Piracy - The Battle

[Luxus]

I have never once stated to make the add-ons unavailable to the public.

Then I have misunderstood you. What did you mean by "having everything listed in a unregistered area"?

 

[Kevin]

That's one of the best ideas I've heard to find the pirate.

Which is something that is done on some vB download sites that I'm aware of. Doesn't prevent the little idiots from spreading your stuff around but it does make it a lot easier to identify them.

 

[Sheldon]

Then I have misunderstood you. What did you mean by "having everything listed in a unregistered area"?

As in, "screw it, give up and give everything away. Allow even unregistered to download." Only take donations for your work.... something along those lines.

 

[Digital Doctor]

I doubt it's possible ... but it would be nice if a Xenforo update would break pirate addons.
or it is hard to install a addon update over a pirated addon.

 

[Luxus]

As in, "screw it, give up and give everything away. Allow even unregistered to download." Only take donations for your work.... something along those lines.

So I didn't misunderstand you afterall. But that's equivalent to making paid addons available to the public. So what's your point?

 

[M@rc]

Doesn't prevent the little idiots from spreading your stuff around but it does make it a lot easier to identify them.

...and after "cut 'em off" ?

Quoted - Luke Foreman :

so piracy can be effectively prevented by cutting off updates to known pirates. Providing constant updates is half of it - the other is keeping up with pirates so that only old versions remain publicly available.

Other than that, I can't think of another way to prevent piracy unless the host takes down the content (which might not be possible depending on where the site is hosted), or you do like another developer that was mentioned in this thread and only offer the add-ons to selected customers after reviewing their order request.

---

I doubt it's possible ... but it would be nice if a Xenforo update would break pirate addons.
or it is hard to install a addon update over a pirated addon.

That means it will break all previous versions of the same add-ons for legit users. I think...

 

[Kevin]

...and after "cut 'em off" ?

It is up to the vendor to decide what to do after identifying them. When I used to be in the vB styles business the person would get banned and, depending on the circumstances, I might give a heads up to some other folks that a scammer was making the rounds.

 

[John]

Until you can physically identify those behind it and can afford to send someone to their house with a baseball bat and a propensity for breaking bones, you'll never even put a dent in it. I applaud the efforts and fully support anything that might help, but my experience has been that everything eventually gets stolen and once it's "in the wild", it's there forever.

 

[tenants]

yeah, I've recently created my own add-on solution for this (and I use it only on some add-ons)

It doesn't call home (so you need to know where it's installed), but if I know lots of users use an add on, and it seems that hardly anyone has paid for it, I can look up which user downloaded the shared add-on

[This only works if you use XF to share the add-ons as attachments]

I then ban the user that re-distributed

.. but to be honest, I think the best mechanism to avoid the piracy is to give a branded and unbranded version, then there is no need to hunt people down

I have often seen warez sites their selves using the add-ons (so it makes it fairly easy for me to figure out who is re-distrusting the plugins)

If you really have troubles with plugin piracy, PM me and I can send you the add-on with instructions

 

[EQnoble]

I don't care what people try to do to stop piracy....it is not happening. Sorry to be that blatant.

I have yet to publicly post something that has a price tag on it, anyone who is a member here can use them...they still end up on warez sites. It doesn't matter.

But if you are an app developer and you are going to make your addon call home....be sure to announce it when you release it. I would personally not be happy to find out on my own that my server is making calls to yours...that is something that needs to be disclosed. If not...I think it would be fair for me to sell you a cell phone which logs your location and sends it to me...sounds equal from here. Spying is spying and using someones bandwidth without asking is the same be it on a server or from a mobile data plan. If a dev discloses the fact that the app calls home...I really don't need any other info...I know what they are doing and why and am cool with it.

I worked really hard on something myself, something I know that someone would steal the source from and probably use it somewhere else without my permission possibly even resell it as their work....

Instead of building the primary functionality into the addon and bbcode themselves...I use a standalone page to do the work and I would distribute a bbcode which references the page. If someone turns out to not be a licensed member of xf...I can easily revoke their key to use the service.

It is cut and dry, everyone's rights are respected, and I lose no control over things...and at any time I can revoke anyone's ability to use it with a little bit of magic.

