StarForce’s responsibility, but the developer’s.

This conclusion together with the online contest again show that accusations about StarForce protection damaging PCs or operation systems have absolutely no ground.

StarForce Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another victory for StarForce!

Hmm interesting, still I wont lower my guard down.....yet

[ThunderTitan]

Link to a quick blog post about Mark: http://www.thechrispirilloshow.com/help ... kits.phtml

Him talking about the Sony incident: http://media.thechrispirilloshow.com/mp ... novich.mp3

Link to his story about actually discovering the rootkit:
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/1 ... ights.html

However, there is nothing online (available) about him having done an investigation on StarFarce... he does work for sysinternals though, so it is not far fetched to think he would have done one.

His blog site is http://www.sysinternals.com/Blog/

on a side note: ironically, my brother got infected by a swarm of viruses and spyware, which I found out on Marks blog, is actually what looks like an anti-spyware conspiracy of sorts. If you use IE, I suggest you get the updates that were posted last month. Use windows update or set your computer to auto-update to get them. This kind of infection can happen to you just by visiting a website. My bro is now paying me $150 to fix his computer... and that is a low price because he is family.

So are we to just take SF's word for it? Like i said, root kit's are basicly viruses that don't spread themselves, and i doubt SF is actualy designed to f*ck up your PC. But it does do it, Fabrice said that himself. And the fact that it has the same % of error as Windows is not a good thing, Win sukz but atleast i need it to run games.

Thank god for Firefox. And firewalls. And antiviruses. And partitions So your bro doesn't know how to format a PC? It's not very hard.

SF site is working now. Didn't have a link to said article either.

[Derek]

Mark Russinovich. The article mentions his name no less than three times...

I meant was there anyone besides him that did the testing. It sure would be something if more than one person did this testing...

[Thelonious]

Hmm interesting, still I wont lower my guard down.....yet

Well that's you choice, I'm gonna buy HoMM V and play it

[DaemianLucifer]

Well,even if it damages your computer,you can do nothing but complain about it.Since they are going to write on the box "it may harm your computer" they hold no responcobility.So either risk it,or dont,you cannot change it now.

[Vision]

Mark Russinovich. The article mentions his name no less than three times...

I meant was there anyone besides him that did the testing. It sure would be something if more than one person did this testing...

IF Mark did in fact test StarFarce, then it would not have been him alone, it would have been his whole testing crew over at SysInternals.com

So, until Mark posts something about it on his blog site, I don't know if I would trust the StarFarce PR engine.

[Campaigner]

IF Mark did in fact test StarFarce, then it would not have been him alone, it would have been his whole testing crew over at SysInternals.com

So, until Mark posts something about it on his blog site, I don't know if I would trust the StarFarce PR engine.

Why don't you ask him?

[Vision]

I would, except that I do not know him personally, nor do I know how to contact him directly (except through sysinternals, of course)

[DaemianLucifer]

I would, except that I do not know him personally, nor do I know how to contact him directly (except through sysinternals, of course)

What do you think e-mail exists for?