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Comments on news posted 2005-12-15 15:12:42: Long before the Sony rootkit DRM there was Starforce copy protection, which installs stealth drivers and is generally despised by most PC gamers because of the headaches it causes. ..
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Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA
| Impossible Challenge Let's take a look at their requirements for proving that their copy protection broke your PC:
- All the drives in the system are properly functioning prior to the installation of a StarForce protected product of your choice. A legal version of operational system must be installed and there must be no other third company products installed. StarForce experts have full access to the subject PC for verification of installed software.
So you must only be running the base Windows and nothing else. Seriously, no third party products? What computer system would contain only Windows and a Starforce-protected game? I have a feeling that any other application on the drive (even if it is unused and not loaded into memory at all) will be blamed for the malfunction and the user will be declared a loser.
You also will have had to have made an image of your system pre-Starforce so that you could test the breakage and still get back to the working state.
- After the installation and start-up of StarForce protected product the CD or DVD drive in the subject PC is not reading CD/DVD discs or the drive is not writing CD/DVD discs.
So they're looking for it to break after it's installed. What if you try to uninstall and that's what breaks your drive? (Like what happened with the Sony rootkit.)
- After this demonstration the subject Drive must be removed from the subject PC and installed into any other computer that has no StarForce protected products or drivers installed, that has a legal version of operational system and has no third company products installed. StarForce experts have full access to the subject PC for verification of installed software.
So now you need to bring a second (clean) PC with you to Russia.
Should the subject Drive fail to read or write CD/DVD discs in the second PC, you will be acknowledged the Winner. So they're only looking for hardware failure? What if their software so completely messes up your Operating System that a format/re-install is necessary? I'd qualify that as breaking your PC. What if the OS is recoverable, but only by working on it for hours with the help of computer experts? That would be breakage too in my opinion. But according to the rules, even if your OS is completely hosed, you are out of luck unless your hardware is physically broken.
Sorry, but this is a PR move, not an honest attempt to prove that their software is safe.
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-Jason Levine
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brut7
join:2000-10-06
Babylon, NY
 ·magicjack.com
| To sell or not to sell. They should just dump any and all similar types of copy protection junk schemes.
I only hurts the paying customers!
So soft-giants, want anyone to buy your products or should we just use safe versions of a competitors software?
Think I'm going to buy a Sony CD as a Christmas present this year?
Your choice, better think twice about it! | |
| Chair
join:2002-04-08
San Francisco, CA
clubs:
 ·DSL EXTREME
| Dood. So so so, they want you to install a product ( which is software ), onto a computer ( which is hardware ) and break the CD/Drive through this (software) (drive is hardware). Software cannot be hazardous ( CD, hardware, cannot mess up the drive itself by scratching it and whatnot ). So... your only option is to make it so that a piece of software, which they wrote, does something software related ( firmware ) to that messes up your drive... They might as well say: We aren't going to do anything, so piss off. | |
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brut7
join:2000-10-06
Babylon, NY
·magicjack.com
| It's all unethical and should be illegal You buy and install a game.
You didn't buy starforce or sony DRM or maybe you did but thought you were buying a game.
Now your CD/DVD drive doesn't work and a hacker is using your computer as a server.
This is just plain wrong and anything of this nature should be banned/illegal. It's as bad as a virus/spyware.
I don't know about the legal BS but it's immoral.
Piracy is wrong too but two wrongs don't make a right and the only ones this junk hurts are the non-pirating paying customers.
Russians... total pirates themselves to start with!
I bet these guys wrote the code for starforce on pirated software!
How about instead of their offer we subpoena them through Interpol, have them extradited to the States and have them prove they did not break any machines?
If any machines are found to be broken whether software or hardware they should be liable for any damages including loss of data and loss of work. | |
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MatteoGiovanni
@dccnet.com
|  The first never succeeds
Some companies will release an inferior product, and then eventually mimic the marketable features that their competitors implement to make a better product. I think it's safe to say that starforce is a rather shoddy implementation of antipiracy measures. All in favor?
The companies using this product don't necessarily see ALL customers as thieves, just potential ones. The idea (according to most neoclassical economic theories) is that all potential thieves should be discouraged from "stealing" their product, and find that just simply purchasing the product will be the best route, in terms of the cost of getting caught, the time involved in attempting to crack the game, and so forth. Essentially, ANY firm, even those using star force, want to maximize profits. I cannot think of a single firm that does not attempt this.
As for the stupid $1000.00 offer, being the intelligent people we are, we know it's not worth it. As stated beforehand by the above posters, who really has the interest or the time to attempt to claim it? Anyone ever been to randi.org ? (And I mean NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE HERE) If you can PROVE the existence of certain religions, psychic powers, ghosts, aliens, big foot (by THEIR RULES), etc, you win one million dollars. Fat chance that's ever going to happen. Just like the $1000.00 challenge. AND, IF, one somehow finds a critical bug in the software, let's say, a loophole, that makes every machine with starforce installed on it have a back door app that can alow one to invade your system, ruin your life, cost your your marriage, etc, wouldn't it be more beneficial for the makers of starforce to pay one poor hacker (I mean that in a sincere, complementary sense) 1k rather than millions to infuriated businesses?
There are so many more angles to consider than just cost cutting measures or insulting your intelligence people. There is bound to be a better antipiracy method that comes out in a couple years based on starforce, but not as menacing. Just please realize that if ANY company like this makes a declaration of something that seems like it's to your advantage, it's really beneficial to the company, if anyone.
I hope that was constructive, and objective. If not, my apologies in advance.
NOW, who here reads Zig Ziglar, Barry Beyerstein, or Klass? | |
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DJ MTB
@itgate.net
| Reality It's real. I don't know if the Starforce really get you $1000 but i'm sure that the starforce destroy your pc. In December 2005 I bought the game "Trackmania" that have the starforce protection. After the installation on my pc (Athlon XP 1700+ with 1Gb of RAM and 80Gb HDD) it will start reboot with no motive sometimes, and one day, i went to my friend with my HDD and... surprise! I lost everything that i has on it. The only way to rescue my HDD was format it. I didn't lost only $1000 of data!
Someone has definite the starforce a malware... I'm really sure that he has reason! Then STARFORCE=MALWARE and no money i want to accept!
Thanks for this space!
...:::DJ MTB:::... ITALY-Turin | |
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