OT: SPYWARE/TROJAN and Off Topic!

[Evil Dave]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Every programmer would like to have the program send info home on its useage and problems (Ive been there) but I get the impression that Illwinter purposely didnt do that. All this does is a key check of its own software. I have trouble considering that to be in the Category of "spying".

Yeah, I phrased that badly. I didn't mean to imply that key checking was spying -- it was more a generic concern.

'Course, they also get an IP address, which may be of more concern to some people. For example, I have a vanity domain, and my Dom2 machine is in that domain. It wouldn't be hard to imagine Bad Guys (not Illwinter) could take that IP address, notice that it didn't belong to an ISP, conclude that it was private, and decide to hassle the owner listed in the whois databases, which gets them not only a name, but a mailing address and phone number. Just what spammers and marketroids want -- a real name, address, and some demographic info: plays computer games (subtype strategy), has a vanity domain; probably a geek.

But I don't usually worry about that sorta thing.

Keeping track of usage is another issue, at least in some contexts. My employers worry about that kind of thing, cause it could reveal information useful to our competitors. I kinda doubt I'd care, but I'm not sure.

[Tim Brooks]

Hi All:

Deep breaths. We aren't and Illwinter isn't spying on you. Shrapnel Games does not keep track of CD keys by individual buying the game. Hell, we sell around 25% through distribution, so we couldn't do this - at least on those 25%. Obviously some of you think we have more time on our hands than we actually do.

Shrapnel Games was unaware that this was happening, and there should be a request to connect or at least a disclaimer that this is going to happen. This will be corrected in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if it upsets you as is, don't download and install the patch. Wait until we remedy the problem.

I apologize for any inconvenience or concern this has caused. I think most of us know that Illwinter's intentions are only to protect their intellectual property rights. With popular games being priated at a rate of 5x to 10x sales volume, you can see the concern is justified.

Happy Gaming!