<?php
class MediaSites_AppleEmbedApps
{
    public static function buildEmbed($mediaKey, array $site)
    {
 
        $extractID ='#itunes\.apple\.com/[a-z]+/app/[a-z-]+/id(?P<itunesID>[0-9]+)#siu';
        preg_match($extractID, $mediaKey, $apple);
        $embedAPIurl = 'http://*****/?appId=' . $apple[itunesID] . '?magic=****************************************';
 
 
    $embedable =  '<div class="pieCrust' . $apple[itunesID] . '">
                      <iframe src="' . $embedAPIurl . '" "width="700px" height="697px" frameborder="0">
                          <p>Fail, get a new browser</p>
                      </iframe>
                    </div>';
   
            return $embedable;
    }
}

they can pass this code out...(i haven't even released it yet lol), it doesn't matter...they wont be able to use it unless I auth them.


Problem solved.

 

[DRE]

I don't care what people try to do to stop piracy....it is not happening. Sorry to be that blatant.

I have yet to publicly post something that has a price tag on it, anyone who is a member here can use them...they still end up on warez sites. It doesn't matter.

But if you are an app developer and you are going to make your addon call home....be sure to announce it when you release it. I would personally not be happy to find out on my own that my server is making calls to yours...that is something that needs to be disclosed. If not...I think it would be fair for me to sell you a cell phone which logs your location and sends it to me...sounds equal from here. Spying is spying and using someones bandwidth without asking is the same be it on a server or from a mobile data plan. If a dev discloses the fact that the app calls home...I really don't need any other info...I know what they are doing and why and am cool with it.

I worked really hard on something myself, something I know that someone would steal the source from and probably use it somewhere else without my permission possibly even resell it as their work....

Instead of building the primary functionality into the addon and bbcode themselves...I use a standalone page to do the work and I would distribute a bbcode which references the page. If someone turns out to not be a licensed member of xf...I can easily revoke their key to use the service.

It is cut and dry, everyone's rights are respected, and I lose no control over things...and at any time I can revoke anyone's ability to use it with a little bit of magic.

<?php
class MediaSites_AppleEmbedApps
{
    public static function buildEmbed($mediaKey, array $site)
    {
 
        $extractID ='#itunes\.apple\.com/[a-z]+/app/[a-z-]+/id(?P<itunesID>[0-9]+)#siu';
        preg_match($extractID, $mediaKey, $apple);
        $embedAPIurl = 'http://*****/?appId=' . $apple[itunesID] . 'magic=****************************************';
 
 
    $embedable =  '<div class="pieCrust' . $apple[itunesID] . '">
                      <iframe src="' . $embedAPIurl . '" "width="700px" height="697px" frameborder="0">
                          <p>Fail, get a new browser</p>
                      </iframe>
                    </div>';
   
            return $embedable;
    }
}

they can pass this code out...(i haven't even released it yet lol), it doesn't matter...they wont be able to use it unless I auth them.


Problem solved.

Hey what is that sensei?

 

[dtmcl]

A simple api to check if a user is a license holder would be cool.

 

[Luxus]

Until you can physically identify those behind it and can afford to send someone to their house with a baseball bat and a propensity for breaking bones, you'll never even put a dent in it. I applaud the efforts and fully support anything that might help, but my experience has been that everything eventually gets stolen and once it's "in the wild", it's there forever.

My point exactly. You can't prevent your product from being stolen, but you can make it better to get more people buying it.

 

[Robert F Schmitz]

Would it be possible to assign a unique key that links to the license of the xF package? This would associate who the owner is. The add on would function only if it can call in to verify occasionally?

 

[Sheldon]

Until you can physically identify those behind it and can afford to send someone to their house with a baseball bat and a propensity for breaking bones, you'll never even put a dent in it. I applaud the efforts and fully support anything that might help, but my experience has been that everything eventually gets stolen and once it's "in the wild", it's there forever.

My point exactly. You can't prevent your product from being stolen, but you can make it better to get more people buying it.

It's not about stopping.

Its about slowing them down, and holding the license holder accountable.

 

[Mike Edge]

A simple api to check if a user is a license holder would be cool.

Just something as simple as this even http://www.whmcs.com/members/verifydomain.php put in xfhost.net and it says "This domain is authorized to be using WHMCS." no further info that could be borderline privacy violations. xF can do the same. You put in the forum username and it simply states valid license holder or not.

 

[Luxus]

It's not about stopping.

Its about slowing them down, and holding the license holder accountable.

How do you intend to slow them down? Once a pirated copy is floating on the internet, any piracy counter measures become meaningless.

 

[Sheldon]

How do you intend to slow them down? Once a pirated copy is floating on the internet, any piracy counter measures become meaningless.

Read the first post.

 

[Luxus]

Read the first post.

That won't work.

 

[Sheldon]

That won't work.

I appreciate your opinion.

Thanks.