Now Here's something Interesting....

I regularly read SlashDot.org, and they posted an interesting Article/ Blurb, Today.
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/13/1357202&tid=156&tid=98&tid=8
http://macslash.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/10/123251&mode=thread
http://www.unsanity.org/archives/000361.php

"The author of the Echelon decided to take his fight against software piracy to the next level and then threw in the towel. After someone began posting new serial numbers on a well known hacking site, the author took matters into his own hands. With version 1.0, entering a hacked serial number causes the software deleted the user's Home directory. Yes, you read it right, the software completely erases it (aka rm -rf ~).

My Comment Now I once used WB, illegally, and liked it so Much I bought a Subscription. I did the same with HoverDesk and Nextstart, All versions of Myst and ZipMagic and PowerDesk. If I truly like something then I buy it, and support the Author. What I was curious about was peoples' reactions to the Actions of this Developer. Now we have all had our share of data Corruption, what would happen if you had a piece of time-bombed software in your machine and one blue-screen too many and you ended up triggering the time-bomb? Talk Back and tell me what ya think? I mean is it possible to embed something like this via WSH? JAvaScript? If this is the case, or not could it be done via DesktopX objects? What are the safety valves to prevent this from happening? The Forum is open, please take time to think it over.
2,273 views 6 replies
Reply #1 Top

There's likely to be a legality issue if no warning of such is given.

May very well come under the heading of 'man trap' which is not the way to prevent burglars from entering your property...

Reply #2 Top
Yeah, my father and I had a discussion like this once. There was a case where, someone was stealing hub caps, really bad, so a concerned citizen booby trapped his hub caps with razor blades, and sliced the would be thief to ribbons. Now the thief sued the owner, all the way to the bank. Makes ya wonder.
Reply #3 Top
Well, I think it makes him no better then the thief! >
Reply #4 Top
??? So what happens if a person w/ a valid serial number enters it incorrectly?
Reply #5 Top
Hmm still reading that other link but sometimes ppl purchase reg/serial #'s then they make a mistake reading it and enter it incorrectly then what? this guy then dumps ppl's personal stuff that are his own legal customers and says opps sorry? I agree w/ China this guy is no better then the thief... sheesh!
Reply #6 Top

So what happens if a person w/ a valid serial number enters it incorrectly?

Dor...that's one serious issue with the method's legality.....it would come under the heading of 'criminal damage' through malicious scripting....akin to virus distribution and he'd be in for a whole world of grief...