An anti-piracy measure has completely backfired on a developer who was tired of people pirating his software. Want your home directory deleted?
An anti-piracy measure has completely backfired on a developer who was tired of people pirating his software.
The developer, Reza of 'Reverse Code', proclaimed that if someone used any one of a group of known serial numbers -- in order to attain the full functionality of his software -- the application will delete files, possibly even your entire home directory.
"I'll try to be as clear as I can. There exist several illegal cd-keys that you can use to unlock the demo program," says Reza. If the program detects one of these, "it will erase something."
As expected, this turned out to be an
utter faux pas for public relations. Not only did this piss off pirates, but hoards of existing and potentially new paying customers.
The software is called Display Eater. It is a motion capturing application that saves on-screen activities to a Quicktime movie file. We're lead to believe that the hungry name is just a coincidence.
If you have a look at the comments for the application on the Version Tracker website, there are pages of negative opinions.
"The developer of this software has clearly mentioned that this app will delete your home directory if it thinks it's running using a pirated key," says one user. "I would stay away from all programs by this developer because I don't know what else they do, apart from their stated purpose."
As a result of the cliff-drop in popularity, the developer tried to save face by explaining the situation.
On deleting a user's home directory, Reza says "this is not the case in reality. The whole purpose was to create a scare campaign."
"It was my hope that by creating a scare campaign, I could stop wasting time writing copy protection routines to be broken over and over."
The public reaction to this campaign was apparently a surprise. "It turned out to be a mistake."
Reza now plans to open up the application's code and freely distribute the software. "Once the code is cleaned up, a GPL'ed version will be released."
Presumably there is unscrupulous code that Reza would rather hide. Oh, look -- here it is.
As of now, the program is free. Reza even provides registration details on the website, so you can 'legally pirate' the program yourself. Hurrah!
According to Reza, "Since the program is free, this key will activate it, until it is released as such."
display eater
reverse@reversecode.com
PROD-9PNRM6-4RPRY-JUA5D-XW20G-J0MPY-9MTWX-2L9KW-1
Apparently these details won't cause your machine to start deleting files.
Considering the developer was willing to take absurd measures, we'd suggest you avoid this program until its source code is available for all to scrutinise.