Adobe Activation

[Spinner]

Adobe seems to be following in Microsoft's footsteps by planning to add an activation feature into some of its software in an attempt to combat piracy.

Drew McManus, director of Adobe's anti-piracy efforts, says activation will require that customers who buy shrink-wrapped software--mainly consumers and small businesses--provide a serial number that's checked against its database, a process that takes 20 seconds or less. If the serial number is deemed legitimate, the encrypted application gets unlocked. To address privacy concerns, information on the activation server is kept separate from Adobe's product-registration and customer databases.

For the rest of the report:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=MAQW5PYPXBY0OQSNDBCCKH0CJUMEYJVN?articleID=10818046

[SimGuy]

We all saw how fast WPA was bypassed on Windows XP.

If it can be secured, it can be cracked. Generally, the people cracking the software are more efficient at breaking the protection than the actual individuals who coded the protection in the first place :)

God, I love the Internet :D

[Thrax]

:bawling: The pirate world weeps for the three hours of effort required to break it.

[croc_]

without security, who knows what the pirates might start doing in their spare time, burning, raping, pillaging, sailing on large ships with cannons terrorizing our coastlines.

[maxanon]

It's really funny. Sometimes I think these ideas are dreamed up by guys who don't use computers.