Software pirates pinpointed on Google Map

PORTLAND, Ore. — Software vendors fed up with software piracy have responded by beefing up their licensing and activation procedures, only to have pirates crack their code again.

A company called V.i. Laboratories Inc. is proposing a new approach called CodeArmor Intelligence, which embeds stealth algorithms inside programs that "phone home" with information about the unauthorized usage of software, including their Internet domain and even a company location on a Google Map.

"We go after organizations that are using illegal software, giving rewards of up to a million dollars to insiders that report and help us document misusage," said Keith Kupferschmid of the Software and Information Industry Association. "But with V.i. Labs' new technology, organizations can potentially generate high-quality leads to recover revenue from businesses using pirated software without insiders."

Software industry groups offer legal services to vendors using the new anti-piracy tool, helping them to recoup income lost due to piracy by pressuring companies using unlicensed software to pay licensing fees.

"Often we are not dealing with companies that use pirated software, but rather ones that purchase 10 copies legally, but then load it onto 50 people's machines," said Kupferschmid.

EDA software tools and other expensive software tools for engineers have been hard hit by piracy. V.i. Labs charges vendors $50,000 or more to monitor its programs, providing daily reports on unauthorized usage.

Read More Article...

Related Posts by Categories

Widget by Hoctro | Jack Book