TO ALL Developers of Software Plugins ! Take out Personal Informations from Plugins !

[Introspective]

I'm with chk90210 here. Good luck, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

This isn't really the forum for talking about it, but I have to admit, I've not really gotten on the privacy bandwagon the way most people have. I'd really, REALLY rather see strict rules against the use of privileged information than trying to force a culture of privacy. It's a form of blaming the victim. It's not OUR responsibility to keep other people from abusing our information. That's (part of) what governments are for.

But I digress.

[steps down from soapbox]

[Examigan]

Sylenth1 displays the name it was registered to, but I don't mind.

[chk071]

Sylenth1 displays the name it was registered to, but I don't mind.

Hm... it says T eam AI R here.

[sjm]

I'd really, REALLY rather see strict rules against the use of privileged information than trying to force a culture of privacy. It's a form of blaming the victim.

It's not that simple. I got asked why I don't release anything under my real name. Easy: I'm the only person with that name in this country. A simple google search on my name by my employer or a prospective customer would mean that they can find everything I've made that includes me voicing political views etc. That's not a situation I want to be in, nor one I want to put my employer in.

The last thing I'd want is my employer losing a contract to a government agency or someone with strong opposing political views because I loudmouthed in my spare time.

This is a point that has already been made in this thread. It's normally a good thing to keep your private and business lives separate, especially if your name makes you uniquely identifiable. If you are called "John Smith" and live in the States, it doesn't matter.

Now, I appreciate that a name in a VST isn't going to show up in Google search, but it's a similar principle; that name in a video can lead to you finding out where I live, for example. Maybe I don't want that to happen. Surely that is my choice, not someone else's, how much information about myself I want to disclose publicly.

I don't see how that's blaming the victim, given that the victim has no say in the matter. They're just a simple user that has no say in the UI design of the VST or whatever. It's blaming the person who made the decision, not the person who may be impacted by the decision (as it should be).

[e-crooner]

Sylenth1 displays the name it was registered to, but I don't mind.

Yes, mine is Sawtooth Fairy

[Effectsworks]

I'm not sure how many plugin pirates make Youtube videos explaining them.

I've seen a few...

Indeed and some big names too in terms of EDM. Which is a sad state of affairs.

[chk071]

I'd really, REALLY rather see strict rules against the use of privileged information than trying to force a culture of privacy. It's a form of blaming the victim.

It's not that simple. I got asked why I don't release anything under my real name. Easy: I'm the only person with that name in this country. A simple google search on my name by my employer or a prospective customer would mean that they can find everything I've made that includes me voicing political views etc. That's not a situation I want to be in, nor one I want to put my employer in.

That's kind of the problem with the internet though: A public place where everyone is anonymous.

... says the guy with the forum nickname.

[Synthack]

.........

[vurt]

and stop being lazy!

[Synthack]

.........

[Introspective]

I'd really, REALLY rather see strict rules against the use of privileged information than trying to force a culture of privacy. It's a form of blaming the victim.

I don't see how that's blaming the victim, given that the victim has no say in the matter. They're just a simple user that has no say in the UI design of the VST or whatever. It's blaming the person who made the decision, not the person who may be impacted by the decision (as it should be).

I don't disagree with any particular point of what you said, but I do feel the need to explain this comment (since I realize it was as clear as mud, sorry).

So to reiterate, first off: saying it's "a form of blaming the victim" was a stupid choice. Now, having said that:

Privacy advocates have a habit of blaming people in general. Like it's your own damn fault it you sign up to things with your real name, if you don't shred all of your junk mail, if you use your social security number online, if you leave your computer camera uncovered, if you use a baby monitor. My point--and again, it's a weak one, so bear with me and try not to murder the strawman, here--is that I would RATHER that society INSTEAD took the stance that abusing other people's privacy is UNACCEPTABLE. Giant fines. Long jail times. Public shaming. Tarred and feathered. The works.

I recognize and sympathize with someone in your uniquely-identifiable position, and I would never blame you (or anyone) for WANTING to protect themselves. I'm just bemoaning the fact that human beings are a fickle lot that see deep evils and decide the way to handle it is by telling people to pull up their @#$^ing bootstraps and fix it them-damn-selves.

But I am, as you can see, a bleeding-heart, liberal leftist shill who needs to go cry in his safe-space. I'm not so stupid as to think my complaints are really something that can be "fixed." I'm just complaining at the sorry state of affairs.

[sin night]

I'm a honest citizen living in a democratic country, I have nothing to hide but I still dislike the idea of my real name / email / username displayed in plain sight on anything to anyone. It makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, to be honest. I don't like writing my name on things, too.


Also, personal informations are an opportunity for criminals like thieves (they may want to steal the identity, steal software licenses... or identify the house to come and steal things) or haters (people may hate for any reason, even just for the sake of hating!).

I don't make videos / livestreams and I don't plan to (but who knows in the future), so it's not a big deal for me at the moment, but it's still something I don't like much. Those informations can be covered while editing a video (of course it's additional work!), but it's a problem with livestreams.
I'd probably avoid those software all together if I was into making videos (I think that most of my software don't show my license info on the gui).


Since I know it's a protection measure for devs (so they may quickly check if a user is legit), I think a good compromise from a user point of view would be to show a non human-readable code calculated with a custom secret function (something like a hash and then something else, so it can't easily be attacked by brute force) from some licence info, so the devs could compare that code with their database of customers (instead of using the username / email / real name)... of course I don't know if this is feasible and if it has consequences on the protection scheme they use (be it on the technical side of the protection, but also as a psychological tool to prevent sharing, as people should be less likely to share their licenses with friends if there's their name clearly written on the gui). Could this be an idea?

[nix808]

that can be done with a randomly auto-generated key that |is not based on/in no way| references user's name

[Living Room Rocker]

I wouldn't have a problem if they put my name in the About info with my serial number. But that's just about it.

Kind regards,

Living Room Rocker

[briefcasemanx]

It's really gaudy and bad looking but I deal with it. There are a few that show off name and address!!!