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

[cryophonik]

Or, use plugins that don’t show your info. That will not only protect your privacy, it will also send a strong statement to all those developers out there that they must change their ways or risk not being featured in YouTube tutorial vids. Two birds, one stone, yada yada yada…

[NWSM]

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

agree, its not that complicated...i mean...lets show the serial number its more easy to find out the streamer by search in SN data of the dev.

[NWSM]

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.

A double-edged-sword...what government or devs or justice try is focus on the bad things...but forgot the artist they have bought the plugins.

its the same with the darknet...a more anonymous place than the clear web but because it is what it is a place to do illegal this also...why we need anonymity? yes because some industrial ideas, war, espionage, and because some ill citizens as well...so lets find a medium way that works well...

[NWSM]

I have nothing to hide

Okay lets say you have not much to hide.

[syntonica]

Funny how people forget that this is the Internet--Land of the lots of Free Time and home of the Psycho. It just takes one Internet stalker to ruin your day. And it doesn't matter who you are, you're gonna get one. They're like lice...

[chk071]

Hehe, true thing.

[NWSM]

Well, for us it has helped a lot to display "registered to ..." on the init preset. Over the years, numerous people have been helped by it with their support cases. And also, numerous people have been helped to become legit - or at least, stopped from sharing warez.

Our future copy protection scheme which we hope to roll out in the next 2 years does indeed contain a visual cypher (pixel salad) which we could display instead. But I assume that displaying some scrambled information will make people even more uneasy than just the name, or maybe a anonymised email address ("j***.s****@isp.com"). Thing is, who stops us from displaying credit card numbers, right - or whatever some people come up with. Such that IDK, I'm not sure if anonymising is such a good idea either, and neither is not displaying any license info, in our experience.

Open for suggestions tho.

How to make a chiffre more invisible?
How to stop hacking and sharing Software?
Ot it just can be a 2 component md5 checksume (1 private key one public)
Its the same as PGP (pretty good privacy).

We are very modern with some nice visual cryptography

• https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/E ... 122d0d2f10

• https://www.101computing.net/visual-cryptography/

i am interessted dev say who dont do this...but i like how much ppl wrote...interessting.
There will be a solution...cheers

[NWSM]

Alright.

I still think there's no need for it though. Although I don't really care if it does or not. Seems more of a gimmick to me, more than anything else, TBH. "Hey, look, that's mine, and I even paid for it!"

i not aggree. sure its not a BIG problem but i dont like it...in private session it doesnt matter...but online...NO. My E-Mail NO...Spamers not Welcome. My REAL NAME just NO. Psycho People are not allowed to ring my doorbell when i ever go famous anytime...

[chk071]

Again, though, on screenshots, you can blur it, and in videos, you can too, if you don't move the plugin window all the time. I understand why you don't want your name or email adress there (I sometimes don't want that too, even though I really care less about it than I used to), but, there are ways.

On the other hand, I definitely don't see the point for developers. At least, I haven't heard a compelling reason in this thread.

[NWSM]

A name is just random letter, the only problem is, that is sticked to a real person.
A real Person is an relative complex interessted Individuum and should not sticked to a single virtual instrument.
Beeing a bit paranoid is an absolut normal human behaviour in digital age.

If i bought a CAR, nobody care if I drive the car, but a lot of people see my car, sometime who is driving...the licence plate is the only visible authentification that anybody can see and use. Like an Alias or encrypted Code. Its not my Name on the Car.
But this is only decrypted by the law or justice (or the manufacturers of plugins ).
The driver license is invisible, until someone ask (or the manufacturers of plugins).

The Point is...we are also a bit anonymous outside our Flat, even with masks today, but online, there is the hell...
Well i can just stop streaming...or go offline...
Well then the cracked software will be there as well...doesnt matter which name is on the plugin, nobody will see it anytime.
Well i only upload Videos and just kill the name "Mickey Mouse" from every cracked Plugin...too easy right?

Thankfully some Dev´s will change the mind to a bit more privacy for users. Thanks a lot.

[NWSM]

probably already been said...

but, maybe don't BROADCAST computer programs that post your info right on them.

it's the first thing I thought of reading the OP

but what is the prevent cracking benefit of that?

[sin night]

I have nothing to hide

Okay lets say you have not much to hide.

I meant I have nothing to hide as in "things to be ashamed of", not as in "any random stranger can access my personal informations and then do whatever they want" of course.

[sin night]

probably already been said...

but, maybe don't BROADCAST computer programs that post your info right on them.

it's the first thing I thought of reading the OP

but what is the prevent [removed] benefit of that?

In my opinion, there are two benefits:

- It prevents people from sharing their valid license with "friends", because there's a real chance the dev will notice that and then ask for damages and/or ban him forever from using the software/service (and it's especially likely if those "friends" share the license again with other people). Let's say someone is dumb enough to post under their real name photo/videos showing they are using a software clearly licensed to someone else...
- It helps devs to recognize abusive users and take actions (which will probably be different if they are dealing with a 15 years old student with no money versus someone who could afford the software or even makes money by using it). Let's say someone is dumb enough to share content showing a non valid license...

Abusive use of software/media is not perceived as a crime as, for example, stealing a physical good in a store. People know it's not legal, by usually they don't feel uncomfortable for their behaviour (they think they are smart because they are saving money). If there's a risk of getting caught and having to pay for their actions (whatever it's just paying for the license or dealing with the law), people may think twice.


Of course there's a tradeoff, because you may not want to share those informations with anybody but the dev (I have no problems at providing some personal informations to a legit business from which I'm purchasing software/services, but I don't want to share any random stranger to access them - which is why I'm not too fond of this solution).
A different protection scheme may not show those informations but be more invasive for other reasons... unfortunately there's always a tradeoff.


[EDIT] I have to add: in comparisong to a obfuscated identification code (which I'd prefer, anyway), clearly showing some personal informations has a stronger psychological leverage.

[Tj Shredder]

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

All this is clearly illegal in the EU, it is a clear violation of the DSGVO law which should stop this quickly… No dev is allowed to display personal information on the screen!
If it would be an encrypted QR code, it would not be a problem and give an even better protection, as its could be scanned automatically…

Just write a friendly letter to the dev and point to that problem, you might get a new version within a week… (They should be aware that this can get really expensive, more expensive than loosing income through pirates…)

I didn’t read the whole thread, it might have been mentioned already…

[jens]

Good info, TJ! It says a lot that the majority of folks participating in this thread argue that the OP has no point, while what he complains about apparently is even against the law at least in the EU (where a majority of the developers resides).