Starforce forum admin publishes torrent links
 

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3148721

Anti-piracy software developer Starforce: In a posting on its company messageboards an admin (who may or may not be directly employed by the company) included in a post the link to an active torrent file trading link for the recently released Galactic Civilizations 2. The link has subsequently been removed, but the text of the post remains. The poster states "Right now several thousands of people are downloading the pirated version only from that web-site. Is it good for the sales? Unlikely."

Not sure how "official" that move was but it was pretty stupid. SF is not helping their case. :nope:

Bump.

heres the developers side of things-

http://forums.galciv2.com/index.aspx...aid=106741&c=1

essentialy someone points out to starforce that draconian (stardocks word) methods of copy protection simply isnt needed and that sales of gal civ have far exceeded expectations without intrusive protection methods, in reply starforce link to torrent of that programme saying how such torrets will harm sales.

it all seems a bit dodgy to me and the joke of starforce being a strongarm of the russian mafia suddenly seems a bit less funny.

starforce :/\chop

tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock... the sweet sound of the last vague shreds of credabiltiy slipping away.

RIP SF.

Well said and lets hope so.

I fully support anti-piracy measures, no matter (especially) when they p*ss off the casual game copiers, but when the anti-piracy company resorts to these tactics, I support some other anti-piracy measures, by some other company.

When do they realise that there´s no copy protection that couldn´t be cracked. :nope:

If a new game would be released today with all the latest copy protection measures in it, I could bet everything I own that the game would be cracked and ready for download in day or two.

incredible...

What really needs to done here is to find a compromise, no solution is 100% as others have stated. Surely there's a method out there that can keep both publishers/developers and gamers happy?

I'd be greatful for any protection software that doesn't allegedly interfere with my pc in such a way as to make some basic hardware/functions inoperable.
I believe I already have some of these installed with other games and they seem to do quite well.
Kinda interesting that nobody makes a peep about the software that protects COD2 or BF2... that's 'cause it works properly :hmm:

BF2 uses punkbuster which "calls home" every time you play, for most this is'nt an issue. For others it's a problem because first you need a internet connection present, and more importantly your're never sure what is being sent to the server from your system.

BF2 is protected by SafeDisc, Punkbuster is just an anti-cheat software. Punkbuster calls home to check for updates.

More about Punkbuster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punkbuster

I starforce that message… I mean… I enforce that message. :D

Oh yes, some do know…

Laws are there to protect both sides, software companies have no rights to query your computer for personal information. They must remain within their objective.

Giving back a bit of your PC info is like saying to them what car you drive and its options, and since they render service to a product that runs on your car, there is nothing personal about telling them what's your car model number, year, date, month of fabrication… blah blah blah… That is all they do besides doing the primary role, which is to protect your fair game session while playing in multiplayer mode, it punks out the busters and in exchange they take a few non-personal info here and there. They do not have the right for example, to go check your email files and gather info there…

I should say that over 95% of software's out there only collects legally accessible information. No big deal, no harm done and no paranoia's. Just stay away from weird software's and you should be OK, because you personal info is protected by law... what is left of it :roll:

I'm working on games on RFM tags implanted under your skin.

Who wants to be first?!

:shifty:

Unless the core of the game was on the companys seperate server and requires no cd for the person to play...but a password based on ip addresses and password combinations or something similar.Like a vpn tunnel or something.

Alright so I was almost completely wrong, It's not the first time and certainly not the last... :P

What's your take on the USB dongle that ships with eSims Steel Beasts Pro PE as a anti piracy system?

I think the future of games will be downloading the full version of the internet. Like how Valve was with Halflife 2. Although it got cracked in the end but still is a good idea as you had to pay to download the game, not grab a copy of someone. A few other games have copied this method.

Stardock's attitude is one that every major developer in the industry should have. That piracy will always exist, and simply try to dissuade it. Not go so far to punish the legitimate and illegal crowd at the same time. I applaud them for their view. It's about time someone with a brain stepped up to the plate.

Well I am very surprised to see this post.

If you want a comment from what I had to say please read this:

http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums...031018114/p/12

And yes this inncident did actually happen.
I am so glad I posted that I spoke to Larry Kuperman from Stardock several weeks ago. He made some interesting comments to me about Starforce.

You can see what I posted from that conversation here:
(MY THIRD POST DOWN) http://r-force.org/modules.php?name=...viewtopic&t=25

Also if you want to see the official comment from Stardock go Here it will also contain the captured JPEG of the bit torrent link:
http://www.galciv2.com/

You can read on the SF thread that was closed that this incident did happen, so lets not try to say it didn't it DID! IT'S a FACT.

And for information from Stardocks very own CEO Avatar Draginol see this link on who this company is and what they believe in:

http://www.galciv2.com/forums.aspx?ForumID=5&AID=21895


Also checking this latest post out....Some one from Chicago (Same guy that Sued Sonybmg) is sueing Starforce. http://eplaw.us/starforce.html

This has not been checked out but details to follow.

It´s much more likely that he´s going to sue the publishers and not Starforce. In the Sony BMG case he also didn´t sue the maker of the copy protection, "First 4 Internet".