Flightsimlabs uses a malware and calls it "DRM"

[wildweasel]

And the excuse "this does not affect legitimate users" - it doesn't matter. Malware is malware no matter how you cut it, and two wrongs don't make a right. One crime does not make it okay to commit another, especially when the second crime is much more serious in nature.

Not to mention, as the Sony copy-protection rootkit scandal a decade ago demonstrated, having this kind of capability present in your software, even if you're not using it on legit users, still presents a gigantic security risk.

[Chris]

And the excuse "this does not affect legitimate users" - it doesn't matter. Malware is malware no matter how you cut it, and two wrongs don't make a right. One crime does not make it okay to commit another, especially when the second crime is much more serious in nature.

Simply put, even if someone illegally copies your program and uses a pirated activation key, that doesn't grant you the right to invade that someone's computer. That's what law enforcement is for. It's their job to collect evidence in the pursuit of justice, not yours (and they have strict rules and oversight about how said evidence is collected, for good reasons). This is an act of vigilantism, pure and simple.

[Matt]

This isn't like remotely bricking a phone someone stole from your store so much as breaking into their home and stealing their passport and then bricking their phone the old-fashioned way (the brick is what is used, not what the phone becomes).

[Rachael]

That doesn't matter - malware is malware. Do you want someone logging into your computer, without your consent, and stealing all your passwords, for your email, social media, forums, Discord, etc? That's okay with you?

And then logging in on all those accounts, looking at your private messages with other folks? Stuff they'll try to use against you in court, bypassing the discovery process entirely?

They could even directly steal money from users using this kind of stuff. That's how serious it is. If it's okay to use malware, then maybe it's okay to extract $60 for the full price of the game directly from the person's bank account. It's not like they'll need it for food and electricity next month, if they're wasting their time on the internet pirating a video game, right?

It doesn't matter if the computer is bricked or not. What this developer did was clearly unacceptable, and the implications are deep.

[insightguy]

I don't get what the argument is, both of you seem to agree to the same point and everyone here agrees that it's shitty, so what's to argue about?

How long d'you reckon before they start doing DRM legislation too?

Unlikely, this case was more of a malware scandal than a DRM one, it's more likely to cause an investigation into the company that DRM it'self.

What I would like to see however, is an investigation to what is acceptable DRM (I get that there is a hate bone for DRM here, but there has to be some sort of compromise.)

[Matt]

I should clarify that was meant as a "yes and" to the "this is bad" posts... there should be a special way to format one's post for that online, like there should be a special text format for sarcasm. :/

[insightguy]

I should clarify that was meant as a "yes and" to the "this is bad" posts... there should be a special way to format one's post for that online, like there should be a special text format for sarcasm. :/

Just add /s..., use Italics, or miss spilll evarything leek a toodler

/s

(Am I being scarcastic? What is being sarcastic? Am I being sarcastic about being sarcastic? no one will ever know~~~~~)

[4thcharacter]

There is that Starforce DRM back in the day and if you ask me it can fit the definition of "malware" since it can fuck with your PC.

[leileilol]

Yeah, all those "denuvo is evil it slow ur computer and stop pirate to good and hate's moder's " haven't lived through the horrid StarForce era. It actually scared me from buying any games from european developers with smaller publishers because of that (it's mostly attached to them, mostly JoWood and Enlight). It was so bad, I was more content with SecuROM (which became only very notorious post-starforce).and of course, Steam (which had its own "steaming pile off a shit !! fuck it hog my cpu it have encrypted game boycott steam" heyday)


but this however is information-grubbing malware and that "drm" is a league of its own evil.

[4thcharacter]

I really don't mind DRMs that are funny and messes the game up harmlessly. Like that Alan Wake that puts a pirate eyepatch on your character.