New DRM Chooses to Embarrass Pirates

[admin]

A new DRM developed in Japan, for an adult game about a cross dresser no less, has found a new way to combat piracy: embarrass the pirates.

A trojan has been released on the P2P networks, disguised as a fake installer, that takes a screenshot of the pirate's desktop and then posts it online on a public website, for all to see. One can ask for the screenshot to be removed, but must first acknowledge that they have downloaded a pirated version of the game.

The legality of such a system can be questioned, since the posted screenshots reveal quite a lot of private information. However, the fake installer has a terms of service agreement (the text that nobody reads before agreeing and continuing with the install) that states quite openly what the program does, and users agree to all of this torment.

However, even with a terms of service, there are laws which protect users privacy and specifically laws against spyware, which this interesting DRM scheme can be classified under, and so while this may be a go in Japan, it's unlikely to be used elsewhere.

More:

http://www.japanator.com/wait-pirates-that-cross-days-download-is-a-trap--14143.phtml

See posted screenshots of pirates:

http://blog.livedoor.jp/insidears/archives/52256874.html

[dr_ml422]

Man I haven't uploaded my screensaver since my Dell Days. People would be copping to the Piracy just to get it. I'm not stating I'm a Pirate btw. Funny concept that as you pointed out may not go elsewhere. Had to be MIJ.

[admin]

And on a similar theme, also in Japan, a new malware does basically the same thing (also with porno games) except instead of taking a screenshot of the user's desktop, it publishes the user's web history (no doubt full of embarrassing evidence of the user's history of porno browsing), and demands a "pre-trial settlement" to have the history removed.

So far, that sounds very similar to what law firms in the UK and US have been doing, one using the threat of a public lawsuit, the other uses the threat of publishing private information.

But the trick is that instead of accepting the "pre-trial settlement" and removing user data, the shell company set up to run this scam steals the user's credit card info.

More:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8622665.stm